An Ausbesserungswerk (abbreviation AW or Aw) is a railway facility in German-speaking countries, the primary function of which is the repair (and formerly also the construction) of railway vehicles or their components. It is thus equivalent to a 'repair shop' or 'works'. It is also referred to as a Centralwerkstatt or Zentralwerkstatt (central workshop) or Hauptwerkstatt (main workshop). During the

Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'' (), also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the German national railway system created after the end of World War I from the re ...

(DRG) period between the two

world wars A world war is an international conflict that involves most or all of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World War I (19 ...

as well as the period of the Deutsche Reichsbahn in East Germany these facilities were called Reichsbahnausbesserungswerke (RAW or Raw; Reichsbahn repair shops).

Terminology

Whilst the term ''Ausbesserungswerk'' was used by the former

Deutsche Bundesbahn Deutsche Bundesbahn (, ) or DB () was formed as the state railway of the newly established West Germany (FRG) on 7 September 1949 as a successor of the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (DRG). The DB remained the state railway of West Germany u ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

after the war, the railway workshops in the

Deutsche Reichsbahn The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'' (), also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the Weimar Republic, German national Rail transport, railway system created after th ...

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

continued to refer to them as ''Reichsbahnausbesserungswerke'' until 1992. The term ''Hauptwerkstatt'' was also commonly used by state railways ('' Länderbahn'') or private railways and they are still called that today, for example, in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. In general the

Deutsche Bahn (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...

today uses the term Werk (works); these facilities belonging to the ''DB Instandhaltung GmbH''.

Functions

In contrast to the

Bahnbetriebswerk A ''Bahnbetriebswerk'' is the equivalent of a locomotive depot (or motive power depot) on the German and Austrian railways. It is an installation that carries out the maintenance, minor repairs, refuelling and cleaning of locomotives and other ...

e, that are responsible for routine, everyday tasks, ''Ausbesserungswerke'' specialise in major repairs, general inspections and the refurbishment of exchangeable components. In addition they handle the conversion and modernisation of vehicles, as well as the construction of new vehicles in some cases. On top of the maintenance of vehicles, most ''Ausbesserungswerke'' also carry out the manufacture of turnouts, the construction of signal gantries, platform roofing and similar steel structures. Depending on the particular specialisation of an individual ''Ausbesserungswerk'' it may also be described as a ''Reisezugwagenwerk'' (coach works), ''Güterwagenwerk'' (goods wagon works) or ''Weichenwerk'' (turnout works).

History

With the expansion of the railway network from the middle of the 19th century a large number of ''Ausbesserungswerke'' sprang up in the entire German speaking world. During the transition from maintenance-intensive steam traction to the more maintenance-friendly

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

and

diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover (locomotive), power source is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is con ...

s, as well as the increasing rationalisation of workshop operations, the number of ''Ausbesserungswerke'' needed could be reduced significantly. Today the

only retains the ''Ausbesserungswerke'' at

Neumünster Neumünster () is a city in the middle of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. With more than 79,000 registered inhabitants, it is the fourth-largest municipality in Schleswig-Holstein (behind Kiel, Lübeck and Flensburg). The ''Holstenhallen'' and ...

(coaches), Cottbus (diesel locomotives), Chemnitz (components), Paderborn-Nord (goods wagons),

Witten Witten () is a city with almost 100,000 inhabitants in the Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis (district) in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. Geography Witten is situated in the Ruhr valley, in the southern Ruhr area. Bordering municipalities * Bochum ...

(turnout works),

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

(diesel locomotives), Kassel (diesel railcars), Krefeld-Oppum (electric railcars), Dessau (electric locomotives), Fulda (components),

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

(electric railcars),

Meiningen Meiningen () is a town in the southern part of the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in the region of Franconia and has a population of around 26,000 (2024).

(historic vehicles, goods wagons and snow clearing equipment),

Eberswalde Eberswalde () is a major town and the administrative seat of the district Barnim in Brandenburg in north-eastern Germany, about northeast of Berlin. Population 42,144 (census in June 2005). The town is often called Waldstadt (forest town), beca ...

(goods wagons),

Zwickau Zwickau (; ) is the fourth-largest city of Saxony, Germany, after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz, with around 88,000 inhabitants,. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ''Zwickauer Mulde''; progression: ), ...

(goods wagons) and Wittenberge (coaches). In addition, there are ''Hauptwerkstätten'' for the

Berlin S-Bahn The Berlin S-Bahn () is a rapid transit railway system that services the reigon in and around Berlin, the capital city of Germany. It has been in operation under the name since December 1930, having been previously called the special tariff are ...

at Berlin-Schöneweide and the

Hamburg S-Bahn The Hamburg S-Bahn is a rapid transit railway system in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. Together, the S-Bahn, the Hamburg U-Bahn, the AKN Eisenbahn, AKN railway and the regional railway form the backbone of railway public transport in the city ...

at Hamburg-Ohlsdorf. The Deutsche Bahn AG aside, the

Austrian Federal Railways The Austrian Federal Railways ( , formally or () and formerly the or ''BBÖ'' ), now commonly known as ÖBB (), is the national railway company of Austria, and the administrator of Liechtenstein's railways. The ÖBB group i ...

Swiss Federal Railways Swiss Federal Railways (, SBB; , CFF; , FFS) is the national railway company of Switzerland. The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Bern. It used to be a State-owned enterprise, government institution, but since 1999 it has be ...

and large private railways have their own ''Hauptwerkstätten''. In Weiden, Stendal and Delitzsch ''Ausbesserungswerke'' belonging to the DB AG and its predecessors have been transferred to private ownership. A private ''Ausbesserungswerk'' in Unterhausen (Bavaria) at

Neuburg an der Donau Neuburg an der Donau (Central Bavarian: ''Neiburg an da Donau'') is a town which is the capital of the Neuburg-Schrobenhausen district in the state of Bavaria in Germany. Divisions The municipality has 16 divisions: * Altmannstetten * Bergen, N ...

maintains goods vehicles, mainly tank wagons.

Typical layout

The constructional heart of an ''Ausbesserungswerk'' is usually a large, multi-track, main workshop building (the ''Richthalle''), which enables several railway vehicles to be worked on simultaneously at a number of work stations. These stations are equipped with lifting gear in order to be able to jack vehicles up and separate the wagon bodies from their undercarriages. Adjoining the main workshop are mechanical and electrical workshops for the refurbishment and repair of individual components such as undercarriages, brake equipment and motors. The external livery of railway vehicles is carried out in a paint shed, separate from the main workshop.

U-Bahn and tram repair shops

''Hauptwerkstätten'' for railway vehicles are not just found on normal railways, but also on the

U-Bahn Rapid transit in Germany consists of four systems and 14 systems. The , commonly understood to stand for ('underground railway'), are conventional rapid transit systems that run mostly underground, while the or ('city rapid railway') are c ...

(underground) and

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

ways. Due to the comparatively small number of vehicles to be maintained the ''Hauptwerkstätten'' are in most cases attached to tramway sheds (''Bahnbetriebshöfen''). An example of a tram workshop is the ''Hauptwerkstätte'' of the

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

tramway system.

Former ''Ausbesserungswerke'' in Germany

In addition to ''Ausbesserungswerke'' still in use, the Deutsche Bahn AG and its predecessors had ''Ausbesserungswerke'' and ''Hauptwerkstätten'' at the following locations:

External links

Overview of the ''Ausbesserungswerke'' of the Deutsche Bahn AG

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20081226042632/http://www.hs-merseburg.de/~nosske/EpocheII/dd/e2d_3702.html Overview of the ''Ausbesserungswerke'' of the Deutsche Reichsbahn in 1932 {{Authority control Rail infrastructure in Germany