Meckesheim is a village in south western

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It is located between

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

and Sinsheim in the Rhein-Neckar district in the state of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

History

In 772 and 822 Meckesheim was mentioned for the first times as ''Heim des Mechino'' (''home of Mechino'') or ''Mechinos Heim'' (''Mechino's home'') in the Codex of Lorsch. The Martin's Chappel which ruins are east of the village is one of the oldest churches in the region. Since 1330 Meckesheim and the villages around was a part of the

Electorate of the Palatinate The Electoral Palatinate was a Imperial State, constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire until it was annexed by the Electorate of Baden in 1803. From the end of the 13th century, its ruler was one of the Prince-electors who elected the Holy ...

. After the end of this territory in 1803 the village became a part of

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...

. Since 2023, Meckesheim has a city partnership with

Harrison, Ohio Harrison is a city in western Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. The population was 12,563 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. History Harrison was laid out in 1810, named in honor of William Henry Harrison ...

Population

Traffic (rail)

Meckesheim station is connected via the Badenese Odenwald line from Heidelberg (1862, northwestern of Meckesheim) to Mosbach (Baden) (eastwards, 1862) and

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

(completed 1866). In 1868, a branch to

Bad Rappenau Bad Rappenau (; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Rappene'') is a city municipality in the Heilbronn (district), district of Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is situated about northwest of Heilbronn. Geography ...

(southeast of Meckesheim, important for salt production in Baden) was added and in 1869 completed to Bad Friedrichshall, in this way there were now a direct connection to

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

via

Heilbronn Heilbronn () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, surrounded by Heilbronn (district), Heilbronn District. From the late Middle Ages on, it developed into an important trading centre. At the begi ...

, too. In 1902, a normal gauge minor railway westwards to Wiesloch-Walldorf on the Rhine Valley Railway was opened, but the Meckesheim– Schatthausen section closed in 1922. During World War II a bridge on the line eastbound was destroyed by retreating German troops, and in 1971 the line was shortened to Aglasterhausen. Since 2009 and 2010, these two lines ( Elsenz Valley Railway and Schwarzbach Valley Railway) have been incorporated into the Rhine-Neckar S-Bahn. Due to the branch of the Schwarzbach Valley Railway and significance use by passengers in the village, Meckesheim has also been a stop (since 1997) for the

Regional-Express In Germany, Luxembourg and Austria, the Regional-Express (; RE, or in Austria: REX) is a type of regional train. It is similar to a semi-fast train, with a top speed of and an average speed of about as it calls at fewer stations than ''R ...

service between Mannheim, Heidelberg, and Heilbronn. In this way it is possible to reach

Heidelberg Hauptbahnhof Heidelberg Hauptbahnhof (commonly known as Heidelberg Hbf) is the main railway station for the city of Heidelberg. In 2005 it was used by around 42,000 passengers per day and is one of the largest passenger stations in the German state of Baden-W ...

(distance 23 km = 13.75 miles) within 17 minutes. As

DB Netz DB Netz () was a major subsidiary of that owned and operated a majority of the German railway system. It was one of the largest railway infrastructure managers by length (33,291 km as of 2019) and transport volume of its network. On 1 Janu ...

(the organization owning the railway tracks) refused during planning of the S-Bahn to incorporate capacities for goods trains and (even, already existing) sidings; goods traffic ceased in the late 2000s.

References

Rhein-Neckar-Kreis {{RheinNeckar-geo-stub