Eis Valley Railway

Grünstadt–Enkenbach
Route number:	666 (Grünstadt–Eiswoog), ex 272a & 274h
Line number:	3420 (Grünstadt–Enkenbach)
Line length:	Grünstadt–Eiswoog: 17,3 km Eiswoog–Enkenbach: 9,0 km
Track gauge:	1435
Legend Palatine Northern Railway from Neustadt to Altleiningen 0,0 Grünstadt Palatine Northern Railway to Monsheim 1,1 Grünstadt Nord 1,9 Asselheim 4,2 Mertesheim 5,5 Ebertsheim1895–1954 to Hettenleidelheim 6,1 Ebertsheimvon 1876–1895, 1954–1976 and since 1994; 1895–1954 only goods 9,2 Eisenberg 13,4 Ramsen Bockbach Viaduct (170 m) 17,2 Eiswoog(new) Eis Valley Viaduct (250 m) 17,7 Eiswoog(old) Dreibrunner Valley Viaduct (176 m) 19,3 Stempelkopf Tunnel (483 m) Stempelbrunnen 22,5 Alsenborn Alsenz Valley Railway from Bingen 26,3 Enkenbach Alsenz Valley Railway to Kaiserslautern

Grünstadt station, start of the Eis Valley Railway

The Eis Valley Railway (German: Eistalbahn) is a branch line in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, that runs through the Palatine Forest. It runs from Grünstadt in a southwesterly direction through the valley of the Eisbach (or "Eis") to Enkenbach. The section from Grünstadt to Eisenberg was opened as early as 1876 by the Palatine Northern Railway Company. The iron ore industry in and around Eisenberg gave the line considerable importance for the transport of goods, whilst passenger services played a rather secondary role. The remaining stretch of line to Enkenbach was not completed until 1932 under the direction of the Deutsche Reichsbahn. After passenger services had been withdrawn in 1976, strategic considerations during the Cold War prevented its complete closure. Goods traffic between Eisenberg and Enkenbach ended in 1988. In the period from 1994 to 2001 the line between Grünstadt and the Eiswoog reservoir was re-opened; the remaining section, however, stayed closed. Goods traffic ceased entirely in 2001.

Literature

• Wolfgang Fiegenbaum, Wolfgang Klee (2002) (in German), Rückkehr zur Schiene – Reaktivierte und neue Strecken im Personenverkehr 1980–2001, Berlin: transpress, ISBN 3-613-71185-0 
• Klaus D. Holzborn (1993) (in German), Eisenbahn-Reviere Pfalz, Berlin: transpress, ISBN 3-344-70790-6 
• Heinz Sturm (2005) (in German), Die pfälzischen Eisenbahnen, Ludwigshafen am Rhein: pro MESSAGE, ISBN 3-934-84526-6 

References

External links

• Infos zur Eistalbahn
• Förderverein Eistalbahn e. V.
• Bilder der Tunnelportale