page_title: Neckarelz–Osterburken railway
section_title: Baden State Railways era (1866-1920)
hierarchical_section_title: Neckarelz–Osterburken railway / History / Baden State Railways era (1866-1920)
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Karte des Schienennetzes im Raum Mosbach mit Umgebung. English: railway map of Mosbach and surroundings.
context_page_description: The Neckarelz–Osterburken railway is a 30.9 km long railway line in the north of the German state of Baden-Württemberg, which connects the Neckar and the Bauland along the edge of the Odenwald. It was opened in 1866 as part of the Odenwald Railway between Heidelberg and Würzburg. It has been upgraded to form an entirely double-track and electrified main line railway. It was an east–west axis for German long-distance transport until 1945. Since 2003 passenger services on it have been operated by the Rhine-Neckar S-Bahn. The Neckarelz–Mosbach section has also been served by the Heilbronn Stadtbahn since 2014.
context_section_description: Four years after the start of operations on the line, the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/1871 used its capacity in full. With Baden entering the war on 16 July 1870 the line was part of the military infrastructure. From 28 July 1870 until 15 October 1871 it was a military line. There was one pair of civilian passenger trains each day; all other capacity was made available for military traffic.
  After the end of the war, Baden, Hesse and Württemberg agreed to the construction of the Neckar Valley Railway from Neckargemünd via Neckarelz to Jagstfeld and on 24 May 1879 rail traffic between Heidelberg and Mosbach followed the Neckar and avoided the topographically difficult Odenwald Railway. Therefore, a relocation of Neckarelz station was necessary: the old station was built at the end of the bridge over the Neckar on the Odenwald Railway, the new station was built on the new line along the Neckar river. From the new station two curves were built to Mosbach and to the Meckenheim line. The old Odenwald Railway between the old railway station and Mosbach remained in place, but in 1895 it was considered unnecessary and was abandoned.
  Duplication of the line together with the Neckar Valley Railway between Neckargemünd and Neckarelz  began in 1904 and was completed on 29 April 1906.
caption: Development of the rail network near Mosbach
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