page_title: Mannheim Kurpfalzbrücke–Edingen–Heidelberg railway
section_title: After the Second World War
hierarchical_section_title: Mannheim Kurpfalzbrücke–Edingen–Heidelberg railway / History / After the Second World War
caption_attribution_description: OEG tram at Friedrichsring, Mannheim
context_page_description: The Mannheim Kurpfalzbrücke–Heidelberg railway is a metre-gauge railway between central Mannheim and Heidelberg-Bergheim. It was built by the former Oberrheinischen Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft AG, later MVV OEG AG and is now operated by MVV Verkehr GmbH and RNV according to Eisenbahn-Bau- und Betriebsordnung für Schmalspurbahnen. The route connects the Mannheim tram network with the Heidelberg tram network. However, the line is still owned by MVV Verkehr AG as the successor to the OEG. It is operated as a branch line using electronic direct traffic control.
context_section_description: In 1960, the local signal boxes began to be replaced by an automatic block signaling system. The first line to be modernised was from Mannheim to Seckenheim. In 1967, the Schriesheim–Handschuhsheim section was re-signalled. Today, the line is controlled by Edingen signal box.
  Because the Seckenheim–Neckarhausen–Edingen line was lightly used because of the direct line that was opened in 1928/29, it was replaced by a bus route in 1969. The kilometre stones on the Neckar river embankment in Neckarhausen are still visible today.
  The halt of Neu-Edingen was opened on 10 April 1989.
  After planning began in 1983, the OEG opened a new route in Heidelberg in 1993: instead of using Bergheimer Straße, it now runs on the tram line along Kurfürstenanlage to Heidelberg Hauptbahnhof. This required a new track to be built from the direction of Wieblingen, starting shortly before the former OEG freight yard, which was partially demolished at the same time, passing under the Czerny bridge to the Hauptbahnhof and connecting with the existing tram route.
  The Berufsschule – Alter Güterbahnhof section was closed on Friday, 7 May 1993. On the following Sunday night, the Güterbahnhof–Blücherstraße section was closed and the Berufsschule–Hauptbahnhof section was opened, running towards the Hauptbahnhof only. The Blücherstraße–Berufsschule section was closed on the next Friday and the Hauptbahnhof–Berufsschule section was opened on the following Monday, 17 May. A development on the site of the freight yard was completed on 17 August 1998. 
  In 1995, the concept of MVG 2000 was implemented that also brought big changes for the OEG. Up to this time, trains coming from Weinheim terminated in the forecourt of the Mannheim Hauptbahnhof and from Heidelberg in Mannheim Kurpfalz Bridge station (Bahnhof Mannheim Kurpfalzbrücke). The circuit was now closed with trains running through the centre of Mannheim. To achieve this, a short connecting line was built from the front of the Collini-Center, bypassing the Kurpfalz bridge station branch and connecting to the tram line on Friedrichsring. This connection was a restoration; there had been a similar link until 1928 or 1974. The OEG was connected to the Mannheim tram network and now ran with the line designation of 5R (and 5 for trains running only on the Käfertal–Mannheim–Edingen section).
  The connection of the OEG to Deutsche Bahn's two main stations in Mannheim and Heidelberg thus took place within a few years of each other.
  As a result of the upgrade, the OEG was integrated into the Heidelberg tram network as a full line from June 1999.
  However, the Heidelberg stop of  Adenauerplatz between Bismarckplatz and Poststraße was not served by the OEG due to the short distance to the neighbouring stops before it was abolished in 2015.
caption: OEG train on the Mannheim Friedrichsring (1986)
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