page_title: Stuttgart–Hattingen railway
section_title: History of the name Gäubahn and Overview
hierarchical_section_title: Stuttgart–Hattingen railway / History / History of the name Gäubahn and Overview
context_page_description: The Stuttgart–Hattingen railway, also known as the Gäu Railway is a 148.5-kilometer-long railway in the southern part of the state of Baden-Württemberg in Germany, running from Stuttgart to Hattingen. The Royal Württemberg State Railways and the Baden State Railways constructed the majority of this line between the years 1866 and 1879. However, the line in its present form was not completed until the Deutsche Reichsbahn finished construction on the connection between Tuttlingen and Hattingen in 1934. Today the partially single-track, fully electrified line features the high-speed Intercity-Express service, with its tilting train technology, traveling from Stuttgart to Zurich. In addition, a multitude of local train services of numerous railway companies are on offer. The Gäu Railway is also a significant line in the North-South freight service system.
context_section_description: The Gäu line from Stuttgart to Singen was originally cobbled together using a collection of sections of smaller railways, and these only combined in 1934 to become the line as it is today.  The term Gäubahn was initially used as the name of the railway running from Stuttgart via Eutingen im Gäu to Freudenstadt, which largely travels through the Gäu, and which was put into service in 1879.  Only in the section from Stuttgart to Eutingen do the two identically named lines share tracks.  However, the section between Eutingen and Freudenstadt is also called the Gäubahn today.
  Before 1934, the name Gäubahn was used for the section Stuttgart-Eutingen, which became an important part of north-south train connections, as well as the name for the section of the Nagold Valley Railway (Nagoldtalbahn) between Eutingen and Horb am Neckar, and for the section of the Upper Neckar Railway (Obere Neckarbahn) between Horb, via Tuttlingen, to Immendingen.  Therefore, by 1934 the name Gäubahn was synonymous for the railway sections between Stuttgart and Immendingen, on the border between Württemberg and Baden.
  In 1934, the name started to be used in yet another form:  When the connection between Tuttlingen and Hattingen was completed, this line then connected the Gäu line to the section of the Black Forest line between Hattingen and Singen, forming a contiguous railway between Stuttgart and the Swiss border near Singen. This entire railway then adopted the term Gäubahn.  The section of railway running between Tuttlingen and Immendingen, which had been replaced on the Gäubahn by the new section Tuttlingen-Hattingen, was assigned exclusively to the Danube Valley Railway (Donautalbahn, see Tuttlingen–Inzigkofen railway).
  The full length of the Gäubahn traversed the territory of all three of the states in the German southwest in the late 19th century.  The section between Hattingen and Singen, which is shared with the Black Forest line, runs through Baden, and was built by the Baden State Railways.  Between Tuttlingen and Stuttgart, the line travels through lands in Württemberg, and was constructed by the Royal Württemberg State Railways. In addition, the area claimed by the Province of Hohenzollern reached to the Neckar near Dettingen and Horb, which made the Prussian province an adjacent owner.  It was the two former railway companies, however, who built the Gäu line.
caption: Overview of the construction history of the Gäubahn
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