page_title: Gera Süd–Weischlitz railway
section_title: Route
hierarchical_section_title: Gera Süd–Weischlitz railway / Route description / Route
caption_attribution_description: Das Südportal des Schlossbergtunnels in Greiz (Thüringen).
context_page_description: The Gera Süd–Weischlitz railway is a main railway line in the German federal states of Thuringia and Saxony, which was originally built and operated by the Saxon-Thuringian Railway Company. It runs in the valley of the White Elster from Gera via Greiz and Plauen to Weischlitz.
context_section_description: Trains leave Gera Süd station on a two-track railway and passed under the southeast tangent road to a junction, where the line to Saalfeld runs to the south and the line to Gößnitz branches off to the east. The now closed section of the Elster Valley Railway branched off to the southeast and passed to the east of the district of Zwötzen and crossed the White Elster to the west of Liebschwitz and came within a few metres of the Saalfeld line in the area of today's Wolfsgefärth junction, where the current Elster Valley Railway starts. The decommissioned Weida–Wünschendorf–Werdau railway crosses the Elster Valley Railway near the Wünschendorf dolomite works and the two lines converge at Wünschendorf station. Both lines leave the town and the Wünschendorf basin in parallel and reach the narrow and densely wooded valley of the Elster, with the Elster Valley Railway changing to the western river bank. After passing the quartzite quarry, the Werdau–Mehltheuer railway curves eastwards into the Fuchsbach valley, while the Elster Valley Railway runs through a tunnel for the first time and crosses the river again. In Berga, it crosses federal highway 175 and south of the town it first crosses alluvial farmland, until the river is crosses again and the 264 metre-long Rüßdorf Tunnel shortens the route. From Lehnamühle the route runs through the Greiz-Werdauer Wald landscape as far as Neumühle station and to a double crossing of the river to Neumühle Tunnel. On the way to Greiz, the river is crossed twice, and this section has one of the most noteworthy works of civil engineering—as shown by its popularity with photographers—the Schlossberg Tunnel under the Oberes Schloss (Upper Palace) in Greiz.
  On the second half of the route, the White Elster is crossed a total of fourteen times and it parallels Bundesstraße 92 closely as far as Elsterberg. At the exit from Greiz station, the disused line to Neumark branched off to the east and at the same time the line passes under old steel bridge of the Tannendorfstraße. After the confluence of the Göltzsch with the White Elster, the line crosses the Elster twice and runs through the Dölau (or Rothenthal) tunnel, before reaching Greiz-Dölau station. Between Greiz-Dölau and Elsterberg, the line remains on the eastern bank of the Elster and crosses the state border into Saxony, before crossing the river a total of six times and through two tunnel on the subsequent section to Barthmühle. Among the most striking points on the line is the following section under the Elster Viaduct, which carried the Leipzig–Hof railway. Immediately afterwards the line runs to the confluence of the Trieb and passes the Pöhl dam, which lies 800 metre to the east. The Barthmühle tunnel as well as four other Elster bridges follow until it reaches the industrial city of Plauen with its stations of Chrieschwitz, Mitte, Unterer Bahnhof  and Zellwolle, although only the new Mitte station is now served. After leaving the city, the line is approached from the north by the Plauen–Cheb railway, which finally meets the Elster Valley Railway in Kürbitz and the lines run parallel for the remaining two kilometres to Weischlitz.
caption: South portal of the Schlossberg tunnel in Greiz
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