page_title: Mannheim–Saarbrücken railway
section_title: Post-war period, electrification and reconstruction in Ludwigshafen (1945–1971)
hierarchical_section_title: Mannheim–Saarbrücken railway / History / Post-war period, electrification and reconstruction in Ludwigshafen (1945–1971)
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Karte zur Verlegung des Hauptbahnhofs von Ludwigshafen 1969
context_page_description: The Mannheim–Saarbrücken railway is a railway in the German states of Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and the Saarland that runs through Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Neustadt an der Weinstraße, Kaiserslautern, Homburg and St. Ingbert. It is the most important railway line that runs through the Palatinate. It serves both passenger and freight transport and carries international traffic.
  The route was largely opened from 1847 to 1849 as the Pfälzische Ludwigsbahn between Ludwigshafen and Bexbach. The line is identical with the Ludwig Railway between Ludwigshafen and Homburg and it therefore often referred to as the Pfälzische Ludwigsbahn. The remaining sections went into operation between 1867 and 1904. The line was electrified from 1960 to 1964. In its present form, the line has existed since 1969, when Deutsche Bundesbahn moved the Ludwigshafen Hauptbahnhof to its current location. Deutsche Bahn operates the route under timetable number 670. Some sections of the line are cleared for speeds of 200 kilometres per hour for the ICE and TGV services between Paris, Kaiserslautern, Mannheim and Frankfurt.
context_section_description: In August 1945, the route was released for passenger traffic. The section of the line to the west of the Rhine came to under the control of the Vereinigung der Südwestdeutschen Eisenbahnen (Union of south-west German railways) from 1947 to 1949 during the French occupation. The Homburg–Saarbrücken section once again became part of the territory of Saarland, the rail network of which had its own administration from 1947, initially called the Saarländische Eisenbahnen (Saarland railways, SEB) and, from 1951, the Eisenbahnen des Saarlandes (Railways of the Saarland, EdS). Homburg became a customs station again. From 1949, Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) administered the section east of Homburg and integrated it into the Bundesbahn division of Mainz, which was assigned all railway lines within the newly created state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
  At the turn of the year in 1954/1955, the DB restored the Rhine crossing to its condition in 1932. With the integration of Saarland into the Federal Republic of Germany, it became responsible for the whole line; the Bundesbahn division of Saarbrücken replaced the EdS. The Germersheim Rhine Bridge, which was rebuilt in March 1945, contributed to the fact that through traffic increasingly concentrated on the main line from Mannheim to Saarbrücken. In May 1959, the Bundesbahn established a connection between Mundenheim and Mannheim to bypass Ludwigshafen Hauptbahnhof.
  Because of its great importance for long-distance traffic, the electrification of the line began in 1960. Corresponding plans already existed immediately after the war on the French side for the Saarland section, in order to link it more closely to France. Electric locomotives could operate over the Saarbrücken–Homburg section from 8 March 1960 and on the Homburg–Kaiserslautern section from 18 May 1961. The electrification of the remaining section had been delayed mainly because of the numerous tunnels between Kaiserslautern and Neustadt that had to be enlarged. For this reason, this section was temporary only accessible on a single-track basis; the trains were allowed to run at 40 kilometres per hour at most. Due to the restricted capacity, several freight trains ran over the Landau–Rohrbach and Langmeil–Monsheim railways towards Worms from 20 March 1960. The line could be operated electrically along its whole length from 12 March 1964. The flying junction that had existed since 1907 north of Schifferstadt was demolished with the electrification. The tracks between Limburgerhof and Ludwigshafen that had been used exclusively for through freight traffic since 1899 had already been abandoned and were used for the storage of freight wagons.
  Ludwigshafener Hauptbahnhof was an operational obstacle because of its construction as a terminus. In the early 1960s, construction work for a through station started at a new location. DB took it into operation in May 1969 and it was officially opened on 1 June. Its predecessor was then demolished along with the associated railway tracks. With the dissolution of the railway division of Mainz on 1 June 1971, the Ludwigshafen–Frankenstein section was transferred to the responsibility of the railway division of Karlsruhe. From 1 August of that year, the railway division of Saarbrücken was responsible for the entire section of the line from immediately west of Frankenstein.
caption: Ludwigshafen (Rhein) Hauptbahnhof before and after its transfer in 1969
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