page_title: Katzenberg Tunnel
section_title: Operations
hierarchical_section_title: Katzenberg Tunnel / Operations
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: RoLa Zug am Südportal des Katzenbergtunnels gezogen von der BLS Re 485 001.
context_page_description: The Katzenberg Tunnel is a railway tunnel on the Karlsruhe–Basel high-speed railway that opened in December 2012. The tunnel was built to increase the capacity and speed of the Mannheim–Karlsruhe–Basel railway and was built to remove the freight traffic from the towns on the old line. The two parallel, single-track tunnels, which can be passed at up to 250 km/h, extend from Bad Bellingen to Efringen-Kirchen With a length of 9,385 m, it is the third longest tunnel after the Landrücken Tunnel and the Münden Tunnel and the longest twin-bore tunnel in Germany.
  The reduction in journey times for long distance passenger trains between Freiburg and Basel initially amounts to two minutes. After the completion of the entire section of line, the journey time will be around 15 minutes shorter. At night a few freight trains and during the daytime many freight trains are routed through the Katzenberg Tunnel.
  The tunnel and its connection to the existing network cost a total of approximately €610 million. The line was cleared for operations by the Federal Railway Authority on 4 December 2012. The opening ceremony took place on the same day. Regular operations began on 9 December 2012.
context_section_description: The High-speed rail services and much of the freight traffic travelling on this section of the Rhine Valley line run through the tunnel. At night, all freight trains pass through the tunnel and only seven rolling highway trains, which cannot pass through the tunnel for technical reasons, remain on the old long and curvy line. In the spring of 2013, more freight trains were observed using the original route again. From 22 April to 28 September 2014, DB Netz closed the original section of track for renovations of the track and embankments and the construction of noise barriers. Trains were rerouted during this time through the Katzenberg Tunnel, including rolling highway traffic.
  The scheduled journey time between Freiburg and Basel was reduced at the timetable change on 9 December 2012 from 35 to 33 minutes. In this case, the length of the line in the Isteiner Klotz area was reduced by 3.814 km. At the same time the speed limit was increased to 250 km/h (in the tunnel and south of it to the Haltingen curve). In the Haltingen curve, the speed limit of 110 km/h will be raised to 160 km/h with the completion of the next section of the upgrade. The section has four tracks rather than the two tracks available through the tunnels. Together with other construction projects, the travel time from Basel to Karlsruhe will be reduced from the current 100 to 69 minutes.
  The new link is connected by sets of points that allow trains to run at 100 km/h through the junction as the curve at the junction has a radius of 1200 m. During regular operations, ICE trains on the new section therefore cannot reach the authorised maximum speed of 250 km/h. A permanent grade-separated connection to the original line is planned. According to Deutsche Bahn, all freight will be able to pass through the tunnel in 2025. Flying junctions have been omitted according to Deutsche Bahn in favour of shorter automatic signalling blocks. The federal and state governments and Deutsche Bahn have agreed to an optimisation of the interconnection points (in particular via grade-separated connections) to avoid forecast traffic congestion in 2025. At the northern and southern junctions, the connections to the Rhine Valley Railway can be passed at 160 km/h.
  Under Deutsche Bahn’s infrastructure charging system, the new line through the tunnel is classified as category F1. The basic price for trips through the tunnel amounts to €4.60 per train kilometre. DB Netz announced in November 2012 that it would adjust the route prices from the end of 2014 so that freight trains would have no incentive to use the old line. With the introduction of a new track pricing system, these incentives would be discontinued from December 2016. The shorter route through the tunnel compared to old line  through would then be cheaper.
  According to Deutsche Bahn, after the commissioning of Katzenberg Tunnel, the number of trains on the existing route were reduced: between 6 AM and 10 PM, the average number of trains was reduced from 231 (in 2012) to 81 (in 2013), during the night hours they were reduced from 63 to 19. The average number of freight trains in the same period was reduced from 112 to 18 between 6 AM and 10 PM and during the night from 42 to 6.
caption: Rolling highway freight train at the southern portal, during the closure of the old Rhine Valley Railway (May 2014)
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