page_title: Neustadt–Wissembourg railway
section_title: The Deutsche Bahn era (since 1945)
hierarchical_section_title: Neustadt–Wissembourg railway / History / The Deutsche Bahn era (since 1945)
caption_attribution_description: Bf. Winden nach seiner Modernisierung
context_page_description: The Neustadt–Wissembourg railway, also called the Pfälzische Maximiliansbahn, Maximiliansbahn or just the Maxbahn - is a railway line in southwestern Germany that runs from Neustadt an der Weinstrasse to Wissembourg in Alsace, France. The Palatine Maximilian Railway also included a branch from Winden via Wörth and the Maxaubahn to Karlsruhe.
context_section_description: After the Second World War the station building at Landau, that had suffered badly from the war, was gradually replaced by a brand new building. The second track on the section of line between Winden and Wörth was dismantled by the French occupying powers. In 1975 public transit ceased on the Winden–Wissembourg section, and it was finally reduced to a single track.
   
  In 1985 express trains from Munich to Saarbrücken started running on the Karlsruhe–Landau line. These trains called at Landau in order to use the Queichtalbahn to Saarbrücken. After a shipping accident that occurred in 1987, a new bridge over the Rhine had to be built at Maxau. The bridge was opened on 29 April 1991 with one track and in 2000 was expanded to take a second track because it had become a bottleneck. The second track was opened to traffic on 12 May 2000.
  At the beginning of the 1990s the depot (Bahnbetriebswerk) in Landau was closed and knocked down.  Landau marshalling yard also disappeared. In 1994 through traffic from Karlsruhe to Neustadt in Landau was interrupted for several years; instead trains were route via the Queichtalbahn Pirmasens–Landau as far as Neustadt. In addition in March 1997 the Winden–Wissembourg line was reactivated.
  In 2003 the main station at Neustadt was modernised as part of the introduction of RheinNeckar S-Bahn onto the  Palatine Ludwig Railway.
  From 1 to 3 October 2005 steam trains belonging to the Ulmer Eisenbahnfreunde (UEF) ran on the Maxbahn on the occasion of its 150th anniversary. The steam trains travelled on a circuit: Neustadt – Landau – Winden – Karlsruhe – Graben-Neudorf – Germersheim – Speyer – Schifferstadt – Neustadt and also from Neustadt to Wissembourg. Some hauled the so-called Silberlings of the Deutsche Bahn (DB). Kandel station was upgraded just in time for these celebrations.
caption: Winden station after its modernisation in 2007
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