View source for Forchheim–Höchstadt railway

{{infobox rail line
|name=Forchheim–Höchstadt
|routenumber = 822
|linenumber = 5112
|linelength = {{convert|22.7|km|mi|1|abbr=on}}
|gauge = {{RailGauge|1435mm}}
|map={{routemap|inline=1|map=
STR~~ ~~''from [[Bamberg]]''~~([[Nuremberg–Bamberg railway|Nuremberg–Bamberg]])
BHF~~0,0~~[[Forchheim|Forchheim (Oberfr)]]
ABZgl~~1,1~~''to Behringersmühle''~~([[Forchheim–Behringersmühle railway|Forchheim–Behringersmühle]])
ABZgl~~1,5~~''to [[Nuremberg Hauptbahnhof|Nuremberg&nbsp;Hbf]]''~~(Nuremberg–Bamberg)
STRo~~''[[Bundesstraße 470|B&nbsp;470]]''
ENDExe~~2,2~~''end of line''
exSBRÜCKE~~''[[Bundesautobahn 73|A&nbsp;73]]''
exhKRZWae~~''[[Main-Donau-Kanal]]''
exHST~~4,3~~[[Hausen (bei Forchheim)|Hausen (b Forchheim)]]
exHST~~7,0~~[[Heroldsbach]]
exHST~~9,4~~[[Heroldsbach|Poppendorf (Oberfr)]]
exBHF~~11,8~~[[Hemhofen]]
exSBRÜCKE~~''B&nbsp;470''
exHST~~15,4~~[[Adelsdorf, Bavaria|Adelsdorf (Oberfr)]]
exSBRÜCKE~~''B&nbsp;470''
exHST~~17,4~~[[Höchstadt an der Aisch|Neuhaus (b Höchstadt/Aisch)]]
exSBRÜCKE~~''[[Bundesautobahn 3|A&nbsp;3]]''
exHST~~20,4~~[[Gremsdorf]]
exBUE~~20,9~~''B&nbsp;470''
exBUE~~''B&nbsp;470''
exKBHFe~~22,7~~[[Höchstadt an der Aisch|Höchstadt (Aisch)]]
}}
}}
The '''Forchheim–Höchstadt an der Aisch railway''' linked the [[Upper Franconia]]n county town of [[Forchheim]] to the county town of the former [[Höchstadt an der Aisch|neighbouring county of Höchstadt]] via the lower Aisch Bottom (''Aischgrund''). It is also known in German as the '''''Aischgrundbahn''''' (''not to be confused with the [[Aischtalbahn]]''), '''''Hirtenbachtalbahn''''' or '''''Hemhofenbahn'''''.
== History ==
The 23&nbsp;kilometre long [[standard gauge]] branch line was  opened as a ''[[Lokalbahn]]'' on 16&nbsp;November 1892 by the [[Royal Bavarian State Railways]]. Passenger traffic was lively: in 1963 nine pairs of trains ran daily on weekdays and five on Sundays.
Passenger services ended on 28&nbsp;September 1984. In response to that the „Localbahn Aischgrund  Society was founded in 1984 in an attempt to set up a museum railway line. This plan only partly succeeded however, in that they became an agent for other museum railways. In 1999 the society was dissolved. The last goods train between Hemhofen and Höchstadt ran on 2&nbsp;March 1995. The closure of this section of line took place on 1&nbsp;October 1995.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.eba.bund.de/cln_005/nn_202628/SharedDocs/Publikationen/DE/Infothek/closure/stilllegung__bayern,templateId=raw,property=publicationFile.xls/stilllegung_bayern.xls |title=Federal Railway Office: List of federally owned lines closed in Bavaria since 1994 |access-date=2009-03-16 |archive-date=2011-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718210551/http://www.eba.bund.de/cln_005/nn_202628/SharedDocs/Publikationen/DE/Infothek/closure/stilllegung__bayern,templateId=raw,property=publicationFile.xls/stilllegung_bayern.xls |url-status=dead }}</ref> Goods services to Hemhofen ended on 31&nbsp;December 1999.
In the 1990s the railway was also part of a Maximalnetz planned by the  [[Erlangen#Public rail services and the project for a town and area railway in Erlangen|Stadt-Umland-Bahn Erlangen (StUB)]], a project by the [[Erlangen|town of Erlangen]] and the counties of [[Landkreis Erlangen-Höchstadt|Erlangen-Höchstadt]] and [[Landkreis Forchheim|Forchheim]]. It was proposed that, as a first step, a diesel-operated passenger service would be revived between Forchheim and Hemhofen and, then later, a possible extension to Höchstadt would follow. In 2002 discussions about the reactivation of the line foundered, when the communities involved were not prepared to take on the financial risk.
As a consequence the [[DB Netz|Deutsche Bahn]] began a process in late 2002, in accordance with § 11 of the General Railway Law ([[Allgemeiner Eisenbahngesetz|AEG]]) for the release and closure of railway infrastructure on the remaining Forchheim–Hemhofen section. The efforts of the [[Deutsche Regionaleisenbahn]], who had rented the line for a time, were fruitless. On 1&nbsp;April 2005 the section of line was closed.
On 4&nbsp;September 2007 the [[Federal Railway Office]] finally started the process for the final release of the entire 22&nbsp;kilometre long route,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bundesanzeiger.de/old/banz/banzinha/BAnz_59_173.htm |title=Bundesanzeiger 2007, Edition No. 173, page 7519 |access-date=2009-03-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071213151957/http://www.bundesanzeiger.de/old/banz/banzinha/BAnz_59_173.htm |archive-date=2007-12-13 |url-status=dead }}</ref> which was formally approved on 21&nbsp;February&nbsp;2008. That meant that the railway now existed legally no more. Gradually the land was used for the construction of local bypasses<ref>[https://archive.today/20120908011917/http://www.nn-forchheim.de/artikel.asp?man=4&art=786146&kat=13 Nordbayerische Nachrichten , 14.03.2008]</ref> and cycle paths.
== References ==
<references/>
== Sources ==
* Wolfgang Bleiweis, Ekkehard Martin, Stefan Winkler: ''Fränkische Nebenbahnen einst and jetzt – Oberfranken''. Bufe-Fachbuch-Verlag, Egglham 1986. {{ISBN|3-922138-25-X}}.
== External links ==
* [http://www.bahnhofsbilder.de/forchheim/aischgrund/aisch.html Information and photographs of the ''Aischgrundbahn'' at ''bahnhofsbilder.de''] (private)
* [http://www.hirtenbachtalbahn.de/real/Index.htm Information and photographs of the line at ''hirtenbachtalbahn.de'']{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} (private)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110723022332/http://www.bahnfoto.net/foto.php?lang=de&sec=false&view=gallery_short&kategorie=85 Photographs of the line lifting at ''bahnfoto.net''] (private)
{{coord missing|Bavaria}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forchheim-Hochstadt railway}}
[[Category:Branch lines in Bavaria]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Forchheim]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Forchheim (district)]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Erlangen-Höchstadt]]