Background and Construction In July 1872 the
Chemnitz-Aue-Adorfer Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft gained the concession to build and operate a railway line from
Chemnitz through
Aue und
Schöneck to
Adorf in
Vogtland. The
Sächsische Eisenbahnbaugesellschaft were given the contract to construct the line, but there were financial difficulties so suddenly, in 1874, the contract was taken back in house. The topology of the line presented challenges but the work was completed by 15 November 1875. The
Zwickauer Mulde valley section between Aue–
Eibenstock–
Schöneck/Vogtl. was ready for opening on 7 September 1875. On 24 December 1875 the complementary line, the 8 km long Zweigbahn from Zwotental to the Czech border at
Klingenthal was opened. Here it joined to the
Falkenau–Graslitz(–Border) line of the
Buschtiehrader Eisenbahn. But even in the first year of operation, the takings were below expectation and the company sold the line on 15 July 1876 to the Saxony government. This was the end of the CAAE and their planned extension to
Hof in
Bavaria.
Operations The
Royal Saxon State Railways ran the line under the name CA (taking the letters from Chemnitz and Adorf). A planned extension was never implemented. Due to the unfavourable topology of the line, with long climbs and tight corners in the region of
Lössnitz and
Schöneck, made it unsuitable for heavy goods trains. The short section between
Aue und
Zwönitz was known as the
Sächsischer Semmering, the line climbed 255 m. In 1920 the Chemnitz-Aue-Adorfer railway passed to the newly formed
Deutsche Reichsbahn. After
World War II regional express trains ran from Dresden and Chemnitz to Adorf. On 1 March 1967 the former mainline was reclassified as a branch line.
Extensions From 1899 to 1970 a goods line ran from Zwönitz to
Stollberg to bring the coal from the Oelsnitzer Revier in the Ore Mountains. The track was removed on closure. In 1900, it was extended through
Beierfeld und
Elterlein to
Scheibenberg. This line fell to the Soviet Union as a war reparation and was closed and removed in 1945. The district capital of
Auerbach was connected to the line in 1891/92 by means of a short connection from
Falkenstein/Vogtl. and Muldenberg. On 15 November 1892 the line was opened and it is still in use today by the
Vogtlandbahn as part of the
Zwickau–
Kraslice route. Only a short connecting line was needed from the CA-Linie to the town Eibenstock which was opened in 1905 and ran until 5 October 1975. This was the most precipitous line in Saxony with a gradient of 1:20 or 50 ‰. A further extension was from Siebenbrunn to
Erlbach, this gave a direct connection to
Markneukirchen. Traffic ran to Markneukirchen from 20 September 1910, and to Erlbach from 1 October 1911. The line closed 1 June 1975.
Contraction In 1975 the section between
Wolfsgrün und
Schönheide was permanently cut by the successful construction of the
Talsperre Eibenstock reservoir. The last train between Adorf and Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz) was on 27 September 1975, as was the last train on the short stretch to Eibenstock ob. Bf. Passenger trains continued between Karl-Marx-Stadt and Blauenthal, and also between Schönheide Ost und Adorf. The service between Schönheide Ost and Schönheide Süd finished 1 January 1979. The section to Muldenberg closed on 23 May 1982. Goods traffic continued to Schönheide ost until 1995. The passenger service from Aue to
Blauenthal was also withdrawn in 1995.
Reorganisation The
Vogtlandbahn has been running trains on this section from Muldenberg to Adorf since 1997. As part of regeneration project for derelict lines in 1996, the tracks were rebuilt to 80 km/h standard. This section is used by VB5
Hof-
Plauen -
Falkenstein - Adorf, using
Duewag RegioSprinter train sets. Then in 2002 the section from Chemnitz to Aue was opened by the
DB Erzgebirgsbahn, and in 2003 this section was upgraded to 80 km/h standard. And since 2005 whole section is now back in service. Construction work remains (May 2008) particularly at the level crossings. This section is now known as the
Zwönitztalbahn. Chemnitz is a centre for a
train-tram experiment. Here the low floored trains run on tram lines through the city, both using the and adapting to the two power systems.
Further Usage On 6 October 2007 a 2.8 kilometer stretch of the track between Schönheide Süd and Rautenkranz was brought back in service. The Westsächsische Eisenbahn (FHWE) railway preservation group has created a museum railway running the
Wernesgrüner Schienen-Express. == Description of the line ==