Hindenburgdamm

After the Second War of Schleswig in 1864, when Prussia took over Schleswig from Denmark, Sylt and Westerland belonged to the new Tondern district. The seaside bathing town of Westerland gradually grew in popularity. The west coast railway already ran from Altona by way of Husum and Niebüll to Tønder (then also in Germany and called Tondern). From here, the tracks were extended to the port at the Hoyerschleuse, whence paddlesteamers ran to Munkmarsch harbour on Sylt. The connection was at the tide's mercy and, in winter, the ice in the Wadden Sea formed an impenetrable barrier. Already being planned at that time was a rail causeway from the mainland to Nösse on Sylt. The horrendous cost of such a project kept it shelved for quite a while, until Westerland attained the status of a town in 1905. Westerland's growing popularity as a seaside resort led in 1910 to serious official planning for the rail causeway. World War I brought all planning to a stop. After the war, Germany was obliged to cede Tønder and the Hoyerschleuse to Denmark. Sylt remained part of Germany, but owing to the new border, the old route to Sylt was now cut off, except if travellers wanted to go to the trouble of obtaining a Danish visa to make a short trip through Danish territory. == Construction ==

Because of this unacceptable situation, construction on the long planned causeway was finally begun by Philipp Holzmann in 1925. Early in the construction, a storm flood swept away what had already been built. After this experience, it was decided to realign the causeway's route somewhat more towards the north. A trenchlike cofferdam was built to facilitate construction. 1,000-1,500 workers were employed on the project. In the two years that it took to build the causeway, more than 3 million cubic metres (4 million cu. yd.) of sand and clay were moved, and 120,000 tonnes of stones used. It was opened on 1 June 1927. == Rail traffic ==

'' (Blue) Sylt-Shuttle (Red) The auto-train car shuttle train terminal in Niebüll is connected to the Autobahnen in Schleswig-Holstein by Federal Highways (Bundesstraßen) B5 and B199. Two operators run shuttle trains: • Red: Sylt-Shuttle by DB AutoZug (German Railways) • Blue: Autozug Sylt by Railroad Development Corporation (RDC) Incidents On 3 September 2009, there was a fatal accident on the Hindenburgdamm when a squall blew a truck off a flatcar in one of the auto-trains. The driver was thrown out of the truck and died at the accident scene. == Namesake ==

In the 1960s and 1970s, the name "Hindenburgdamm" came to be criticized, since its namesake was a controversial figure. There were many initiatives to find the causeway a new name, but none of the suggestions (including "Sylt-Damm", "Friedens-Damm" ["Peace Causeway"] and "Friesen-Damm" ["Frisian Causeway"]) won majority support. == Future ==

In 2006, rumours came up that the single-tracked stretches of the line (between Niebüll and Klanxbüll and between Morsum and Westerland) were to be extended to double-track. However, these rumours proved to be false. Work started in 2008 at the Lehnshallig crossover merely had the purpose of replacing old equipment. == References ==