Beginnings and emergence of the Schifferstadt–Germersheim section Originally the administration of the
Circle of the Rhine (
Rheinkreis), which was part of
Bavaria, planned that its first railway line would be first in the north–south direction. Instead, the
Palatine Ludwig Railway (
Pfälzische Ludwigsbahn) was built between 1847 and 1849 from Rheinschanze (
Ludwigshafen from 1853) to
Bexbach; this mainly served the transport of coal. A route via
Speyer, which was then the capital of the Circle of the Rhine (similar to the modern concept of the
Palatinate), was considered instead of a route via Rheinschanz island, on which the city of
Mannheim had built a fortification on the opposite bank of the Rhine. This alternative was dropped, since the main traffic flowed towards Mannheim at that time. In 1838, however, it was determined that Speyer should be linked to the main line via a branch line. The
Palatine Ludwig Railway Company (
Pfälzische Ludwigsbahn-Gesellschaft) opened a branch line from
Schifferstadt to
Speyer with the commissioning of the Rheinschanze–
Neustadt section of the Ludwig Railway on 11 June 1847. Plans for a north–south connection were subsequently developed. There were two options for discussion: one would run from
Neustadt via
Landau to
Wissembourg in
Alsace and continue from there to
Strasbourg. The other would have extended the branch to Speyer via
Germersheim and
Lauterbourg to Strasbourg. The first option prevailed, because France hesitated and because the former option passed through territory that was more densely settled than a route along the Rhine valley. The section to Germersheim was opened on 14 March 1864 at a cost of a total of one million
gulden, after being delayed by difficulties on agreeing on a route past its fortress.
Closing the gap to Wörth and further development In the same year, a committee met in
Rülzheim, which called for an extension of the line to
Wörth. Apart from representatives from Rülzheim, it included representatives of Germersheim,
Bellheim,
Rheinzabern, Wörth and Maxau. It was at first unclear whether the town of Germersheim should be bypassed to the west or east. The former option would have been longer and more expensive. The
Franco-Prussian War delayed the implementation of the project. The municipality of
Kandel, which since 1864 had been served by the
line from Winden to Karlsruhe campaigned for a route that passed through its territory. The administration of the
Palatinate Railway (
Pfälzische Eisenbahnen), to which the Ludwig Railway Company had belonged since 1870, rejected this proposal on 20 November 1871 since such a route would have required a detour which would have reduced traffic on the line. Kandel, however, did not give up immediately, and had its plan rewritten. Nevertheless, the chosen route went through Wörth. This was approved on 15 March 1874. The construction of the line went forward without any major problems and it was opened on 25 July 1876, along with its continuation via Lauterbourg to Strasbourg. Unlike the Schifferstadt–Germersheim section, the newly opened section of the track was owned and operated by the
Palatine Maximilian Railway (
Pfälzische Maximiliansbahn-Gesellschaft). The line from Schifferstadt to Lauterbourg had two tracks from 1906. The express trains from
Berlin to Strasbourg, which had previously run via Neustadt and the
Neustadt–Wissembourg railway, now ran via Speyer and Germersheim as this route was shorter and the new track provided sufficient capacity. The line, along with the other railways within the Palatinate, was absorbed into the
Royal Bavarian State Railways (
Königlich Bayerische Staatseisenbahnen) on 1 January 1909.
Development after the First World War After the First World War,
Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France and the long-distance services to it also ended, since the newly founded
Deutsche Reichsbahn wanted trains to run as far as possible within Germany. Instead, the long-distance services ran over the
Rhine Valley Railway. The Reichsbahn allocated the line to the newly created
Reichsbahndirektion (
railway division) of Ludwigshafen in 1922. In 1936 the route line was reallocated during the dissolution of the latter – with the exception of
Wörth station – to the railway division of Mainz.
Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB), which was responsible for railway operations from 1949, assigned the line to the railway division of Mainz, which was responsible for all railway lines within the newly created state of Rhineland-Palatinate. In the course of the staged dissolution of the railway division of Mainz from 1 August 1971, its counterpart in Karlsruhe took responsibility for the station. Up to 1980, an express train ran from Strasbourg to Ludwigshafen, which served the French military in particular. The line to Germersheim was electrified and the stations and halts were modernised with the establishment of S-Bahn operations between Schifferstadt and Germersheim.
Karlsruhe Stadtbahn services have operated between Germersheim and Wörth, continuing to/from
Karlsruhe, since December 2010. Between Germersheim and Wörth, the platforms of the stations that already existed before 2010 differ from the other
Stadtbahn platforms in the area of the
Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund (Karlsruhe transport association, KVV) in having a length of 160 m to allow the commuter trains to and from
BASF to stop there. The usual platform length for a triple set is 120 m. Both tracks, including all points, were completely replaced over the whole Germersheim–Wörth section during the summer holidays of 2007. Because of finds of unexploded bombs from the Second World War in the track bed in the area of
Jockgrim the construction work was extended by a week. The line was also completely closed during the Easter break of 2010. At this time the platforms were partly renewed and the electrification started. Furthermore, the line was blockaded because of the construction from 5 July 2010 until 12 December 2010. ==Route ==