A railway between Stuttgart and
Ulm was one of the first railways proposed in
Württemberg in the middle of the 19th century. Alternative alignments via Aalen or directly via
Göppingen were discussed. At first, it seemed the first route, even though it was indirect, had a greater chance of being built, as it required no major climbs, in contrast to the second route. After several years of discussion, it was decided to build the route via Göppingen, despite the challenge of building the line over the
Swabian Alb up the
Geislinger Steige. The Fils Railway was opened in 1850. However, after the first phase of the
Royal Württemberg State Railwaysnetwork was completed, constructing a railway line to the east of the country was soon back on the agenda. The main objectives put forward for the project, initially called the
Nordostbahn (“Northeast Railway"), were: • to open up the industrial sites at Gmünd (now
Schwäbisch Gmünd), Aalen, its current district of Wasseralfingen and
Heidenheim an der Brenz • to create a connection with the
Bavarian railways at Nördlingen The architect responsible for planning the line, Georg Morlok, examined four major variants for the route with different locations for the transition from the
Neckar and
Fils valley to the Rems valley. These were from west to east: • via Cannstatt and
Waiblingen • via
Plochingen and
Schorndorf • via
Uhingen and
Lorch • via
Eislingen and Gmünd Although the cost of crossing the mountain range was found to be the least for the western variant, the total cost of the eastern variant was the lowest, because the length of track that would have to be built in the Rems valley would be considerably lower, as it would share part of the Stuttgart–Ulm route. In the subsequent discussions, the requests of the cities of Waiblingen and Schorndorf for a rail connection, the smaller climbs, which would allow easier operations and the shorter route between Stuttgart and Aalen contributed to the decision to select the first variant.
From the opening of the line Thus, on 25 July 1861, the line opened from Cannstatt via Waiblingen, Schorndorf, Gmünd, and Aalen to Wasseralfingen. This was the location of the Schwäbische Hüttenwerke, then a major state steelworks. This steelworks delivered all of its steel that was moved by rail via the Rems line until the mid-1860s. The fastest regular service then ran between Wasseralfingen and Stuttgart in 2 hours, 55 minutes. The line was equipped with signalmen's houses about once every kilometre and with an electric telegraph. At the end of
World War II, the German military blew up the viaduct over the Haldenbach west of Endersbach station and the bridge over the Kocher west of Aalen, so that the intervening places were only accessible via the
Hohenstaufen Railway from Schwäbisch Gmünd to
Göppingen on the Fils Railway. Pioneers of the U.S. Army built a temporary bridge in Endersbach, so that in August 1945, the line was accessible again. Traffic was also restored over the Kocher in Aalen during the summer of 1945.
After the Second World War The Rems Railway was electrified, starting from Stuttgart, to Waiblingen in 1949, to Schorndorf in 1962, to Aalen in 1971 and in 1972 on the Ries Railway from Aalen to Nördlingen and
Donauwörth. The line was electrified as an alternative route for traffic between Stuttgart and
Munich via Ulm, for the
Olympic Games in Munich. From 1978 to 1981, a third and fourth track were built on the Bad Cannstatt–Waiblingen section and a flying junction was built between Fellbach and Waiblingen, where the Murr railway branches off. Thus, in 1981,
Stuttgart S-Bahn services could operate to Backnang and Schorndorf. In 1983 and 1984, a portion of the
Rheingold ran from
Mannheim via
Heidelberg,
Heilbronn, Stuttgart and over the Rems line, continuing to Nördlingen and Donauwörth to
Munich. This route was chosen for tourist reasons despite the longer travel time. However, it had low patronage and was incompatible with the reinstated
InterCity system. The line's electrification from Goldshöfe via Crailsheim to Nuremberg in 1985 allowed trains on the Rems line to Nuremberg, which had previously been hauled by diesel locomotives, to be electrically hauled. In the early 1980s,
Deutsche Bundesbahn introduced approximately hourly expresses on the line. Modernised vehicles were introduced for the summer 1988 timetable, running hourly daily. These trains ran from the summer 1989 timetable under the generic name of
RegionalSchnellBahn ("regional fast rail"). In 1996, the interval between Stuttgart S-Bahn services was reduced from 20 minutes to 15 minutes in the peak period. Before its introduction, Deutsche Bundesbahn had suggested that the service increase would require additional tracks on the section between Waiblingen and Schorndorf, which was almost at capacity with the combined operation of S-Bahn and other trains. However, a report by
RWTH Aachen University in 1993 concluded that the planned operations could be realised by shortening
signal blocks on the line and modifying Waiblingen station. Deutsche Bundesbahn agreed to implement these measures in 1993, and new signalling was implemented on the Waiblingen–Schorndorf section with the
Ks-Signalsystem. It was found that the timetable was still vulnerable to disruptions. To resolve this, a fifth track was installed in about 2000 on the section between Fellbach and Waiblingen, so that long-distance and S-Bahn trains could run from Fellbach to Waiblingen towards Schorndorf at the same time. Simultaneously with these upgrades for passenger traffic, freight facilities were dismantled everywhere, as elsewhere in Germany at this time. In particular, the operation of small and medium-sized railway sidings and freight yards was closed. However, the once large freight yard at Schwäbisch Gmünd is also now closed. The line was closed from December 2002 to December 2003 due to a landslide on the Bildwasen Tunnel between Lauchheim and Aufhausen. The east portal of the tunnel was then extensively renovated. The platforms at the Westhausen, Lauchheim, Aufhausen, Bopfingen and Pflaumloch stations were also rebuilt to provide
accessibility. From 24 April to 15 October 2009, the line between Schorndorf and Nördlingen was completely closed in two construction phases. During the closure, there was a
rail replacement bus service for local transport. During this time,
Intercity Line 61 (Nuremberg–Karlsruhe) was diverted between Crailsheim and Waiblingen via Schwäbisch Hall-Hessental. The project cost €50 million. Further renovation related to the Schorndorf–Waiblingen section was carried out from July to September 2013. The S2 therefore only ran every half hour during peak hour and the Regional-Express between Aalen and Stuttgart every hour. The section was completely closed from 30 August to 2 September 2013, and a rail replacement service was established. On 9 June 2019,
Go-Ahead Verkehrsgesellschaft Deutschland took over regional services on the Waiblingen–Aalen section from
DB Regio Baden-Württemberg. A depot with a workshop was built in Essingen. The line between Bad Cannstatt and Waiblingen was completely closed from 12 May to 9 June 2023 for work on the Waiblingen digital interlocking. ==Prospects==