Nuremberg U-Bahn

Encyclopedia : N : NU : NUR : Nuremberg U-Bahn

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The Nuremberg U-Bahn is a metro run by the VAG Nürnberg (Verkehrsaktiengesellschaft Nürnberg or Nuremberg Transport Corporation), which itself is a member of the VGN (Verkehrsverbund Großraum Nürnberg or Greater Nuremberg Transport Network). The Nuremberg U-Bahn is Germany's newest metro. Its DT1 vehicles are for the most part of the same design as the A cars found on the Munich U-Bahn, and both transport companies once lent each other trainsets as reserve rolling stock for major events (such as the Munich Olympics) at the time when both systems were quite new. Further such swaps are nowadays no longer possible, as the rolling stock on each system has developed in ways that would require it to undergo rebuilding for use on the other system. The newer Nuremberg trains (the DT2, for example) are incompatible with the Munich system.

History

On 20 March 1967, Federal (ie West German) Transport Minister Georg Leber and Nuremberg Oberbürgermeister ("Lord Mayor") Dr. Andreas Urschlechter had the honour of "striking the first blow" for the new metro. This was done in Bauernfeindstraße when they triggered the pile driver.

On 1 March 1972, the first 3.7 km-long stretch of the system opened, U1 Langwasser Süd <> Bauernfeindstraße. Over the next few years, further stretches of U1 were opened.

On 28 January 1984, Nuremberg's second U-Bahn line went into service between Plärrer and Schweinau. This line, too, underwent further extensions, eventually even reaching the airport.

In 2004, 6 Munich A cars were bought by the VAG to strengthen its own rolling stock fleet. However, owing to the aforesaid divergence in specifications between the Nuremberg and Munich systems, it turned out that the old Munich stock could not be coupled with Nuremberg stock, and so it was not possible to compose trains using both types. The two stocks must "keep to their own kind", although they at least can run on the same tracks. The VAG left the Munich stock in its old white and blue Munich livery, reasoning that it was not worth repainting in Nuremberg livery, given that its service life was fast approaching an end.

On 4 December 2004, a new 1.3 km section of U1 opened, reaching Fürth, stretching from Stadthalle Railway Station to Klinikum Railway Station and on to Siemensstraße, mostly underground.

On 16 October 2005, interested members of the public were allowed to visit three metro stations on U3 that were still under construction.

Network

The route network comprises about 30 km and 40 stations which can all be reached by lift, something that makes the system unique in Germany. Another thing that makes this system special is the use of "firm track" (ie with rails fastened to a solid trackbed, rather than to sleepers on ballast) in almost all tunnels, although not at Langwasser Mitte (U1) and the adjoining tunnel up to just before Gemeinschaftshaus. Also, ballast is still found, but only on the inbound track, at the entrance to Schoppershof station (U2).

U1

Fürth Klinikum <> Langwasser Süd

Within Fürth at the moment are found six U-Bahn stations: Stadtgrenze (partly within Nuremberg, partly within Fürth – indeed the station's name means "city boundary" – but assigned to and run by Nuremberg), Jakobinenstraße, Fürth Hauptbahnhof, Rathaus, Stadthalle and Klinikum.

This U-Bahn line is being extended within Fürth. On 28 June 2005 construction began on the new stretch of line from Klinikum to Hardhöhe. The projected opening date for this extension is December 2007.

Whether the line will be further lengthened as originally laid out in plans as far as Kieselbühl is now in question, since residential developments there have not proceeded at quite the pace as was expected, and since the great catalogue company Quelle AG (nowadays part of KarstadtQuelle AG) has not built there.

U2

Nuremberg Airport <> Röthenbach bei Schweinau

The airport connection makes Nuremberg only the second city in Germany with a direct metro link to its airport, after Berlin (which has a connection to Tempelhof).

Some of the more newly built stations are rather artistically designed. Especially worth seeing are the following stations:

• Rathenauplatz - anamorphic tile mosaics with portraits of Walther Rathenau and Theodor Herzl
• Hohe Marter - tile mosaic of the broadcasting tower
• Rennweg - graffiti

In 1984, line U2's new Plärrer–Schweinau stretch began operations. At first the trains ran by day as line U21 (not to be confused with the current U21) by way of Weißer Turm and Lorenzkirche to Aufseßplatz or Langwasser Süd. Since 1988, the line has run as U2 by way of Opernhaus to Hauptbahnhof (Main Railway Station). After further extensions in 1990, 1993 and 1996, U2 reached in 1999 its current terminus at the airport.

\"Booster\" lines (Verstärkerlinien)

• U11 Eberhardshof / Gostenhof <> Aufseßplatz / Hasenbuck / Messe / Langwasser Süd ''(runs on part of U1, destination determined by time of day or need, for example, by major events or by official count of expected ridership)
• U21 Röthenbach <> Ziegelstein (runs on part of U2)

Planning

As of now, a new U-Bahn line, U3, is being built, and will open in the autumn of 2007 running between Gustav-Adolf-Str. and Maxfeld. This will be Germany's first fully automated computer-driven metro line. There is something else new about it, too: since U3 will travel on a part of U2, tracks will have to be shared by two different services between Rathenauplatz and Rothenburger Straße on this so-called Stammstrecke ("stem stretch" or trunk line). What this means is that both computer-driven and human-driven trains will be running on the same tracks over this shared line, unique in the world for railways using the traditional steel-wheels-on-rails system. The other branches of U3 will be purely automatically driven, and those of U2 purely conventionally driven. Nevertheless, automation is foreseen for U2 by 2007, meaning that the track sharing by automatic and conventional trains will only last a year.

Future extensions:

Conventionally run:

• U1 Klinikum Fürth <> Fürth Hardhöhe (under construction, opening December 2007)
• U1 Fürth Hardhöhe <> Fürth Kieselbühl (in planning, opening probably 2010)

Automatically run:

• U2 conversion on the Stammstrecke to automatic running (foreseen sometime in 2007)
• U3 Maxfeld <> Nordwestring and Gustav-Adolf-Str. <> Gebersdorf (in planning, opening about 2012)

External links