Germany Reopens Hesse Line After 43 Years; €240M Project

Rail service has been re-established on a segment of the Hermann Hesse line in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, reconnecting the city of Calw to the regional network after a 43-year hiatus. The inaugural journey, attended by state and district officials, utilized new Mireo battery trains supplied by Siemens Mobility. The line now operates between Calw and Weil der Stadt, with further expansion planned.

The project’s budget reached €240 million, a figure that exceeded initial cost estimates by several tens of millions of euros. A substantial portion of the expenditure, over €85 million, was allocated specifically to nature and species protection measures required for the line’s reactivation. Calw District Council President Helmut Riegger defended the investment, stating the necessity of providing modern mobility for the region’s population despite the cost overruns.

Operational management of the line is handled by SWEG (Südwestdeutsche Landesverkehrs-GmbH), which projects a daily ridership of approximately 3,000 passengers. The primary target demographic consists of commuters traveling to the Stuttgart metropolitan area. The Hermann Hesse line association’s stated objective is to facilitate a modal shift from personal automobiles to public transport for this group.

Infrastructure developments include the construction of a new platform in Althengstett, a municipality in the Calw district. This development provides the community with its first direct connection to a railway line. The current service terminates in Weil der Stadt. A planned second phase, scheduled to commence in June, will extend the service to Renningen in the Böblingen district, improving connectivity between the Calw, Böblingen, and Stuttgart areas.

Winfried Hermann, the Minister of Transport for the State of Baden-Württemberg, characterized the line’s original closure in 1983 after 111 years of operation as a “mistake.” The reopening is positioned as a correction that integrates Calw more closely with the Stuttgart region. An external data verification query failed to return specific technical documentation, detailed specifications, or a precise timeline for the project, instead yielding irrelevant information on consumer electronics. This indicates that detailed engineering or financial data is not widely indexed in public-facing databases.

The next milestone for the Hermann Hesse line is the extension of service to Renningen, which is expected to be completed by June. This step will complete the project’s objective of fully connecting the Calw district to the larger Böblingen and Stuttgart transport hubs.