Trains and other things: Aschaffenburg, Darmstadt, Mainz, Worms, Saarbrücken

Day 6 starts in Gemünden am Main, it has so far been sunny and warm weather. This day will also be hot. Today I'm travelling west to the border with France.

193 266 Vectron AC from ELL, hired to TXL

Many freight trains here at Gemünden (Main) also in the morning

152 042 Krauss-Maffei ES 64 F from DB Cargo

193 217 Vectron AC from ELL, hired to EBS Erfurter Bahnservice Gesellschaft mbH

DB Class 440, Alstom Coradia Continental

DB Class 290

186 235 Traxx F140 MS from Alpha Trains, hired to B Logistics (Today Lineas)

Multisystem locomotive approved for both 15kV (Germany/Austria) and 1.5kV/3kV (Netherlands/Belgium)

"0% less energy!" should actually be "30% less energy!"

151 153 (DB Class 151) from Railpool

The locomotive was manufactured in the 70's by AEG/Krupp

182 523 Siemens ES 64 U2-023 from Dispolok (today MRCE), hired to TXL

The locomotive has a livery with "Kaiser Franz Joseph from Austria and 100 year anniversary in 2016"

189 287 ES 64 F4 from MRCE with "Rotterdam-Bayern Express TXL" livery

152 148 ES 64 F from DB Cargo

Audi cars on board

187 124 Traxx F140 AC3 from DB Cargo

Volkswagen cars. It requires a train for transporting new cars, for those who believes in cars...

193 607 Vectron AC from MRCE, hired to boxXpress.de GmbH

185 672 Traxx F140 AC2 from Railpool, hired to RTB Cargo

185 529 Traxx F140 AC1 from Alpha Trains Luxembourg S.à r.l., hired to TXL

My first train is this RE 54 service from Gemünden (Main) to Aschaffenburg

I'm continuing my journey along Main-Spessart railway, here is Langenprozelten

From Wikipedia: "The newly built section, which was opened on 19 June 2017, shortened the rail route between Würzburg and Aschaffenburg by half a kilometre. It forms section 3 of the planned “Hanau–Nantenbach upgraded railway” (Ausbaustrecke Hanau–Nantenbach)". Here is Falkenberg Tunnel (2623/2619 m)

Hain Tunnel (765 m)

Hösbach

I have arrived at Aschaffenburg station.

The station was opened in 1854 with the commissioning of the Bavarian Ludwig Western Railway (Ludwigs-West-Bahn). Today it is located along the busy Ruhr– Frankfurt–Nuremberg–Munich/Vienna rail corridor.

Here is an ICE-T train, for service Frankfurt-Vienna.

145 042 AdTranz Traxx F140 AC from DB Cargo

DB Class 425 from Bombardier/Siemens

BMW cars

DB Class 628

DB Intercity

Original station in Aschaffenburg was destroyed in 1944, the new was built in the 1950's and renovated in 2004.

DB Class 642 Desiro Classic

My next train will be this RB75 to Wiesbaden. It is a push pull train hauled by DB Class 143

185 339 Traxx F140 AC2

193 312 Vectron MS is a new locomotive that entered the service in 2018

More cars on rail

I'm now travelling on Rhine-Main railway built in 1858. Here is Babenhausen (Hesse) station

DoSto car of the RB train

Dieburg

DB Class VT 98 is a rail car from the 50's. Here it is at Darmstadt-Kranichstein Railway Museum

The Rhine-Main line continues north of Darmstadt, and it is used only by freight trains. Passenger trains run on the Main-Neckar line to Darmstadt Hbf before reversing to their journey on Rhine-Main line. Here I'm stopping by at Darmstadt.

189 209 ES 64 F4 from MRCE at Darmstadt Hbf

Darmstadt Hbf is located at Main-Neckar railway which runs between Frankfurt and Heidelberg

From Wikipedia: "Darmstadt Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station in the German city Darmstadt. After Frankfurt Hbf and Wiesbaden Hbf, it is the third largest station in the state of Hesse with 35,000 passengers and 220 trains per day. Built in a late art nouveau style, the station was finished 1912 as one of the major works of architect Friedrich Pützer."

ST 13 tram in Darmstadt

Bombardier Itino DMU at Darmstadt Hbf

146 002 Traxx P160 AC1 from DB Regio

193 321 Vectron MS

482 029 Traxx F140 AC1 from SBB Cargo

186 187 Traxx F140 MS from Railpool, hired to Crossrail Benelux N.V.

From Darmstadt, I continue with RB75 further on the Rhine-Main Railway, here passing under Mannheim-Frankfurt railway

I have now arrived to Mainz-Bischofsheim station. Here is a sculpture by Ludwig Gutzkow

The station is located at Rhine-Main, Main and Mainz bypass railways.

DB Class V90

Since the station is located near Frankfurt airport, it is an excellent place to spot both trains and planes

DB Class 430 is an S-Bahn EMU from Alstom/Bombardier

DB Class 429 Stadler Flirt

Mainz bypass railway is used by freight trains and some S-bahn trains

From Mainz-Bischofscheim I'm taking S-bahn to Mainz Römisches Theater station (formerly Mainz Süd)

From Wikipedia: "The name of the station used since December 2006 is derived from the adjacent ruins of a former Roman theatre. The platform of track 4 crosses the stage area of the ancient theatre. During construction of the railway line through this ground no thought was given to protecting this monument. The retaining wall of the 19th century railway has been partially removed in recent years, enabling the excavation of the theatre."

"The Roman Theatre in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate (ancient Mogontiacum) was excavated in the late 1990s. It is located immediately next to the Mainz Römisches Theater station and was once the largest Roman theatre north of the Alps, with a diameter of 116 metres, a stage-width of 42 metres, and a capacity of roughly ten thousand people."

I'm taking a walk through Mainz Stadtpark to Rhine river

Südbrücke was built in 1862, before that a train ferry connected the railway at both ends of Rhine river.

Neo-gothic bridge tower

The bridge has a length of 1028m, and it has also a bike and pedestrian path

View of Theodor-Heuss bridge and the city of Wiesbaden far away

Kirche St. Peter and Christuskirche Mainz

Mainz Cathedral

From Wikipedia: "Since the Roman bridge (Pons Ingeniosa) first built c. 30 AD and the Carolingian Rhine bridge of Charlemagne, it had been the first permanent bridge across the Rhine at Mainz, which until then had only a bridge of boats. It was after the Waldshut–Koblenz Rhine Bridge on the Upper Rhine, the cathedral Bridge in Cologne and the Kehl bridge the fourth railway bridge over the Rhine."

Stadtpark in Mainz has also a small zoo with these flamingo birds

I'm now taking Mainz-Ludwigshafen railway southward to Worms

Nierstein

Biblis Nuclear Power Plant

RE 14 line Mainz-Mannheim

Current station building in Worms is from 1904

Luther Monument

This it is the closest I could get to Dom St. Peter, due to the short time I had in Worms

My next train is this Class 425

Frankenthal

Ludwigshafen-Oggersheim

I have arrived to Ludwigshafen (Rhein) which is a junction station between Mainz-Ludwigshafen and Mannheim-Saarbrücken railways. Current station was built in 1969.

Here I'm changing trains for my last service to Saarbrücken today.

It is a Stadler Flirt train as Süwex service RE1 between Mannheim and Koblenz

Mannheim–Saarbrücken railway runs through Palatinate region. Some sections of the line are cleared for speeds of 200 kilometres per hour for the ICE and TGV services between Paris, Kaiserslautern, Mannheim and Frankfurt. The line from Mannheim to Saarbrücken is one of the busiest freight traffic routes in Germany.

Böhl-Iggelheim

Neustadt an der Weinstraße

At Kaiserslautern there is a longer stop for this service

DB Class 643 Bombardier Talent

Approaching Saarbrücken, which is located on the border with France

My hotel has a railway theme

Train to France, SNCF Class X 73900

St. Michael

Since 2007 Saarbrücken is served by international high speed service between Frankfurt and Paris which is operated by Alleo company (a joint subsidiary of SNCF and Deutsche Bahn).

International service is operated with this Class 407 (ICE 3MF) train

From Wikipedia: "The maximum operating speeds in France are 320 km/h, between Mannheim and Saarbrücken only 160 km/h. "

The station was partially destroyed during WW2, the new station was built in the 60's

The station was further rebuilt in 2007 and named Eurobahnhof.

Since 1997 there is a tram-train railway named Saarbahn

Kath. Pfarramt St. Josef

Bombardier Flexity Link tram

The tram is similar to Flexity Swift version used in Stockholm

Railway to France (Forbacher Bahn), even though the route is electrified, only the diesel railcars are used on this section between Germany and France.