113-574: The Murg Valley Railway ( German : Murgtalbahn ) is a 58 kilometre long railway line in the Northern Black Forest in Germany, that links Rastatt and Freudenstadt . It was opened in stages from 1868 to 1928 being built outwards from both Rastatt and Freudenstadt. The route through the narrow Murg Valley required the construction of numerous tunnels and bridges. The section between the stations of Baiersbronn and Freudenstadt Stadt
226-689: A DB Class 111 locomotive hauling two modernised n-cars with automatic doors and two conventional n-cars. Freight traffic is operated by the AVG using diesel locomotives. On weekdays, a freight train runs from Karlsruhe via Rastatt to the Murg valley. In the two-track Kuppenheim–Bad Rotenfels section there are two major railway sidings: near Bischweier serving the Kronospan company and in Bad Rotenfels serving Lang Recycling. These two companies are currently
339-465: A de facto official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and Afrikaans , and had de jure co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it
452-402: A second language , and 75–100 million as a foreign language . This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220 million German speakers worldwide. German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker. As of 2012 , about 90 million people, or 16% of
565-612: A "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Cameroon was also a colony of the German Empire from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in World War I . Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become
678-428: A climb of 123.5 metres, which corresponds with an average gradient of 2.0 percent. South of Forbach, the line climbs to Schönmünzach station over a ten kilometre-long section that runs through an almost uninhabited, wooded area. Raumünzach station and Kirschbaumwasen halt are almost exclusively used as starting points for boat trips. Raumünzach station is also passing place for trains. South of Forbach and near Raumünzach
791-559: A greater need for regularity in written conventions. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG & MHG "house") → haus (regionally in later MHG)→ Haus (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→ tage (MHG)). A great wealth of texts survives from
904-683: A locomotive at the front and pushed at the rear. With the delivery of four railbuses of class VT 98.9 (798), capable of climbing steep grades to the Karlsruhe depot in 1956, the era of diesel operations began on the Murg Valley Railway. However, these four sets were not sufficient to operate all services, so some services were still steam-hauled. In 1966 the picture changed on the Murg Valley Railway again, when ten new class V100 (V 100 2332 to 2341, later class 213 332–341) locomotives were delivered to Karlsruhe depot for hauling trains in
1017-458: A native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers . The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based pidgin language called " Namibian Black German ", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it. German remained
1130-696: A popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020. Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German. In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish , French , and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. In
1243-416: A reduction in travel times. Stadtbahn express services between Rastatt and Freudenstadt took only 67 minutes. As a result, passenger numbers increased considerably: before the conversion about 2,700 passengers travelled on the Murg Valley Railway on weekdays, while in 2009 there were almost 13,000 passengers on weekdays. During the switch to Stadtbahn operation, the Murg Valley Railway was also integrated into
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#17327875612311356-483: A result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing. While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it
1469-499: A siding there is a halt for the company's employees. Next, the line follows the Murg Valley to the south, past the halts of Ottenau and Hörden and finally reaches Gernsbach station, which has several tracks for freight and passenger transport. Between the halts of Ottenau and Hörden is a two-track operations station with sidings, where delayed trains may pass. South of Gernsbach are the halts of Gernsbach Mitte and Obertsrot and
1582-401: A single approach to long-term planning. So initially local interests in the lower Murg valley took the first steps in building the Murg Valley Railway. Over several decades the line emerged between Rastatt and Freudenstadt, starting as two branch lines at each end until the last remaining gap could be closed on the former border, which lies between Kirschbaumwasen and Schönmünzach. For centuries
1695-567: Is a steep ramp which is why it had to be operated until 1926 as a rack railway . Even today it can only be worked by vehicles that have the required approval. After the occasional long-distance passenger services had been withdrawn in the 1990s, the Murg Valley Railway was integrated into the network of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn between 2002 and 2004. Since then it has been operated by Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (AVG), using their fleet of tram-trains . At Freudenstadt, these meet
1808-601: Is a recognized minority language in the following countries: In France, the High German varieties of Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as " regional languages ", but the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government. Namibia also was a colony of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as
1921-612: Is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects , with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year, and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography . German
2034-558: Is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic , East Germanic , and West Germanic . The first of these branches survives in modern Danish , Swedish , Norwegian , Faroese , and Icelandic , all of which are descended from Old Norse . The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic
2147-478: Is called the "German Sprachraum ". German is the official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Within Europe, German
2260-430: Is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of Alemannic and Low German . With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language , 10–25 million speak it as
2373-535: Is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 Black Death decimated Europe's population. Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in
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#17327875612312486-611: Is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as
2599-565: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are
2712-462: Is located on the southeastern edge of the city, where Bahnhofstraße meets Dietersweiler Straße. Its address is Hauptbahnhof 1. In the station building there is a Deutsche Bahn ticket office, a bakery and a kiosk. The station has a main platform (platform 1) and an additional island platform (platform tracks 2 and 3). Platform 1 mainly serves Stadtbahn traffic towards Karlsruhe ( Murg Valley Railway , Murgtalbahn ) and track 2 handles all traffic on
2825-435: Is one of the major languages of the world . German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language , after English, both as a first and as a second language . German is also widely taught as a foreign language , especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language, and
2938-597: Is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa. An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German concentrated in and around Wartburg . The South African constitution identifies German as
3051-401: Is partly derived from Latin and Greek , along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English . English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords . German is a pluricentric language ; the three standardized variants are German , Austrian , and Swiss Standard German . Standard German is sometimes called High German , which refers to its regional origin. German
3164-519: Is single track. Stations with crossing loops are in Gaggenau, Hörden (operations station only), Gernsbach, Hilpertsau, Weisenbach, Langenbrand, Forbach, Raumünzach, Schönmünzach, Heselbach, Baiersbronn and Freudenstadt Stadt. The line is operated as a branch line; the line speed varies between sections between 60 and 100 km/h. For the steep route between Freudenstadt and Baiersbronn there are special operating rules. The stations are 120 metres long and
3277-525: Is the Sachsenspiegel , the first book of laws written in Middle Low German ( c. 1220 ). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms. The Middle High German period
3390-578: Is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch , Yiddish , Afrikaans , and others. Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf - Benrath and Krefeld - Uerdingen , respectively) serve to distinguish
3503-485: Is understood in all areas where German is spoken. Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide: As a result of the German diaspora , as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language , the geographical distribution of German speakers (or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents. However, an exact, global number of native German speakers
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3616-689: The Ostsiedlung ). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to
3729-614: The AVG ; DB Netz is responsible for the terminuses in Rastatt and Freudenstadt. A Bahnmeisterei (the office of the director of track maintenance) is located in Forbach. The route is electrified and equipped with colour light signals , which are controlled centrally from the signal box in Gernsbach. With the exception of the double-track section between Kuppenheim and Bad Rotenfels the line
3842-639: The Alamanni , Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ( Irminones ), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration. In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as
3955-537: The Early Middle Ages . German is an inflected language , with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs . The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share
4068-480: The European Union 's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language. The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language
4181-522: The German states . While these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout
4294-746: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , and the other being Meißner Deutsch , used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg . Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages ( Druckersprachen ) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in
4407-519: The Karlsruhe Stadtbahn were developed in the early 1990s. Since the Murg Valley Railway axis extends centrally through the settlements of the Murg, there were a large number of potential passengers who were not using the existing undeveloped rail services. With the political support of the rural districts ( Landkreis ) of Rastatt and Freudenstadt , the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (Alb Valley Transport Company, AVG), leased
4520-577: The Nagold Valley Railway , the local timber industry feared the loss of its ability to compete. This showed that the valley needed an efficient transport link over its own railway. The Grand Duchy of Baden State Railways ( Großherzogliche Badische Staatsbahn ) had no interest, however, in the construction of such a line at that time because its financial resources were exhausted by the construction of major trunk lines. The private Murg Valley Railway Company ( Murgthal-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft )
4633-666: The Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle ), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c. 765–775 ), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their Latin equivalents. After the Abrogans , the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in
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4746-607: The Prussian class T 16.1 , operations on the steep sections were converted to this class. The rack operation was therefore gradually abandoned until 1926. Six machines of this class were located in Freudenstadt. From 1955, two additional newly built class 82 locomotives were used. Since the towing capacity of the steam locomotives on the steep sections was only 160 tonnes (class T 16.1) or 180 tonnes (class 82), many trains needed an additional engine, that is, trains were pulled by
4859-676: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung
4972-550: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit. ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this
5085-513: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German
5198-469: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from
5311-592: The Baden State Railways. Freudenstadt, which is situated high above the upper Murg valley, had in 1879 received a connection towards Stuttgart with the completion of the Gäu Railway , part of the Württemberg rail network. Because of the difficult topographical conditions, the station, now Freudenstadt Central Station ( Freudenstadt Hauptbahnhof ), is located well to the south of the centre of
5424-552: The Christophstal viaduct, trains could run over the whole Murg Valley Railway on 14 May 1950. In 1966 steam locomotives on the Murg Valley Railway were replaced by diesel locomotives, which allowed the dropping of the locomotive change for the steep section and led to an acceleration of services. This allowed travel times to be reduced from the approximately two and a half hours for the Rastatt–Freudenstadt route during
5537-723: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In
5650-566: The Freudenstadt Central Station–Freudenstadt Stadt–Baiersbronn section was adopted, with maximum gradients of up to 5.0 percent, as a rack railway using the Riggenbach -Klose system. The station buildings were built according to various types of standardised designs to limit costs. The Royal Württemberg State Railways started operations to Klosterreichenbach on 20 November 1901. On 1 July 1904
5763-748: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of
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#17327875612315876-536: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of
5989-451: The German states; the invention of the printing press c. 1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of
6102-681: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by
6215-613: The Grand Duchy of Baden State Railways took over the lower Murg Valley Railway from the Murg Valley Railway Company, so that ownership and operations were now integrated. With the decision of the Baden parliament to complete the railway network in 1900, the foundations for further construction of the Murg Valley Railway were created. This provided for the extension of the lower Murg Valley Railway from Weisenbach to
6328-532: The Hacken tunnel before reaching the halt of Gausbach, opened in 2002. After passing through the Gausbach tunnel, the Murg Valley Railway reaches Forbach station, which in addition to two running lines built in 2002, has an additional bay track for trains terminating here and a two-track carriage depot. Forbach also has the AVG's line controllers' office for the line. From Weisenbach to Forbach the line has to overcome
6441-655: The Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group). Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian - Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects ) and Yiddish . Also closely related to Standard German are
6554-757: The Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and the Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ), the Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German
6667-408: The MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied , an epic poem telling the story of the dragon -slayer Siegfried ( c. thirteenth century ), and the Iwein , an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue ( c. 1203 ), lyric poems , and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan . Also noteworthy
6780-619: The Murg Valley Railway are operated by AVG. It operates the Stadtbahn line S 31 (Odenheim–) Karlsruhe Hauptbahnhof–Rastatt–Freudenstadt and line S 41 Karlsruhe Innenstadt–Rastatt–Freudenstadt–Eutingen, with some services of the S 31 operating as express services and thus running about 25 minutes faster. Services use rolling stock that is designed to use the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn's two electrical systems (15 kV AC 16.7 Hz and 750 v DC). The trains run at least hourly and express trains run every two hours. On Sundays and public holidays, an express service runs from Mannheim to Freudenstadt via Karlsruhe with
6893-434: The Murg Valley Railway crosses the Murg on bridges. While the stone bridge at Forbach was destroyed during the Second World War and rebuilt as a steel-truss structure, the bridge in Raumünzach is still a brick vault bridge. Each of the two bridges has a tunnel nearby to the south: the Haul tunnel, 364 metres long and the longest tunnel on the Murg Valley Railway, and the Spielrain tunnel. Between Kirschbaumwasen and Schönmünzach
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#17327875612317006-423: The Murg Valley Railway from Deutsche Bahn until 2000 by lease and upgraded it in subsequent years for light rail operations. The renovations included the electrification of the line on the 15 kV AC 16.7 Hz system , duplication between Kuppenheim and Bad Rotenfels, the construction or reconstruction of crossing loops in Hörden, Hilpertsau, Langenbrand, Raumünzach and Heselbach, the construction of 14 new stations and
7119-440: The Murg Valley ended in 1953 (VI b) or 1961 (VI c) and they were replaced by locomotives of class T18 for the haulage of passenger trains (1959–1966). In freight traffic, class 50 locomotives were used until 1970. The locomotives for operations on the steep sections in Freudenstadt were located in Freudenstadt depot. Until 1924, only cog locomotives of the Württemberg class Fz were used. After successful tests with locomotives of
7232-455: The Murg Valley from the 1980s. With the start of Stadtbahn operations, passenger services were based entirely on Karlsruhe Stadtbahn electric multiple units of class GT8-100D/2S-M operated by Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft, which were approved for the steep route in Freudenstadt. The EMUs sometimes operate as single sets, sometimes as double sets. Older EMUs of class GT8-100C/2S are also used between Rastatt and Forbach, but they are not approved for
7345-406: The Murg south of Huzenbach and north of Heselbach. The final section of the Murg Valley Railway runs from Baiersbronn out of the Murg valley to its highest point at Freudenstadt Stadt (town) station and it then drop to Freudenstadt Central Station ( Hauptbahnhof ). To cope with these differences in height, this section climbs at a maximum gradient of 5.0 percent. First built as a rack railway , it
7458-422: The Murg valley timber trade had been dependent on rafting until the middle of the 19th century, when the processing of timber increasingly shifted to higher value products, which could not be transported as a raft, including railway sleepers . The construction of roads in the narrow Murg Valley was particularly expensive. As neighboring Württemberg in the 1860s was already planning for the Enz Valley Railway and
7571-421: The Murg valley; these replaced the steam locomotives and railbuses. The change of locomotives was no longer necessary. However, a single V 100 could carry only haul 150 tonnes on the steep section, so services continuing from Baiersbronn needed two or three locomotives. This only changed with the commissioning of nine of the class 218 (218 160–168) locomotives that had been adapted for steep hauls; these replaced
7684-428: The border. However, the alignment of the route proved to be difficult because of the topography: the six-kilometre section from Weisenbach to Forbach required the construction of seven tunnels, three major bridges and major earthworks. On 14 June 1910, the Weisenbach–Forbach section was put into operation after three years of construction and this was followed by the section to Raumünzach opened on 4 May 1915. Completion of
7797-448: The class V 100 locomotives in 1972. Thanks to a maximum towing capacity of 225 tons, it was possible to almost entirely dispense with additional locomotives on the steep sections. From the late 1980s some class 628/928 diesel multiple units were used on the lower section as far as Baiersbronn. Since these were not allowed on the steep section, a change was required at Baiersbronn to class 627.0 diesel multiple units, which also operated in
7910-475: The completion of negotiations of a treaty in 1908 covering the design and construction of the line and regulating cross-border railway operations, Wurtemberg finally agreed to a continuous Murg Valley Railway. Nevertheless, the ratification of this treaty was delayed to 1912. It was planned to close the gap in 1916. Despite the signing of contracts, however, no construction work started on the Württemberg section. The founding of Deutsche Reichsbahn in 1920 overcame
8023-494: The conflicts of interest between Baden and Württemberg, leading to the missing intermediate section between Raumünzach and Klosterreichenbach finally being commissioned on 13 July 1928. This made possible the operations of trains from Rastatt to Freudenstadt, but locomotive still had to be changed for the trip up the steep line in Freudenstadt. The construction of the Schwarzenbach dam from 1922 to 1926 led to substantial traffic at Raumünzach station, since materials were conveyed with
8136-430: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with
8249-456: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in
8362-519: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of
8475-630: The end of 1945 an additional shuttle service was established between Raumünzach and Baiersbronn. After the restoration of Murg bridges in Weisenbach and Langenbrand, services on the line between Weisenbach and Forbach were resumed in July 1947. The gap between Forbach and Raumünzach was closed in November 1947. Freudenstadt Stadt station was reached from the south in October 1948. After the restoration of
8588-527: The help of a light railway ( Feldbahn ) from Raumünzach station. During the Second World War was the Murg Valley Railway was at first spared from damage. It was not until the advance of the front in September 1944 that several attacks by fighter-bombers and artillery caused damage and line closures, mainly affecting Rastatt station . The attack on Freudenstadt at the end of 1944, severely damaged
8701-435: The home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says ' ex abundantia cordis os loquitur ,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund . But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No,
8814-481: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of
8927-431: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Freudenstadt Central Station Freudenstadt Hauptbahnhof is the main station in the town of Freudenstadt in the German state of Baden-Württemberg , and an important railway junction in the Northern Black Forest . Freudenstadt Hauptbahnhof
9040-454: The line crosses the Murg on a 76-metre-long steel truss bridge and climbs the western slope of the Murg. After passing through the halt of Au and the Füllen and Hart tunnels, the line crosses the Murg again on a 127-metre-long bridge. This was originally built as an entirely brick arch bridge, which was destroyed during the Second World War and afterwards it received a steel central section, while
9153-465: The line crosses the former border between Baden and Württemberg . South of Schönmünzach, the line runs through the halts of Schwarzenberg, Huzenbach and Röt, the newly established passing station of Heselbach, the halts of Klosterreichenbach and Baiersbronn Schule and Baiersbronn station. It passes under a rocky outcrop through the Mähderbuckel tunnel south of Schwarzenberg. The line crosses
9266-566: The line from Kuppenheim to Bad Rotenfels station was duplicated in preparation for opening of the Stadtbahn, all other sections of Murg Valley Railway are single track. From Bad Rotenfels the Murg Valley Railway crosses into the town of Gaggenau , passing through the halt of Bad Rotenfels Weinbrennerstraße to the three-track station of Gaggenau. South of Gaggenau station the line runs through the Mercedes-Benz factory, where in addition to
9379-489: The line to the border was prevented by the First World War. While the desire was expressed for a continuous Murg Valley Railway from Rastatt to Freudenstadt in Baden quite early, the state of Württemberg behaved rather negatively, as there was a fear that traffic from the northern Black Forest would migrate towards Karlsruhe, while at that time freight and passengers mainly travelled over the line to Stuttgart. With
9492-436: The line to the south from Gernsbach. Initially the extension of the line as a horse-drawn railway was considered, but failed to proceed due to lack of funding. Only in 1888 was a new initiative successful. After the grant of a license and the building of the rail facilities, an extension was put into operation from Gernsbach to Weisenbach on 1 May 1894. Again the line was owned by the Murg Valley Railway Company and operated by
9605-651: The local transport association networks. Between Rastatt and Kirschbaumwasen its fares are set by the Karlsruher Verkehrsverbund (Karlsruhe transport association, KVV); between Schönmünzach and Freudenstadt fares are set by the Verkehrs-Gemeinschaft Landkreis Freudenstadt (transport community of the district of Freudenstadt, VGF). In addition, there is a transitional rate, so that VGF tickets are accepted to and from Forbach. Today, all passenger services on
9718-527: The main customers for freight on the line. The Murg Valley Railway passes through a Black Forest valley, which in places forms a gorge . Until the 18th century the middle section was hardly accessible. On sections there is still very little room for the line between the Murg and the rock walls. With its ten tunnels, eight bridges and steep sections, the line includes a series of solutions to technical challenges. The line starts in Rastatt station and runs from
9831-402: The mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über . Luther's translation of the Bible into High German was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German to modern Standard German. The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany , and promoted
9944-653: The ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli , Merseburg charms , and Hildebrandslied , and other religious texts (the Georgslied , Ludwigslied , Evangelienbuch , and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment , and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from
10057-618: The other sidings are closed. In addition, until the early 1990s, there was a railway siding south of Weisenbach station that was several kilometres long and ran to the east of the Murg below Füllen tunnel. The line has its own sidings at the stations in Kuppenheim, Gernsbach Schönmünzach and Baiersbronn. The Rolling stock on the lower section of the Murg Valley Railway used to be based in Karlsruhe depot. The first steam locomotives were of Baden class V c and V b, which were replaced from 1914 by class VI b and VI c . Use of these locomotives in
10170-577: The outer parts of the brick bridge were retained. The line then reaches the double-track station of Langenbrand. Next, the line runs on the eastern slope of the Murg, crossing a mountain spur through the Brach tunnel and reaches the imposing, 183 metre-long and 27 metre-high stone bridge over the Tennetschlucht. This is directly connected to Stiehl tunnel and the line runs through the Rappen tunnel and
10283-415: The platforms are 55 centimetres high, making possible level entry to the carriages. There are sidings for freight transport for the Kronospan company (Bischweier), Lang Recycling (Bad Rotenfels), Hörden timber (at Hörden operating station), Mercedes-Benz (Gaggenau), Mayr-Melnhof (Obertsrot), Smurfit Kappa (Weisenbach) and Stora Enso (Langenbrand). While Kronospan and Lang Recycling are still served regularly,
10396-462: The pronunciation of the ending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider standardization of pronunciation
10509-626: The railway facilities at the southern terminus of the line and completely destroyed Freudenstadt Stadt station. The most serious damage to the Murg Valley Railway, however, was not carried out by the Allies, but inflicted by retreating German troops in April 1945, when they destroyed the Murg bridges in Weisenbach, Langenbrand and Forbach and the Christophstal viaduct. After the war, the destroyed bridges and line were reconstruction over five years. First, trains could only run between Rastatt and Weisenbach. At
10622-523: The railway line in the lower Murg valley accelerated the Industrial Revolution around the towns of Gaggenau and Gernsbach. The Gaggenau ironworks, opened in 1873, was the first major industrial operation in the district. Further upstream a centre of paper production developed from the 1880s with the establishment of several factories, aided by the substantial resources of forests and water. Soon, industrial companies requested an extension of
10735-718: The services of the Ortenau S-Bahn (OSB), operating over the Kinzig Valley Railway to Offenburg . The line was constructed over the course of 60 years due to the difficult topography of the Murg valley, the numerous engineering works required and the fact that the lower Murg valley belonged to the Grand Duchy of Baden , while the upper Murg valley belonged to the Kingdom of Württemberg . This resulted in different transport policy interests, which prevented
10848-500: The southern end of the station area to the east on the northern bank of the Murg river through an industrial area. After about a kilometre, it reaches a halt created in 2002, Rastatt Beinle. Subsequently, the line crosses the open fields of the Upper Rhine Plain to Kuppenheim station. From here it leaves the plane and now runs along the Murg Valley through the halts of Bischweier and Bad Rotenfels Schloss. The section of
10961-546: The states of North Dakota and South Dakota , German is the most common language spoken at home after English. As a legacy of significant German immigration to the country , German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region , such as New Ulm and Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions. A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as Pennsylvania Dutch and Texas German . In Brazil,
11074-404: The stations of Hilpertsau and Weisenbach , which both have crossing loops. The most scenic and technically difficult part of the Murg Valley Railway begins in Weisenbach. Near Schönmünzach the Murg valley narrows to become a gorge, so that the railway has to run on the steep slopes of the valley. It was necessary to build nine tunnels and five viaducts on this section. South of Weisenbach station,
11187-461: The steam locomotive era to around one hour and 20 minutes. The increasing economic pressure on Deutsche Bundesbahn in the 1980s led to rationalisation measures. Therefore, the lightly used stops at Friedrichstal, Kirschbaumwasen, Raumünzach and Au were abandoned and the crossing loops in Hilpertsau , Raumünzach and Klosterreichenbach were dismantled. Above all, the parallel federal highway 462
11300-619: The steeper section. German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It is the most spoken native language within the European Union . It is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and
11413-500: The third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites . The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in
11526-455: The timetable was improved by the introduction of an approximately hourly service. Similarly, DMUs were largely replaced with locomotive-hauled trains. In addition until the mid-1990s, some D-trains or InterRegio trains also ran on the line; these were important for the tourism from the Ruhr area to the northern Black Forest. Preliminary proposals for the integration of Murg Valley Railway with
11639-405: The town. In order to improve the integration of Freudenstadt and serve the upper Murg valley better, the parliament of Württemberg decided in 1898 to build a branch line from the Freudenstadt central station via Baiersbronn to Reichenbach Priory ( Klosterreichenbach ). Because of the large differences in height between Freudenstadt and Baiersbronn, the routing of the line was difficult. Finally,
11752-412: The upgrading the existing stations, replacement of the signal and safety systems and the rehabilitation of bridges and tunnels. During the electrification of the tunnel sections, for the first time in Germany, overhead conductor rail was installed on open line. This rail could be supported by masts outside the tunnel so that the number of masts required could be significantly reduced. A total of € 53 million
11865-555: The world being published in German. German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans , Dutch , English , the Frisian languages , and Scots . It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group , such as Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish . Modern German gradually developed from Old High German , which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during
11978-600: The written form of German. One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into High German (the New Testament was published in 1522; the Old Testament was published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony , spending much time among the population of Saxony researching
12091-429: Was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country. Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of
12204-547: Was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially
12317-405: Was converted to friction operation between 1924 and 1926. Even today this section has special operating requirements and only vehicles with special authorisation may be on the section. On the steep section is the 84 metre-long stone Christoph viaduct and the halts of Friedrichstal, Freudenstadt Schulzentrum and Freudenstadt Industriegebiet. The track infrastructure has been maintained since 2000 by
12430-492: Was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries. Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial German orthography reform of 1996 was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries. Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which
12543-452: Was founded in 1867, mainly at the instigation of Gernsbach timber manufacturer Casimir Rudolf Katz, with the aim of building a branch line from Rastatt to Gernsbach. After receiving the concession for the line, construction started on 19 August 1868. Nine months later, on 31 May 1869, the 15 kilometer-long line was inaugurated. The line was operated by the Baden State Railways on behalf of the Murg Valley Railway Company. The construction of
12656-427: Was increasingly competitive with the Murg Valley Railway. In the late 1980s, class 628 diesel multiple units (DMUs) were used alongside the locomotive-hauled trains on the Murg Valley Railway, but they were not approved to operate over the steep section and therefore could only operate between Rastatt and Baiersbronn. In the interim, class 627.0 DMUs took over operations between Baiersbronn and Freudenstadt. In 1995,
12769-545: Was invested in infrastructure. On 15 June 2002, Stadtbahn operations commenced in the lower Murg valley between Rastatt and Raumünzach, temporarily requiring a change of trains in Raumünzach. The conversion of the section to Freudenstadt Stadt followed on 14 December 2003 and the remaining section to the Freudenstadt Hbf opened on 20 May 2004. The Stadtbahn operation enabled the running of additional services and
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