98-643: The Nahe Valley Railway ( German : Nahetalbahn ) is a two-track, partially electrified main line railway in the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland , which runs for almost 100 kilometres along the Nahe . It was built by the Rhine-Nahe Railway Company and connects Bingen am Rhein on the Left Rhine line with Saarbrücken . It was opened between 1858 and 1860 and is one of
196-465: 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
294-402: 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
392-612: 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
490-559: 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
588-458: 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
686-696: 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
784-404: A regular Regionalbahn service from Baumholder to Idar-Oberstein , extending to Kirn in the peak as part of the reactivation of passenger services on the nine kilometer-long branch line from Heimbach to Baumholder . The stations of Heimbach (Ort) and Ruschberg on the branch line are also served again. The infrastructure operator of the branch line is RP Eisenbahn . The following stations on
882-475: A result, it became the junction of three double-track lines. It was bombed in the Second World War because of its importance as a strategic railway junction. Its entrance building is a monument-protected Jugendstil building, which includes a partly half-timbered building. It was completed around 1910 during the construction of the strategic railway. Its architecture reflects the fact that Bad Münster
980-483: 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
1078-504: A total length of 52 or 53 km. The 21.2 km section to Saarbrücken was completed on 16 November 1852. Even before the construction the line was finished, the Royal Railway Administration at Saarbrücken ( Königliche Eisenbahn-Direction zu Saarbrücken ) took over its management and operation. The railway was considered a regional lifeline that would promote industrialisation in this agricultural area of
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#17327796653571176-717: 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 the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and
1274-610: Is a health resort. The Odernheim –Bad Münster section of the Glan Valley Railway was closed in 1961 and only the section of track to the nearby branch to the Niederhausen power station continued to be served, but this was closed in 1992. Freight operations at the station ended at the end of the 1980s. The halt of Norheim is located in the centre of Norheim . German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] )
1372-601: 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
1470-612: 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
1568-558: 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
1666-688: Is an hourly service on the Saarbrücken–Mainz route, run as the Rhine-Nahe-Express (RE3) Regional-Express service. Every second train runs to and from Frankfurt and stops at the Frankfurt Airport Regional station . Until 2014, tilting systems of class 612 were operated, but since the change of operators in December 2014, vlexx has operated LINT 54 and 81 diesel multiple units without tilt technology, although
1764-478: 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
1862-430: 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
1960-535: 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
2058-611: 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
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#17327796653572156-565: 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
2254-435: 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
2352-597: 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
2450-401: 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
2548-525: 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
2646-578: 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
2744-433: 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
2842-689: 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
2940-639: 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
3038-537: 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
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3136-417: 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
3234-643: The Gau Algesheim–Bad Kreuznach railway , it lost passenger services, but remained as a freight yard. Bad Kreuznach station is located in the centre of Bad Kreuznach . Bad Münster am Stein station was originally a through station, but with the opening of the Kreuznach–Oberstein section, it became a junction station. It was connected to the Glan Valley Railway ( Glantalbahn ), which was built for strategic reasons in 1904. As
3332-522: 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
3430-746: 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
3528-677: The LINT 81 and 54 classes. Passenger services on the Bad Kreuznach to Bingen section are still operated by DB Regio Südwest. A line ran from Laubenheim over the Hindenburg Bridge for thirty years (1915–1945), carrying traffic across the Rhine to Rüdesheim and Geisenheim . The old railway embankments are still visible. Coal was mined near the original Bildstock Tunnel (481 m) and a pillar of coal had to be left in place to support
3626-666: 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
3724-575: The Prussian state railways from 1 July 1883. Between 1965 and 1979, the so-called Munzinger-Express also operated between Staudernheim and Bad Kreuznach. Until the timetable change on 14 December 2014, the passenger services were operated by DB Regio Südwest. Regentalbahn ’s subsidiary vlexx GmbH now operates passenger services on the Nahe Valley Railway from Saarbrücken towards Mainz and Frankfurt. It uses diesel multiple units of
3822-676: 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
3920-550: 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
4018-535: The Trans-Hunsrück Railway ( Hunsrückquerbahn ) ran from it via Simmern to Hermeskeil , but it is now only used by freight as far as Stromberg (Hunsrück) . The halt of Bretzenheim (Nahe) is located on the southern outskirts of Bretzenheim . At the time of the opening, this was the terminus of the Nahe line. With its extension to Oberstein it became a through station. With the establishment of
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4116-513: 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
4214-469: 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
4312-723: 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
4410-748: 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
4508-536: 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
4606-451: 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
4704-681: 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
4802-655: 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
4900-865: 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
4998-410: The Ludwig Railway was opened. The revenue of the company after the start of operations was well short of expectations. Since the passenger traffic met the expectations of the builders only to the spas of Kreuznach and Münster, neither dividends nor interest on debt could be paid. As a result, the Prussian government was obliged to step in to meet its annual interest rate guarantee. This also meant that
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#17327796653575096-408: 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
5194-425: The Nahe Valley Railway are planned or under consideration (this does not include Baumholder , Heimbach Ort and Ruschberg , which are on the branch line): The Nahe-Express from Frankfurt am Main to Saarbrücken would possibly be split or coupled every hour in Bad Münster am Stein . The other portion of the train would run to/from Kaiserslautern . Between Bad Kreuznach and Türkismühle the route runs primarily on
5292-430: The Nahe Valley Railway, which would habe been required, were too high. With the introduction of the concept of the Rheinland-Pfalz-Takt 2015 (Rhineland Palatinate clock-face timetable ) in the middle of 2008, services on the Nahe Valley Railway were improved. With the electrification of the line from Türkismühle to Neubrücke (Nahe) the Saarbrücken–Türkismühle Regionalbahn service was extended to Neubrücke. In addition,
5390-402: The Nahe valley, until the road leaves the valley in the Idar-Oberstein district of Enzweiler. The railway and road also run parallel on a second, much shorter section between Neubrücke (Nahe) and Nohfelden . South of Namborn the railway line crosses the road again and the two run parallel with the course of the Blies between St. Wendel and Ottweiler . West of Neunkirchen, highway 41 crosses
5488-409: The Nahe. In two places, however, the territory of two other countries had to be crossed: the Herrschaft of Meisenheim , which still belonged to the landgraviate of Hesse-Homburg , and the Principality of Birkenfeld , which was part of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg . Prussia argued about the route of the line, especially with Oldenburg. While Oldenburg would have liked to see the line pass through
5586-456: The Regionalbahn station of Hoppstädten (Nahe) is now only served by a bus conveying passengers to/from Neubrücke. This measure has already been implemented for the 2014/2015 timetable change. The electrification works meant that section the section between St. Wendel and Neubrücke (Nahe) had to be closed from 28 July 2014 to 4. September 2014. A rail replacement bus service was operated. Heimbach, Nohen and Kronweiler are now served by
5684-451: The Rhine-Nahe Railway Company was called by Arthur von Mayer the most expensive line in Germany; this was the result of its very difficult construction, which included a large number of tunnels, bridges, embankments and cuttings. The construction cost more than one million thalers per Prussian mile (7,532.5 metres), then a record sum. At first, there was a sharp competition with the Palatine Ludwig Railway, since both lines primarily served
5782-405: The Saarland railways with the Middle Rhine Valley . It was proposed that the line be privately financed with a government guarantee of a return of four percent. The Prussian government took control of the project on 18 June 1856 and issued the concession for the railway’s construction and operation to the company on 4 September 1856. The Prussian government required the line to follow the course of
5880-408: The Saarland, all stations, except Neunkirchen, have been equipped with electronic ticket machines. For a while an upgrade of the line was considered for the northern branch of the Paris–Ostfrankreich–Südwestdeutschland (Paris–Eastern France–Southwest Germany) high-speed line. It was later decided to upgrade the Mannheim–Saarbrücken railway , because the costs for the electrification on the tunnel on
5978-509: The city of Birkenfeld, Prussia insisted on a route through the Nahe valley. At the same time, an initiative from the neighbouring region of the Palatinate for another variant, which would have had the planned route leave the Nahe valley at Staudernheim and run to Altenglan through the Glan and then via Kusel either through St. Wendel or alternatively along the Oster valley. For tactical reasons, Prussia remained open-minded about these efforts, which led to Oldenburg giving way and accepting
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#17327796653576076-454: The construction of a railway from the town of Birkenfeld to Neubrücke. The original Birkenfeld was renamed Neubrücke station. The RNE took over the management of the Birkenfeld Railway and opened it on 5 October 1880. As the line formed part of a route to the French border, it was soon duplicated. The line was connected to the Hindenburg Bridge , which was built between Rüdesheim am Rhein and Bingen -Kempten for strategic reasons. The bridge
6174-428: The derailment of train 243, with troops on leave, causing the locomotive, van and three carriages to plunge into the river. 38 people were killed and 25 wounded. The Nahe Valley Railway is one of the main axes of rail passenger traffic in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland. During the last major rebuilding of the rail superstructure in 2004/2005, heavier rails ( UIC 60 profile) were installed on concrete sleepers to allow
6272-430: 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
6370-404: 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
6468-435: 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
6566-417: The foundations of the tunnel. The former Saargruben (later Saarbergwerke AG ; today: DSK ) mining company wanted to remove this to extend its mine. In 1955, therefore, the new Bildstock Tunnel (341 m) was built with an improved 600 m radius, bypassing the former tunnel. On 16 January 1918, the embankment between Kirn and Hochstetten (Nahe) was washed away during a storm by the Nahe and subsided. This caused
6664-432: The government was unable to sell the line to the Rhenish Railway after the War of 1866 . For strategic reasons , a line to Kreuznach was built from Gau Algesheim in 1902, which required a new station to be built. From then on the old Kreuznach station served only as a freight yard. The Birkenfeld station was five kilometres from the capital of the Principality of Birkenfeld. Therefore, the town and Degussa GmbH funded
6762-435: 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,
6860-417: 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
6958-408: The internal radius of the tunnels from four to five metres, operations between Neubrücke and Idar-Oberstein ran over a single track for several months. In the summer of 2012, the section of the line between Neunkirchen and Saarbrücken was closed to allow renewal of the track and repair work on the Bildstock Tunnel. Regional-Express and freight trains were diverted via the Fischbach Valley Railway and
7056-542: The journey times on the line have only increased slightly. Regionalbahn line RB 73 services on the Türkismühle–Saarbrücken section are operated with class 425 and 426 electric multiple units. On the Heimbach–Mainz section, the vlexx RB 33 and RB 34 services are operated with LINT 54 and 81 diesel multiple units. Binger Hauptbahnhof is located in the suburb of Bingerbrück , which until 1969
7154-517: The line one last time. The line crosses the A 8 and A 623 autobahns on its way to Saarbrücken Hauptbahnhof . The section between Türkismühle (line-kilometre 89.0) and Saarbrücken Hauptbahnhof has been electrified since 1969 and the Saarbrücken–Neunkirchen line via Fischbach-Camphausen ( Fischbach Valley Railway ) has been operated electrically since 1965. Because work was carried out from 2007 to 2013 on sections of tunnel to enlarge
7252-637: The line was upgraded. The D 258/59 express from Paris Est to Frankfurt operated over the Alsenz Valley Railway between Kaiserslautern and Bad Kreuznach, using French carriages and was hauled from Saarbrücken to Frankfurt by class 218 diesel locomotives. This was followed in 1988 by a pair of D-trains (expresses) on the Saarbrücken–Frankfurt– Kassel – Göttingen route, which also ran over the Nahe Valley Railway. In 1990 these long distance services were discontinued. Today, there
7350-626: The line, but this changed under pressure from Prussia . It wanted a connection in the long-term to Saarbrücken that ran only through its own territory and considered the Ludwig Railway should connect with it. For this reason, the line was built to Bexbach, from where it was later extended via Neunkirchen and the Sulzbach valley to Saarbrücken. Prussia also wanted the coal mines in the Holzhauertal and Landsweiler-Reden to be connected to
7448-402: 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
7546-653: 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
7644-531: The north side of the Nahe. The line crosses the Nahe twice in the four km section between Bad Kreuznach and Bad Münster and eleven times between Bad Münster and Idar-Oberstein. It runs along the Blies between St. Wendel and Neunkirchen (Saar) Hbf. The Nahe Valley Railway runs largely parallel to federal highway 41 and their paths cross several times. The first crossing takes place north of Bad Kreuznach. The railway and highway run parallel from Bad Sobernheim through
7742-572: The oldest railways in Germany . The section south of Bad Kreuznach is part of the regionally important transport corridor between the two major cities of Mainz and Saarbrücken. As early as 1839, there were plans to build a railway connection between the Saar and the Middle Rhine , which could not be realised due to high construction costs. The first section between Neunkirchen and Saarbrücken
7840-530: The operation of tilting trains . The stations in Rhineland-Palatinate, formerly consistently in dilapidated condition, are gradually being rebuilt (like Neubrücke (Nahe), Kirn, Monzingen, Bad Sobernheim and from 2011, after years of dispute with Deutsche Bahn, also Bad Kreuznach). The rehabilitation of the tunnels on the line has now begun with the upgrade, relining and partial renewal of the tunnels at Heimbach and related slope safety measures. In
7938-762: The private Rhine-Nahe Railway Company ( Rhein-Nahe Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft , RNE) set up for this purpose. It would connect the Nahe Valley and the surrounding area with the Left Rhine line of the Rhenish Railway Company ( Rheinischen Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft , RHE) and the Hessian Ludwig Railway ( Hessische Ludwigsbahn ) in Bingerbrück and would stimulate economic development and open up the market for Saar coal by connecting
8036-462: 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
8134-666: The railway. The management of the projected line in Prussia was the responsibility of the Royal Saarbrücken Railway ( Königlich-Saarbrücker-Eisenbahn ), which was also responsible for the Forbach Railway ( Forbacher Bahn ) from Bexbach via Neunkirchen and Saarbrücken to Forbach in France. The line between Neunkirchen and Saarbrücken was opened in 1852. In 1856 construction of the line was undertaken by
8232-1054: The remaining passenger services were replaced by buses for the duration of the work. The section between Türkismühle and Neubrücke (Nahe) was electrified in the summer of 2014, requiring it to be closed for six weeks. The Saarbrücken–Türkismühle section has long had a dense service. After the line was electrified, services were mainly operated with Silberling carriages hauled by class 140 and 141 electric locomotives . North of Türkismühle class VT 95 (795) and VT 98 (798) railbuses were often used. Express trains running between Saarbrücken, Idar-Oberstein , Bad Kreuznach , Bingen, Mainz and Frankfurt am Main were also mostly formed of Silberling carriages hauled by class 01 steam locomotives and later by class V200 and 218 diesel locomotives . Already in 1960 there were long-distance trains between Paris Gare de l'Est and Frankfurt, which stopped only at Saarbrücken, Neunkirchen, St Wendel, Neubrücke, Heimbach, Idar-Oberstein, Kirn, Bad Sobernheim, Bad Münster, Bad Kreuznach, Bingerbrück and Mainz. In 1985
8330-471: The route along the Nahe within its territory. After a contract was let for the construction of the line, construction of the 120 km-long single-track line began in 1857. The first 16 km section from Bingerbrück (now Bingen Hauptbahnhof ) to Bad Kreuznach went into operation on 15 July 1858. This was followed by the sections to Oberstein on 15 December 1859 and to Neunkirchen (Saar) via Birkenfeld (now Neubrücke) and St. Wendel on 26 May 1860, with
8428-546: 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,
8526-500: 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
8624-563: The transport of Saar coal. In addition, Prussia endeavoured to influence the traffic flows from the north-western Palatinate to the Nahe. For this reason, for example, Heimbach station was built along with a road to the Palatinate town of Kusel. The RNE expressly pointed out that this station was specifically built for this town. The station lost its importance, however, as early as 1868, when the Landstuhl–Kusel railway , which branched off
8722-561: The upper Blies Valley and the Nahe Valley, which was affected by high unemployment, rural exodus and emigration. The line connected to Bingerbrück on the Rhine and the Hessian Ludwig Railway ( Hessische Ludwigsbahn ) to Mainz on 17 October 1859 and down the Rhine to the Left Rhine Railway ( Linke Rheinstrecke ) of the Rhenish Railway Company ( Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft , RhE) on 15 December 1859. This
8820-555: 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
8918-600: 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
9016-429: 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
9114-547: 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
9212-422: Was an independent municipality. For this reason it was called Bingerbrück station. Because it has been incorporated into Bingen am Rhein , it was given its present name in 1993 as the most important station in the city. The halt ( Haltepunkt ) of Münster-Sarmsheim is located on the north-eastern edge of Münster-Sarmsheim . Langenlonsheim station is located in the north of Langenlonsheim . From 1889 to 1984,
9310-582: Was built as continuation of the Palatine Ludwig Railway ( Pfälzische Ludwigsbahn , Ludwigshafen – Bexbach ), which was completed in 1849 and had already been extended to Neunkirchen in 1850. The main railway was used to transport coal from the Saar district to the Rhine. The Palatine administration originally considered that St. Ingbert , which was in Bavaria , would be at the western end of
9408-684: Was built between 1913 and 1915 and destroyed in 1945. It connected a junction in Münster-Sarmsheim on the Nahe Valley Railway with the Right Rhine line . Because of the great military importance of the line, the RNE was acquired by the Prussian government with effect of 1 April 1881 and the company was dissolved. It became part of the Royal Railway Administration at Cologne, left Rhine ( Königlichen Eisenbahndirektion Köln, linksrheinisch ) of
9506-492: 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
9604-810: Was followed by a connection with the Hessian Ludwig Railway to Mainz on 15 December 1859. At the beginning of November 1861, this was followed by the opening of the Bingerbrück–Rüdesheim train ferry , connecting to the Nassau Rhine Railway , opened in 1856 by the Wiesbaden Railway Company ( Wiesbadener Eisenbahngesellschaft ), which was nationalised in 1861 as the Nassau State Railway ( Nassauische Staatsbahn ). The 121 km-long line of
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