Mainz–Ludwigshafen railway
Overview
Native name	Bahnstrecke Mainz-Ludwigshafen
Status	Operational
Owner	Deutsche Bahn
Line number	3522
Locale	Rhineland-Palatinate
Termini	Mainz Hauptbahnhof Ludwigshafen Hauptbahnhof
Stations	16
Service
Type	Heavy rail, Passenger/freight rail Regional rail,Intercity rail
Route number	660
Operator(s)	DB Bahn
History
Opened	15 November 1853
Technical
Line length	67.3 km (41.8 mi)
Number of tracks	Double track
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)standard gauge
Electrification	15 kV 16.7 Hz
Operating speed	160 km/h (maximum)
Route map Legend West Rhine Railway from Boppard fromWiesbaden and Bischofsheim line from Alzey fromPort of Mainz 0.0 Mainz Hbf Mainz Hbf Tunnel New Mainz Tunnel Southern Mainz Tunnel 1.8 Mainz Römisches Theater (formerly Mainz Süd) route to former Mainz Hauptbahnhof Rhine-Main Railway to Darmstadt 3.8 Mainz-Weisenau (Mainz-Mitte until 1990) 5.4 Mainz-Weisenau freight yard 6.8 Mainz-Laubenheim 10.3 Bodenheim former"Amiche" to Alzey 13.0 Nackenheim (since 23 June 2006) 13.7 Nackenheim (until 22 June 2006) 18.5 Nierstein former"Valtinche" to Köngernheim) 20.4 Oppenheim Dienheim 27.8 Guntersblum formerOld Rhine Railway to Osthofen 30.8 Alsheim 33.7 Mettenheim formerline from Gau-Odernheim former"Gickelche" to Westhofen 37.7 Osthofen Old Rhine Railway to Rheindürkheim formerLine to Gundheim Ried Railway from Biblis 45.9 Worms Hbf Rheinhessen Railway to Alzey Worms-Süd (planned) formerLower Eis Valley Railway toGrünstadt 51.1 Bobenheim Roxheim (construction uncertain) Großkarlbach–Ludwigshafen line (narrow gauge) 57.0 Frankenthal Hbf Frankenthal-Süd line to Freinsheim Freight line from Ludwigshafen-BASF 62.8 Ludwigshafen-Oggersheim 67.3 Ludwigshafen (Rhein) Hbf Saarbrücken–Mannheim railway Source: German railway atlas[1]

TheMainz–Worms–Ludwigshafen Railway connectsMainz viaWorms toLudwigshafen in the German state ofRhineland-Palatinate From there trains cross the Rhine viaMannheim or run south towardsSpeyer. It was opened in 1853 and is one of theoldest railways in Germany.

The first proposals for building a railway line west of theRhine between Mainz and Worms, dated back to the 1830s, shortly after the opening of thefirst German railway line betweenNuremberg andFürth. This line was promoted by the governments ofBavaria (which then included the territory involved) andFrance. They later dropped the plan for financial and military reasons. Plans for the line did not resume until 1844.

A route throughAlzey was discarded in favour of a direct alignment along the Rhine (However, this route was later built as well, now forming theMainz–Alzey railway and theRheinhessen Railway). In 1845, theHessian Ludwig Railway Company (German:Hessische Ludwigsbahn) received a concession to build and operate this route. In 1848 work on the line started. The first section of the line between Mainz and Worms was opened on 23 March 1853 and it was completed to Ludwigshafen on 15 November 1853.

The line was integrated in theRhine-Neckar S-Bahn as line S6 on 10 June 2018 from Mainz to Mannheim. This forms part of a planned through line viaHeidelberg to theElsenz Valley Railway or theSchwarzbach Valley Railway. In addition to the modernisation of existing stations, this involved two new stations inDienheim and Frankenthal-Süd.

The double-track, electrified line is still of great importance for regional and long-distance traffic. A number of long-distanceIntercity orIntercity-Express trains run fromKoblenz orWiesbaden on the Mainz-Mannheim line.

In addition, there is a dense network of regional trains: in addition to the half-hourlyRegionalbahn service on the line, there is aRegional-Express service viaSpeyer toKarlsruhe. Increased regular interval services in the 1990s led to an increase in ridership. Until 2004, regional services were provided by locomotive-hauled trains. Since then,class 425 electric multiple units have been used.

Since December 2014, Regional-Express trains have run at two-hour intervals betweenMainz Hbf andMannheim Hbf with stops inWorms andFrankenthal, combining with the existing Regional-Express connection between Mainz Hauptbahnhof andKarlsruhe Hauptbahnhof on the section between Mainz Hauptbahnhof andLudwigshafen (Rhein) Hauptbahnhof to form an hourly service. The Regional-Express service from Mainz via Ludwigshafen am Rhein to Karlsruhe (RE 4) and Mannheim (RE 14) have also been operated since December 2014^[2] as part of theSüwex network withclass 429 railcars.

The stations ofDienheim andFrankenthal Süd were opened on 14 June 2015.

Line RB 44 became line S 6 of theRhine-Neckar S-Bahn at the "minor timetable change" on 10 June 2018. Since the timetable change on 9 December 2018, the S 6 S-Bahn services mostly run every half hour.^[3] In the future, a connection from Mainz via Worms and Mannheim toHeidelberg is planned.^[3] Also trains on Regional-Express lines 4 and 14 have run via theTaunus Railway toFrankfurt Hauptbahnhof since 9 December 2018. The initially proposed stations ofWorms Nord andWorms Süd are not to not being built for the time being.^[4]

There are the following local services:

• RE 4: (Frankfurt am Main – Hochheim am Main –) Mainz – Worms – Ludwigshafen (Rhein) Hbf – Speyer – Karlsruhe (every two hours)
• RE 14: (Frankfurt am Main – Hochheim am Main –) Mainz – Worms – Ludwigshafen (Rhein) Mitte – Mannheim (every two hours)
• S 6: Mainz – Worms – Ludwigshafen am Rhein – Mannheim (mostly every half hour).

• Railway lines in Rhineland-Palatinate
• Railway lines opened in 1853
• Buildings and structures in Mainz-Bingen

• CS1 German-language sources (de)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles containing German-language text