Ringzug

The concept of the Ringzug is the operation of a clockface timetable, coordinated with a variety of other buses and train services, over an S-Bahn-like network in a rural environment.

[1] The Ringzug has aroused interest beyond the region and can point to steadily rising passenger numbers and declining deficits.

The term Ringzug was chosen because its route was originally intended to form a ring, but it is interrupted by the gap between Immendingen and Donaueschingen.

The majority of stations in the Ringzug area were skipped in the 1970s and 1980s due to the implementation of Deutsche Bundesbahn's so-called eilzugmäßigen (semi-fast running) of regional services.

On the 28 kilometre-long section of the Plochingen–Immendingen railway (part of the Gäubahn) between Tuttlingen and Rottweil, Spaichingen was the only remaining stop.

On the Black Forest Railway, in addition to the express trains, an InterRegio service ran at two-hour intervals between Hamburg and Konstanz.

Following Hickmann's study his colleague Ulrich Grosse supervised the development of the concept and advised the political authorities to implement it.

In January 1996. the district councils of Tuttlingen, Rottweil and the Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis decided to implement the developed concept under the so-called "Trossingen agreement" (Trossinger Vereinbarung).

The residence of then Premier Erwin Teufel as the region's representative in the parliament of Baden-Württemberg assured the promotion of the new transport system.

In December 2001, the special-purpose association (Zweckverband) was established to create the Ringzug, initially under the chairmanship of the former administrator of Tuttlingen District, Hans Volle.

The partial disuse of lines for decades and the lack of stations required massive investment in transport infrastructure.

Because an electronic interlocking was being installed at the junction to the Wutach Valley Railway branch in Hintschingen, the line also could not be included at first.

So the Ringzug was launched with an incomplete route network and a few stations, which meant that in the first year buses still ran parallel to the railway lines.

On the three lines that do not belong to DB Netz AG, passenger services are now operated exclusively by Ringzug.

At that time InterRegio services that ran on the Black Forest Railway between Donaueschingen and Immendingen occupied train paths that the Ringzug would have needed.

Instead, it was decided to include the Wutach Valley Railway, running through the relatively sparsely populated Immendingen–Zollhaus-Blumberg section, in the Ringzug.

The Ringzug operates on both weekdays and weekends over the line from Bräunlingen to Geisingen-Leipferdingen or Blumberg at a two-hour regular interval.

On the Tuttlingen–Inzigkofen railway section from Tuttlingen to Fridingen an der Donau, however, the Ringzug services do not run at regular intervals.

In the morning peak hour Ringzug services are partly carried out in cooperation with DB Regio and are operated with class 425 EMUs.