The line is a non-electrified main line that is equipped with GSM-Rdigital radio. The line has a speed limit of 120 km/h. The infrastructure-owner, DB Netze classifies the line as D4 class, permitting a maximum axle load of 22.5 tonnes and linear loads of 8.0 tonnes/metre.
History
The Lübeck–Büchen section was opened in 1851 by the Lübeck-Büchen Railway Company, after negotiations failed to agree on a direct connection between Lübeck and Hamburg through Holstein-Glückstadt, which was ruled by the King of Denmark. The section between Büchen and Lauenburg on the Elbe was built by the Berlin-Hamburg Railway Company and opened in 1851. In 1864 the Lauenburg–Hohnstorf train ferry was opened, establishing a connection to the Hanover rail network. The line was part of the shortest rail link from Hamburg to Hanover until the rail bridge over the Elbe in Hamburg was opened in 1872. In 1865, the Lübeck-Büchen Railway Company, which retained its name, opened the direct Lübeck–Oldesloe–Hamburg line. In 1878 an entirely iron bridge was built over the Elbe in Lauenburg, replacing the train ferry. Until 1937, travellers from Lauenburg benefitted from the Lauenburg privilege, allowing them to travel on the Berlin-Hamburg railway without having to pay for travel on the Lauenburg–Büchen section. At the end of the 1980s several long-distance services on the bird flight line to Denmark used the Lübeck–Lüneburg line to bypass the Hamburg rail node. A new station was opened at Lübeck-Hochschulstadtteil northwest of Lübeck Airport in December 2013.
Operations
The line has been served by Regionalbahn trains, operated byDB Regio, at an hourly frequency since December 2009, using class 648diesel multiple units. Rates on the Ratzeburg–Lüneburg section are set by the Hamburg Transport Association ; rates on the Lübeck–Lauenburg section are set in accordance with the Schleswig-Holstein-Tarif. Little freight transport uses the route. On 26 May 2008, a station was opened at Lübeck Airport. At the same time an electronic interlocking was established in Lübeck, replacing six old signal boxes in Pogeez, Ratzeburg, Mölln and Güster. In addition, another platform was built in Ratzeburg to enable train crossings. This meant that train could cross in Pogeez, Ratzeburg, Mölln, Büchen, Lauenburg and in Jäger operations station, north of Lüneburg.
Future
In the long term it is planned to operate services from Lübeck Airport and Ratzeburg to Lübeck at a half-hourly frequency. In addition, the route will be electrified and double tracked to connect with the proposed Fehmarn Belt tunnel by about 2022. The line will then be used as a secondary route for freight trains. The main line will be the Lübeck–Hamburg railway.
