Bachbahn Junction [abandoned]

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Towns and villages around Kaiserslautern are socially and economically closely intertwined with the city itself. Daily, around 15 000 people from the North-West commute in, for shopping, work, leisure and education. Most destinations are in the inner city, not directly accessible for the railway passenger. Regional buses, on the other hand, terminate at the central bus station, west of the city centre and a 2 km walk from the central railway station. The commuters demand for regional passenger services penetrating the city centre becomes therefore evident.

Case of the Bachbahn

Among the lines closed down in the car-minded past, was the line from Reichenbach to Weilerbach and Otterbach, aptly named Bachbahn ('Brook line'), connecting at Otterbach with the Lautertalbach trunk line from Lauterecken to Kaiserslautern. On 25 May 1972, passenger traffic ended on the Bachbahn. The Weilerbach-Reichenbach section closed to all traffic in 1989, and on 31 December 1994 the final section, Otterbach to Weilerbach, lost its goods traffic. In 1996 the Federal Railway Board agreed to shut down this last part of the Bachbahn as well.
{The above courtesy of: www.lrta.info/articles/art0103.html]

Plans to reactivate the Bachbahn out to Weilerbach in time for the 2006 World Cup were canceled due to lack of funds.