In 1850, the Geislinger Steige was completed, a technical masterpiece that is not only considered one of the first mountain crossings of a railway line in continental Europe, but also sparked the economic development of the entire region around Geislingen an der Steige. Today, 175 years later, the city is celebrating this anniversary – and the importance of the railway line is more relevant than ever.

Technical pioneering achievement with vision

The Geislinger Steige climbs 112 metres over a distance of 5.7 kilometres with a gradient of 22.5 per mille – a technical feat for the mid-19th century.

Even back then, the route was planned so that it did not require any complex technical aids such as rack railways or hairpin bends. Nevertheless, construction under the most adverse conditions required the deployment of around 3,000 workers. They came from Württemberg, but also from Bavaria, Austria and Switzerland – and worked without today’s health and safety measures, mostly in life-threatening conditions.

From village to industrial town

When the line opened, Geislingen had only 2,345 inhabitants. But everything changed with the connection to the growing rail network. The railway made it possible to transport goods quickly and reliably to the major economic centres. Factories sprang up along the Filstal valley, initially consisting of small family businesses, which developed into large joint-stock companies in just two generations.

A prime example is the Straub & Sohn machine factory, founded in 1850, which became Maschinenfabrik AG in 1883 and merged into today’s Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG in 1929. Even better known is the Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik AG (WMF), which emerged from several small companies and is still the largest employer in the region today.

This industrialisation would have been inconceivable without the rail connection. Rail transport ensured a secure supply of raw materials and opened up new sales markets. The connection via the Geislinger Steige was the economic backbone of the region – and remains so to this day.

Old line, new significance

With the commissioning of the new Stuttgart–Ulm line in 2022, the connection via the Swabian Alb will be modernised once again. But despite all the high speeds, the Geislinger Steige remains indispensable: it relieves regional traffic, enables flexible train connections and plays a central role in freight transport. This is because heavy freight trains can only use the new line to a limited extent due to its technical restrictions – in contrast, up to 80 freight trains are scheduled to run on the Geislinger Steige every day.

This underlines what has been true for 175 years: good connections to the high-speed rail network are a decisive factor in choosing a location. Where efficient rail connections exist, economic dynamism, industrial development and jobs are created. The example of Geislingen clearly demonstrates this – and at the same time proves that infrastructure policy is much more than just transport planning: it is economic policy in the best sense of the word.

Source: Tatjana Bojic: BNN, dated 24 June 2025