Districts to reactivate Mainschleifenbahn between Seligenstadt and Volkach

The 10.6 km branch line between Seligenstadt and Volkach (near Würzburg), closed since 1994, has operated only as a weekend heritage tourist railway since 2003, carrying about 12,000 passengers annually (as of 2010). The districts of Kitzingen and Würzburg plan to reactivate regular regional service: a feasibility study found clear economic benefit and potential for over 1,000 daily passengers with hourly battery-train service to Würzburg (about 25 minutes). The district councils approved funding for design and permitting in October 2024, and DB InfraGO committed to station modifications by 2028; service start is targeted around 2029. Update (1 Apr 2026): According to Thomas Götz, managing director of Mainschleifenbahn-Infrastruktur-GmbH (MIG), the project is in the middle of planning; the approval documents are to be submitted in 2027, split into many sections and individual procedures (for example for level crossings) and coordinated with the Prosselsheim bypass road. DB takes over the connection to the network with points and signals, while MIG is responsible for the line and the new stops; a tight window is decisive, because a possession is planned on the Würzburg–Schweinfurt main line in 2028, and if it goes unused the project could be set back by years. First soil surveys indicate that the existing alignment can largely be kept; construction, operation and financing remain open, with a model under discussion in which MIG builds and a partner company operates, on which the district councils of Würzburg and Kitzingen are to decide. (LOK Report, 1 Apr 2026) Update (10 Jul 2026): The district councils of Würzburg and Kitzingen intend to decide, at a joint meeting this autumn and before the end of 2026, on follow-up funding for Mainschleifenbahn-Infrastruktur-GmbH (MIG), the next planning phase and the project structure; an economic-viability calculation based on current costs is also due by the end of the year. Instead of handing the line to a train operator early on, MIG is now to upgrade the roughly ten-kilometre line itself and then lease it out, with a possible partner already accompanying the process; the federal government funds 90% of the construction costs and pays for rebuilding the junction at Seligenstadt. DB InfraGO confirmed the start of planning in 2025, and MIG is working on 35 individual projects to upgrade the line. (LOK Report, 10 Jul 2026)