The Hardt Railway () is a railway line in the Karlsruhe region of Germany. Originally built as part of the Rhine Railway, a through main line, it now forms a branch line from Karlsruhe to Hochstetten. The line runs along the western edge of the forest of Hardtwald, from which it takes its name. Today the line is owned and operated, as part of the Stadtbahn Karlsruhe, by the Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (AVG). Route Hardt Railway (since 1979) The safe-working system on the line changes from the German tram operating procedures (BOStrab) to rail operating procedures (EBO) north of Haus Bethlehem station. Once the track has returned to street level, it passes across a "bridge to nowhere” over the unfinished Karlsruhe Nordtangente (north tangent) highway. It then runs through an S-curve on to the route of the old Hardt line and follows it to Eggenstein. Shortly after it crosses the Pfinz flood relief canal (Pfinz-Entlastungskanal) it leaves the route of the Hardt line to run further west through the centre of Leopoldshafen. Between Leopolshafen and Linkenheim it comes within a few metres of the old route, but it then runs to the west of the Hardt line through the centre of Linkenheim to terminate in the housing estate of Langer Berg in Hochstetten. Historic Hardt Railway (to 1967/1979) Following the opening of the new Karlsruhe Central Station (Hauptbahnhof) in 1913, the old Hardt Railway followed the tracks of the Palatine Maximilian Railway to Mühlburg. One kilometre after Mühlburg station, the old Hardt Railway separates from the two tracks of the Palatine Maximilian Railway and turns to the right. It then runs directly through the industrial area of Knielingen and then crosses highway B 36. Just prior to Neureut it connects with the new Stadtbahn line and the old and new lines run on the same tracks to Eggenstein. The old Hardt Railway is damantled from Leopoldshafen, but the railway tracks can still easily be recognised on the outskirts of Leopoldshafen. In Linkenheim the route is now built over north of Bahnhofstraße. After that, the line ran on the far eastern edge of Hochstetten to pass through the Hardt forest, where the route can be made out again for a few kilometres to Graben-Neudorf station. Until 1913, the old Hardt Railway ran from the old Karlsruhe station (in the city centre at Ettlinger Tor) together with the Maxau Railway (Maxaubahn) as far as