Mühlburger Tor station in a long, semi-circular curve and then separated from the Maxau Railway to continue to run north along the current Erzbergerstraße to Karlsruher Nordstadt, which was then in the middle of the Hardt forest. It then ran to the north for a few kilometres through an area that was undeveloped at the time, but which is now the location of the Neureut districts of Heide and Kirchfeldsiedlung, which were developed after the Second World War, to reach Neureut where it reached the route of the line opened in 1913. History Opening and first years (1870–1890) Construction of the Baden Mainline (Badische Hauptbahn) started in 1840 from Mannheim, running via Heidelberg to Karlsruhe, and it was extended to Basel by 1855. However, the indirect route via Heidelberg bypassed part of the natural catchment area of Mannheim which was located close to the Rhine, including towns such as Schwetzingen and Hockenheim. This led to a vigorous debate about the southern part of a proposed line from Mannheim to Karlsruhe close to the Rhine: under the plan, the railway would run via Linkenheim, Eggenstein and Neureut to Mühlburger Tor and from there run together with the Maxau Railway to Karlsruhe station. The Grand Duke of Baden, Frederick I approved the building of this route despite efforts to have the line run to the east of Karlsruhe. It was accepted that through traffic in the north-south direction might not run on the line and that it would instead continue to run on the Heidelberg–Karlsruhe line. The Mannheim–Schwetzingen–Graben Neudorf–Eggenstein–Karlsruhe line via the Hardt forest was opened on 4 August 1870. It was called the Rhine Railway from the beginning. Further development and decommissioning (1890–1967) As it was expected that there would soon be another war with France, plans were made to build strategic railways. Against this background, the German general staff demanded above all a line on the Graben-Neudorf–Blankenloch–Karlsruhe–Durmersheim–Rastatt–Roeschwoog–Haguenau route, which was inaugurated in 1895. Since the line via Blankenloch was shorter and more direct, trains on the Rhine Railway from then on ran on the strategic line. The Karlsruhe–Eggenstein–Graben-Neudorf section of the line, which was now called the Hardtbahn (Hardt Railway), was no longer used by through trains to Mannheim, instead services on the line ended in Graben-Neudorf. In 1900, it was decided to relocate Karlsruhe Central Station, which was then in the centre of the city at Ettlinger Tor to