region. That changed in 1945 at the end of World War II with the division of Germany into occupation zones. Just east of Eichenberg station the borders of the British, American and Soviet occupation zones met. The Göttingen–Bebra line was also divided. The Göttingen–Friedland section was in the British zone, Eichenberg and the Oberrieden–Bebra section was in the American zone, and about four kilometres of the line around Werleshausen (a locality in Witzenhausen) was in the Soviet zone. In order to ease this situation, in 1945 Wanfried agreement provided for an exchange of territory: The new boundary line, subsequently called sarcastically in German the Whisky-Wodka-Linie, meant that this section of the line was consistently under the control of the Western Allies, and thus completely in the area of the later West Germany. From Eichenberg to Bad Sooden-Allendorf, however, it was within sight of the watchtowers of the border to the east, later called the Iron Curtain. The border eventually led to the closure of several lines: the Halle–Kassel line east of Eichenberg and lines east of Eschwege, including the Leinefelde–Treysa line (part of the Kanonenbahn) and several branch lines. Until 1990 As a result of the Iron Curtain several eastern lines running parallel with the North–South railway were no longer usable, especially the Scandinavia–Rostock, Hamburg–Halle and Leipzig–Saal Railway–Nuremberg lines. The easternmost north–south route of the Federal Republic became known as the "western bypass of East Germany". Added to this was a strong general traffic growth. This made the North–South railway one of the most important lines. In the summer of 1989, 37 trains ran each day and each direction between Göttingen and Bebra. In order to handle demand, the line was upgraded. Signalling was upgraded in the 1950s. The line was electrified by 1963. To accommodate the catenary the Braunhäuser Tunnel was opened up as a cutting, and in other tunnels the tracks were lowered. Many smaller stations were abandoned. In addition, with the exception of the Eichenberg-Kassel main line, all the diverging routes were abandoned, at least for passengers. Since 1990 Since the 1960s it had become clear that the whole north–south route was overloaded and too slow to be attractive for long-distance services. At Eichenberg some curves had speed limits of 90 km/h, in Bebra there were limits of 70 km/h. This led to the planning and construction of the Hanover–Würzburg high-speed line, to which fast long-distance services