almost parallel bus route 300 would not have been closed. The newspaper Freies Wort presumed personal animosities between Enders and Carius during the upcoming parliamentary elections was the real reason for the refusal of the proposal which had previously been supported. On 10 June 2014, Carius, however, ultimately approved the contract for its operation and Enders announced the adjustment of bus route 300 from September 2014. Erfurter Bahn operates and markets the service under the name of RennsteigShuttle. A total of 9,476 passengers had used these trains by 26 August 2014. 1,041 bicycles had been transported. Operational characteristics The route is one of the steepest adhesion railways that is still in operation in Germany. The maximum gradient is 6.12%. Until 1927, the line was partly operated using rack and pinion and was thus the first rack railway of the Prussian state railways. Toothed bars using the Abt system with two bars were laid on several sections: between Stützerbach and Rennsteig station for 2.12 kilometres (line-kilometre 30.81 to 32.93) at a gradient of 6.01% between Rennsteig and Schmiedefeld am Rennsteig for 1.2 kilometres (line-kilometre 33.93 to 35.13) at a gradient of 5.44% between Schmiedefeld and Thomasmühle for 1.18 kilometres (line-kilometre 35.76 to 36.94) at a gradient of 5.78% and 1.05 kilometres (line-kilometre 37.88 to 38.39) at a gradient of 6.06% between Schleusingen-Ost and Schleusingen for 0.75 kilometres (line-kilometre 49.24 to 49.99) at a gradient of 6.12% The Prussian T 26 class steam locomotives always had to face the valley on the rack sections. Therefore, these trains had to have an assisting locomotive to push them uphill. In order to avoid the locomotives having to run around in Rennsteig station, where trains had to reverse, the locomotives were always placed with the chimney towards the mountain. This procedure ensured that the boiler water on the steep rack sections always stood at a sufficient height above the ceiling of the firebox. Soon, the company was looking for alternatives to the staff and cost-intensive rack railway operations (which with the maintenance of the Prussian T 26 rack locomotives and the toothed rack sections, particularly in winter, were complex and expensive). As early as 1923, both class 94.5–17 and class 95 locomotives were tested. However, the class 95 locomotives proved to be too heavy because they damaged the rail track superstructure. The experiments with class 94.5-17 locomotives however proved satisfactory and thus the changeover to