overhead wiring of the line, mostly dating from 1935, was renewed between 2004 and 2006. Opening dates 20 November 1844 (Oberhausen–Nordheim) 1 July 1847 (Augsburg–Oberhausen) 15 September 1847 (Nordheim–Donauwörth) 1 April 1849 (Nuremberg–Schwabach) 1 October 1849 (Schwabach–Pleinfeld) 2 October 1869 (Treuchtlingen–Pleinfeld) 1 October 1906 (Donauwörth–Treuchtlingen) Testing and record runs On 17 October 1984, locomotive 120001-3 hauled a train of three carriages (trailing load: 250 t) between Donauwörth and Augsburg at 265 km/h, a world record for a three-phase-powered train. In 1993, a trial of new air-sprung bogies for Intercity Express trains achieved a speed of 333 km/h between Augsburg and Donauwörth. Route The route leaves Nuremberg Hauptbahnhof, initially running parallel with the lines to Crailsheim, Bamberg and Würzburg, running to the west. It passes under the Frankenschnellweg freeway and then makes a long turn to the south. It passes through the districts of Sandreuth, Schweinau and Werderau and then crosses the South-west Tangent (Südwesttangente) freeway, the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal and the Ring line, where there is an extensive system of connecting lines and reaches the flying junction between the stations of Eibach and Reichelsdorf, which are now stations for the S-Bahn only. The flying junction allows the S-Bahn tracks to switch from the west of the main line tracks to the east. In addition, the south main line track switches to the right, as trains have been running on the left since Nuremberg Hauptbahnhof, unusually for Germany. The line runs through the Nuremberg districts of Reichelsdorf, Reichelsdorfer Keller and Katzwang and the Schwabach districts of Limbach and Waldsiedlung, crosses the Rednitz and Schwabach rivers and finally reaches Schwabach station. The line makes a turn to the left and then runs parallel to the Rednitz through Rednitzhembach and via Roth to Georgensgmünd and from there parallel to Federal Highway 2 and the Rezat river to Pleinfeld. In Roth, the line to Hilpoltstein (also known as the Greding Railway, Gredlbahn) branches off. Until 1995, a line branched from Georgensgmünd to Spalt. Another branch, known as the Lakeland Railway (Seenlandbahn), as it passes through the Franconian Lake District, connects Pleinfeld with Gunzenhausen; it was part of the original Ludwig South-North Railway. The line continues to the Baroque town of Ellingen and Weißenburg, which was established on a Roman settlement. North of Weißenburg the line crosses the Swabian Rezat river. Just before the railway junction in Treuchtlingen with the lines from Wurzburg and to Ingolstadt,