followed, although Baden did not own any section of it. From 1861 there had also been a direct route to France after the completion of the Rhine bridge between Kehl and Strasbourg. The opening up of the Palatinate (Pfalz) was first realised in 1865 with a pontoon bridge from Karlsruhe–Maxau as well as a link between Mannheim and Ludwigshafen in 1867. A connexion with Bavaria followed the opening of the Baden Odenwald Railway (Baden Odenwaldbahn) in 1866. Negotiations for a route to Württemberg were particularly difficult because both states were competing for traffic between Germany and the Alpine passes. While Baden favoured a line via Pforzheim, Württemberg was interested in a more direct connexion at Bruchsal. An agreement was finally reached in the state treaty of the 4 December 1850, whereby Württemberg was granted the right to build the direct Stuttgart–Mühlacker–Bretten–Bruchsal route (Württemberg Western Railway) even on Baden territory, while Baden was permitted to build and operate the Karlsruhe–Mühlacker line, which ran partly in Württemberg. The connexion with Bruchsal was taken into service in 1853. Further expansion The subsequent expansion of Baden's railway network was either aimed at opening up the regions or carried out from a military perspective. Worth mentioning are: The Neckar Valley Railway (Neckartalbahn), Neckargemünd–Eberbach–Jagstfeld, opened in 1879 The Höllental Railway (Höllentalbahn), Freiburg im Breisgau–Neustadt (Schwarzwald), opened in 1887 The strategic diversions on the Upper Rhine: Weil am Rhein–Lörrach, Wehra Valley Railway (Wehratalbahn) and the completion of the Wutach Valley Railway (Wutachtalbahn) all between 1887 and 1890 The strategic Rhine Railway, Mannheim–Graben-Neudorf–Karlsruhe–Rastatt–Roeschwoog (Elsass), opened in 1895 Around 1895, Baden's railway network was more or less finished bar a few small sections. In 1900 it had a track length of 1996 km, of which 1521 km was owned by the State Railways. In the succeeding years the main effort was the expansion of stations which formed railway hubs. The most important conversions were: New marshalling yard at Karlsruhe, 1895 New station at Rastatt, 1895 New goods relief line at Freiburg im Breisgau, 1905 New goods station at Basle, 1905 New goods relief line at Bruchsal, 1906 New marshalling yard in Mannheim, 1906–1907 New station at Offenburg with a marshalling yard, 1911 New Baden station in Basle with new adjoining marshalling yard to the north at Weil am Rhein, 1913 New central station at Karlsruhe, 1913 New marshalling yard and goods station at Heidelberg, 1914 The newly built Heidelberg