150 years of the Cottbus maintenance depot - and not a bit tired!

Within the DB network of maintenance depots, Cottbus is the competence centre for diesel-hydraulic and diesel-electric rail vehicles and their components. This is where DB's diesel and electric locomotives and special vehicles undergo regular maintenance work, such as general overhauls and emergency and accident repairs, and complex vehicle conversions are carried out. On the other hand, DB's largest and most modern ICE maintenance depot will be built as part of the Cottbus maintenance depot by 2026. In January 2024, heavy maintenance of DB's ICE 4 fleet started in the first, smaller of two halls, while a further hall with four maintenance tracks, a paint shop and ancillary workshops is expected to go into operation in 2026.

"Today, we can look to the future with optimism. The successful commissioning of ICE production and the progress in the construction of the second hall are milestones on our way to becoming DB's largest and most modern maintenance depot. We also want to reorganise and realign diesel locomotive and component production. May this anniversary not just be a look back at the past, but rather a look forward to an even more successful and innovative future," said the management of the maintenance depot.

A short chronicle

When construction of the "Royal" main workshop in Kottbus" began in 1874, Cottbus was still spelt with a "K". The railway administration of the time had a central main workshop built to repair locomotives and wagons. The workforce totalled 70 men and the beginnings were very difficult. For many years, the repair work had to be carried out under construction conditions, mostly with simple tools and machines. When the factory was founded, the Prince Pueckler Park presented a symbolic foundation oak tree on the factory site, which still stands there today. The Prussian tank engine T 3, built in 1878, was the first steam locomotive to be repaired at the Cottbus Maintenance Depot. In the following decades, wagon halls III to V, the boiler house, the locomotive straightening hall and the boiler forge were built.

After the First World War, all state railways were merged into the Deutsche Reichsbahn in 1920. With the reorganisation of the workshop system in 1925, the Reichsbahnausbesserungswerk (RAW) Cottbus was responsible for the former Länderbahn locomotives. The global economic crisis of 1929/30 led to short-time working and redundancies, and there were even plans to close the plant. Thanks to the great commitment of the workforce, it was possible to keep the plant going and it developed into the largest industrial company in Cottbus and the surrounding area by the early 1930s. Due to forced labour measures, the workforce increased to 2,500 and forced labourers were deployed at the plant from 1942 at the latest. In 1945, the plant was largely destroyed during the Allied attack on Cottbus maintenance depot.

Two years after the Second World War, the reconstruction work at the maintenance depot had progressed so far that the most important workshops were covered again. Further new buildings followed.

From 1954, the maintenance depot functioned as a mixing depot for the repair of various steam locomotive series and wagon categories. After a major fire in 1969, the maintenance depot was rebuilt in a coherent "compact construction" in various bays. It was subsequently one of the most modern factories in the GDR. The portfolio now developed primarily for the maintenance of the heavy Soviet diesel locomotives of the BR 130, 131, 132 and 142 series as well as the V 100 series from GDR production.

The period of upheaval in the 1990s was also a time of de-industrialisation in the East. And once again, things did not look good for the “Ausbesserungswerk”. The political decision to phase out the coal industry opened up new prospects. Plans for a new railway plant for the maintenance of the ICE4 fleet matured. The first of two halls has been in operation since January of this year, while the second hall is currently under construction and should be completed by 2026. Cottbus will then have DB's most modern maintenance maintenance depot.