The Story So Far...
Frankenbahn: Stuttgart - Heilbronn was one of our showcase 'Take-A-Ticket' reveals during Dovetail Direct Summer 2025.
Since then, we've shown work-in-progress models of the new rolling stock and explained a little about the Train Faults and features implemented into them.
You can revisit these in the October and November Roadmaps.
The Setting: Back to the year 2000
Set in the year 2000, recall the days when the millenium was new. See the classic layout and buildings of Stuttgart before its big rebuild, carefully traverse the Enzbrucke prior to its 2006 replacement, and of course, experience it all from backdated motive power.
Climb into classic traction such as the all-new DB BR 140 to embark on hefty cargo duties, or shuttle back and forth in regional services featuring the new Wittenberger Steuerwagen, powered by DB BR 111 traction.
The Route: Stuttgart - Heilbronn
Transport freight and passengers along the banks of the Neckar and into Baden-Württemberg suburbia.
What’s now known as the Frankenbahn was originally constructed as several railway lines throughout southwest Germany, the oldest of which was the Nordbahn which weaved out of Stuttgart, then ran north along the Neckar to Heilbronn. Since the 1840s, this line has been of key strategical importance and today sees vital commuter traffic as well as a wide variety of freight services.
This Train Sim World 6 route Add-on features a 51 km section of the Frankenbahn between Stuttgart Hbf and Heilbronn Hbf as it was in the year 2000. 15 detailed stations represent this era with audible platform and passenger announcements as well as the massive Kornwestheim freight yard and multiple lineside industries.
Standout stations include Zuffenhausen, a multilevel station with a flyover that runs through the middle of it and an unusual post modern architectural style. The route is surrounded by many vineyards and steep valleys on the northern section of the route between Besigheim and Heilbronn.
The main architectural feature is of course Stuttgart Hbf, as seen in the year 2000, which includes the Stuttgart Hbf S-Bahn station underneath. Researching and recreating a previous version of the station was a challenge for our environment team, utilising reference material from before 2016. Details such as the Ticket Machines have been modelled to reflect the correct era.
Another notable feature of the route is the Winkelturm bunker which is a large missile shaped structure near Feuerbach station. Its strange shape was designed to deflect bombs during the Second World War.
The Trains
NEW DB BR 140
The BR 140, sometimes also referred to as the E40, is a classic electric locomotive built in various forms from the late 1950s through to the early 1970s. As a result it has some unique features of operation such as the single release brake and a maximum operating speed of 110 km/h.
This can offer some challenging gameplay, managing the application and release, the latter of which can be triggered when the lever is placed one step down. Like other locomotives of the era power is applied via Tap Changer controls, requiring a level of forethought before ascending and descending gradients or approaching stop signals.
The BR 140 will support a standard set of toggleable Train Faults and utilises both Sifa and PZB safety systems.
Though plenty of more recent locomotives have since replaced them, they were still in use for freight services during the year 2000 and other variants of the E40 have even been used beyond then, notably by RailAdventure.
NEW Wittenberger Steuerwagen + BR 111 locomotive
The Wittenberger Cab Car adds equally classic passenger stock, with multiple control systems compatible with different types of locomotive.
This brings the total number of cab car variants available in Train Sim World to four:
Dostos, available in various Train Sim World route Add-ons
n-Wagen, available in Bremen-Oldenburg, Linke Rheinstrecke and Mittenwaldbahn
IC Steuerwagen, available in the Expert BR 101 Add-on
Wittenberger, included in Stuttgart-Heilbronn
The development team are currently working on implementing the Wittenberger cab car controls with different locomotives in-game. We'll confirm which locomotives will be able to be operated with the cab car on release.
Like the BR 140, toggleable train faults will be implemented for the cab car, as will passenger announcements throughout the coaches.
BR 111 and 363 locomotives
In addition to the new DB BR 140 and Wittenberger Cab Car, the route Add-on will include the DB BR 111, n-Wagen coaches and DB BR 363.
This variant of the BR 111 and n-Wagen coaches will be updated to feature the following toggleable Train Faults:
Wiper Failures
Pantograph Failures
Circuit Breaker Failures
Handbrake Failures
Stuck Passenger Doors
Passenger Lighting failures
Some minor bug fixes and improvements will also be made to this BR 111, n-Wagen coaches and BR 363 over previous versions.
Timetable
Game Designer Joe has worked on the timetable for Frankenbahn: Stuttgart - Heilbronn, formed primarily of a base service pattern that includes SE and RE trains running between Stuttgart and Heilbronn, stopping at most stations.
Freight services operate Kornwestheim - Heilbronn, with most then going off the map at Bietigheim-Bissingen. There are also shunting services for the BR 363.
Additional Service Layers
More gameplay is unlocked using layered content from previous Train Sim World Add-ons.
These include:
BR 111 Dosto services from Pfälzische Ludwigsbahn
BR 425 services from Pfälzische Ludwigsbahn
Mixed freight services from Ruhr Sieg Nord
Shunting substitutions using the BR 294 locomotive from Train Sim World 6: Deluxe and Special Editions
In addition, gaps have been left in the timetable to accommodate BR 420 services, in preparation for its release. We'll continue to update on the progress of this Add-on in future Train Sim World Roadmaps.
Gameplay and Mastery
Throughout the route are are the standard set of Collectibles to find. One of these is a nod to Stuttgart's notable car manufacturing history.
The Tier 2 Mastery Scenery Tile unlocks an animated projector board to represent Stuttgart Festival of Animation. The team have used some artistic license and moved it into the park near the station rather than being near Stuttgart Palace, for better visibility.
You can unlock this tile by completing timetable services and Scenarios.
Train Sim World 6: Frankenbahn: Stuttgart - Heilbronn is coming soon for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Epic Games Store, and Steam for €35.99/£29.99/$39.99
Please note that this Add-on will be released on PC and 9th Gen Console platforms only.
Preview Livestream
Join both the RFTV Team for the Preview of Stuttgart - Heilbronn on Thursday 4th December, over on YouTube and Twitch.
Upgrade to Train Sim World 6
Regional Editions - OUT NOW
If you've yet to upgrade to Train Sim World 6, you can now do so through the newly released Train Sim World 6: Regional Editions.
These Editions contain Training Center and one of the three Core routes, including their new Train Faults, Random Events, Passenger and Platforms Announcements!
The three Regional Editions are:
German Regional Edition, featuring Leipzig-Dresden and the ICE-T
UK Regional Edition, featuring Riviera Line and the new GWR Class 802
US Regional Edition, feature Morristown Line and the Arrow III EMU
These are available from 27th November 2025 at 10am GMT (PS/XB), 4pm GMT (Epic/Steam).
Deluxe locomotives for each route can also be purchased separately.
These are:
DB BR 294 shunter
CrossCountry Class 220 Voyager DEMU
NJ TRANSIT® ALP-45DP locomotive
Find out more about Train Sim World 6 by following @trainsimworld on Twitter/X, Instagram, Threads, Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and TikTok.