The Western Railway (Westbahn) in Württemberg was opened in 1853 and ran from Bietigheim-Bissingen to Bruchsal. It was the first railway link between the states of Württemberg and Baden in Germany and one of the oldest lines in Germany. Formerly an important link line in national and international long-distance traffic, it has largely lost that role since the opening of the Mannheim–Stuttgart high-speed railway and primarily handles regional and goods traffic between the cities of Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Mannheim and Heidelberg.