Salzburg-Tyrol Railway

The Salzburg-Tyrol Railway (German: Salzburg-Tiroler-Bahn) is a main line railway in Austria. It runs through the states of Salzburg and Tyrol (North Tyrol) from the city of Salzburg to Wörgl and belongs to the core network (Kernnetz) of the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB). The section between Salzburg and Schwarzach-Sankt Veit is part of the Salzburg S-Bahn urban railway network.

Salzburg-Tyrol Railway
EC 163 Transalpin passes the Kaiser Mountains.
Overview
Native nameSalzburg-Tiroler-Bahn
StatusOperational
OwnerAustrian Federal Railways
Line number101 03
LocaleSalzburg
Tyrol
TerminiSalzburg Hauptbahnhof
Wörgl Hauptbahnhof
Stations55
Service
TypeHeavy rail, Passenger/Freight rail
Intercity rail, Regional rail, Commuter rail
Route number200 (Freilassing – Saalfelden)
201 (Saalfelden - Innsbruck Hbf)
Operator(s)Austrian Federal Railways
History
OpenedStages between 1873–1875
Technical
Line length191.730 km (119.135 mi)
Number of tracksDouble track
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8 12 in) standard gauge
Minimum radius200 m
Electrification15 kV/16.7 Hz AC Overhead line
Operating speed140 km/h (87 mph)
Maximum incline2.6%
Route map

0,000 Salzburg Hauptbahnhof
,
Transition to the
426 m (AA)
(junction with Lokalbahn to Lamprechtshausen)
2.100 Salzburg Sam
since 2004
link line to the Western Railway after branch-off to Hallwang-E.
2.401 Salzburg Gnigl Vbf
2.975 Salzburg Gnigl
since 2003
3.495 Salzburg Gnigl Vbf Einfahrgruppe
4.490 Salzburg Parsch
since 2003
5.756 Salzburg Aigen
7.927 Salzburg Süd
8.092 Hellbrunn-Glasenbach
28.05.1978 closed
8.988 Elsbethen
429 m above sea level (AA)
12.203
Salzburg Aigen 5 crossover
13.200 Puch Urstein
since 2005
15.255
15.300
Break in kilometrage (-45 m)
14.524 Puch bei Hallein
15.970 Oberalm
since end of 2006
17.808 Hallein
445 m above sea level (AA)
19.350 Hallein Burgfried
since 2005
20.923 Bad Vigaun
22.380 Kuchl Garnei
since 2005
22.875
Hallein 3 crossover
25.167 Kuchl Lst
25.580 Kuchl
28.764 Golling-Abtenau
468 m above sea level (AA)
31.529
siding (passing loop)
31.556
siding (passing loop)
34.464
Golling-Abtenau 2 crossover
Ofenau Tunnel (940 m)
scree protection gallery
38.565
Golling-Abtenau 4 crossover
38.673 Sulzau Lst
41.699
41.723
break in kilometrage (-24 m)
42.236 Tenneck
519 m above sea level (AA)
( Konkordia Hut to 26 September 1971)
45.212 Werfen
526 m above sea level (AA)
46.604 Pfarrwerfen
528 m above sea level (AA)
Rupertus Tunnel (327 m)
51.735
52.000
break in kilometrage (-265 m)
52.305 Bischofshofen
544 m above sea level (AA)
55.272 Mitterberghütten
550 m above sea level (AA)
55.386
siding (passing loop)
56.882
Bischofshofen 2 crossover
61.266 St. Johann im Pongau
565 m above sea level (AA)
66.546 Schwarzach-St. Veit
590 m above sea level (AA)
Schwarzach Tunnel (190 m)
Thumesbach Tunnel (380 m)
Blaue Wand Tunnel (370 m)
74.978 Lend
634 m above sea level (AA)
79.040 Eschenau
673 m above sea level (AA)
81.9 Kitzlochklamm
(closed)
Taxenbach Tunnel (277 m)
84.328 Taxenbach-Rauris
718 m above sea level (AA)
86.371
siding (passing loop of former saw mill)
88.875 Gries im Pinzgau
744 m above sea level (AA)
93.734 Bruck-Fusch
757 m above sea level (AA)
former siding to Kaprun hydropower plant
~96.6 Zell am See Süd
(planned)
Pinzgauer Lokalbahn to Krimml (760mm gauge)
99.414 Zell am See
752 m above sea level (AA)
102.139
siding (passing loop for Hagleitner company)
103.944
crossover Zell am See 2
104.000 Maishofen-Saalbach
765 m above sea level (AA)
104.041 Lst Maishofen-Saalbach
106.750
106.823
break in kilometrage (-73 m)
108.004 Gerling im Pinzgau
748 m above sea level (AA)
110.950
111.050
break in kilometrage (-100 m)
~112.000
former siding (600mm) for Strabag diabase works
112.335 Saalfelden
 S6 
728 m above sea level (AA)
~113.000
siding (passing loop) for Strabag diabase works
118.150 Leogang-Steinberge
 S6 
796 m above sea level (AA)
120.483 Leogang
 S6 
840 m above sea level (AA)
120.825
Saalfelden 2 crossover
123.076 Hütten
closed 14.12.2008
885 m above sea level (AA)
126.312 Berg Grießen
closed 28.05.1995
946 m above sea level (AA)
sidingen (passing loop)
130.141 Hochfilzen
 S6 
970 m above sea level (AA)
134.400 Pfaffenschwendt
 S6 
888 m above sea level (AA)
139.357 Fieberbrunn
 S6 
783 m above sea level (AA)
141.970
142.050
break in kilometrage (-80 m)
144.475 Grieswirt
 S6 
687 m above sea level (AA)
147.675 St. Johann in Tirol
 S6 
663 m above sea level (AA)
150.295
siding (passing loop) for the firm of Egger
151.959 Oberndorf in Tirol
 S6 
688 m above sea level (AA)
153.783
siding (passing loop) Hartsteinwerke Kitzbühel
153.783
siding (passing loop) Unterwerk Kitzbühel
157.077 Kitzbühel
 S6 
773 m above sea level (AA)
159.541 Kitzbühel Hahnenkamm
 S6 
773 m above sea level (AA)
161.442 Schwarzsee
 S6 
772 m above sea level (AA)
164.175 Klausen
closed on 31.03.1951
166.385 Kirchberg in Tirol
 S6 
820 m above sea level (AA)
170.065 Brixen im Thale
 S6 
806 m above sea level (AA)
173.097 Westendorf
 S6 
762 m above sea level (AA)
173.591 Kitzbühel 2 branch-off
(old Westendorf station)
176.447 Windau
 S6 
723 m above sea level (AA)
Au Tunnel (210 m)
Leidegg Tunnel (327 m)
182.280 Hopfgarten mountain lift
 S6 
(to 28 May 1961: Hohe Salve mountain lift)
183.447 Hopfgarten
 S6 
589 m above sea level (AA)
former Itter Tunnel (45 m, dismantled in summer 2009)
188.504 Wörgl Süd - Bruckhäusl
 S6 
523 m above sea level (AA)
(to 14 December 2008: Bruckhäusl)
188.975
Hopfgarten 1 crossover
192.405 Wörgl Hauptbahnhof
 S1   S2   S6 
505 m above sea level (AA)

Course

The standard gauge line runs along the Salzach valley, the Bischofshofen hub being of particular importance as the junction with the Enns Valley Railway to Selzthal in Styria. At the Wörgl terminus, the Salzburg-Tyrol Railway meets the Lower Inn Valley Railway running from the Tyrolean capital Innsbruck to the German border at Kufstein and the Deutsches Eck transport link.

The line has been upgraded to double track throughout and both tracks may be worked in bi-directional running. The entire route is electrified and is powered by 15,000 Volt alternating current and a frequency of 16.7 Hertz. In particular the S-train section from Salzburg Hauptbahnhof to the southern branch-off of the Tauern Railway line at Schwarzach-St. Veit was given a major upgrade and, in places, entirely rebuilt and re-routed.

Names

It is (and was[1]) also known as the Gisela Railway (Giselabahn), after Archduchess Gisela of Austria, the second daughter of Emperor Franz Joseph I and his wife Elisabeth. Today it is frequently considered to be a continuation of the Western Railway from Vienna to Salzburg; the whole railway line from Wien Westbahnhof to Salzburg and Wörgl is also referred to as Empress Elisabeth Railway (Kaiserin-Elisabeth-Bahn). The westernmost Zell am See–Wörgl section in Tyrol is also called Brixental Railway.

History

Wörgl Station, about 1900

The Salzburg-Tyrol Railway was built from 1873 to 1875 on the basis of the "Concession Authority dated 10 November 1872 for the Limited Company of the Privileged Empress Elisabeth Railway for the Construction and Operation of a Locomotive Railway Running from Upper Styria to Salzburg and North Tyrol".[2][3] It runs from Salzburg via Hallein, Bischofshofen, St. Johann im Pongau, Schwarzach-St. Veit, Zell am See, Hochfilzen, St. Johann in Tirol and Kitzbühel to Wörgl.

The north ramp of the Tauern Railway, from Schwarzach-Sankt Veit station on the Salzburg-Tyrol Railway up to Bad Gastein, opened on 20 September 1905. The southern continuation across the main chain of the Alps to Spittal in the Drava Valley, including the Tauern Railway Tunnel, was inaugurated by Emperor Franz Joseph on 5 July 1909. By 1915 the Salzburg-Tyrol Railway was upgraded to double track and, in 1925, electrification of the line began, finished in 1930. Towards the end of World War II, the railway became a target for Allied bombing due to its strategic importance.

Operation

ÖBB EuroCity train near Pfarrwerfen.
Bombardier Talent railcar near Brixen im Thale

Up to today, the Salzburg-Tyrol Railway is the only east–west railway link to Tyrol that runs entirely on Austrian territory. The fact that there is no parallel motorway link on national territory gave the line great importance, especially before Austria's accession to the EU in 1995. However, its significance is increasingly on the wane, partly because it has the characteristics of an Alpine railway with steep hills and tight curves, hence high-speed rail transport is not possible. Austrian east-west trains therefore usually use the route from Salzburg via Rosenheim station in Germany to Innsbruck, transiting the Deutsches Eck link.

The line is important, though, especially for regional services, as part of the connexion from Innsbruck to the state capitals Klagenfurt and Graz as well as part of the line from Salzburg to Graz (via the Enns Valley Railway). In addition, the only Austrian coach transport service from North Tyrol to Lienz in East Tyrol leaves from Kitzbühel station on the Salzburg-Tyrol Railway. The line is also fairly important as an alternative route for international rail traffic on the east–west axis, but it is more significant as a feeder for the Tauern Railway crossing the Hohe Tauern range of the Central Eastern Alps from north to south. The Salzburg-Tyrol Railway is also used by sleeping car trains. The night train from Bregenz to Vienna used to run on this line until December 2008, in order to achieve journey times that enabled passengers to spend enough time in the sleepers and to save the rail tolls charged by German Deutsche Bahn railway company for using the Deutsches Eck transport link.

The railway is also important for local services in the central region of Salzburg and in North Tyrol. Between Salzburg Hauptbahnhof and Golling-Abtenau the line is worked every half-an-hour and from Golling to Schwarzach every hour by the S3 line of the Salzburg S-Bahn network. The section from Wörgl to Saalfelden is served by the S6 line of Tyrol S-Bahn system.

References

  1. Volkswirthschaftliche Zeitung. (Giselabahn.) Das Vaterland, 15. November 1872
  2. R. G. Bl. No. 170/1872
  3. Volkswirthschaftliche Zeitung. (Giselabahn.) Das Vaterland, 31 December 1872

Literature

  • Alfred Horn: Die Eisenbahnen in Austria: Offizielles Jubiläumsbuch zum 150jährigen Bestehen, Bohmann Verlag 1986, ISBN 3-700206-43-7
  • Eisenbahnatlas Austria, Verlag Schweers + Wall, S. 63, ISBN 978-3894941284
  • Alfred Horn: ÖBB Handbuch 1993, Bohmann Verlag, Vienna 1993, ISBN 3-7002-0824-3

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