Salzburg-Tyrol Railway

Salzburg-Tyrol Railway
Overview
Native name	Salzburg-Tiroller-Bahn
Type	Heavy rail, Passenger/Freight rail Intercity rail, Regional rail, Commuter rail
Status	Operational
Locale	Salzburg Tyrol
Termini	Salzburg Hauptbahnhof Wörgl Hauptbahnhof
Stations	55
Line number	101 03
Operation
Opened	Stages between 1873–1875
Owner	Austrian Federal Railways
Operator(s)	Austrian Federal Railways
Technical
Line length	191.730 km (119.135 mi)
No. of tracks	Double track
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Minimum radius	200 m
Electrification	15 kV/16.7 Hz AC Overhead line
Operating speed	140 km/h (87 mph)
Maximum incline	2.6 %
Route number	200 (Freilassing – Saalfelden) 201 (Saalfelden - Innsbruck Hbf)

Salzburg–Tyrol Railway Salzburg–Wörgl

Legend from Munich 0,000 Salzburg Hauptbahnhof S2   S3 , Transition to the  S1 426 m (AA) (junction with Lokalbahn to Lamprechtshausen) Western Railway to Vienna West 2.100 Salzburg Sam S3  since 2004 link line to the Western Railway after branch-off to Hallwang-E. 2.401 Salzburg Gnigl Vbf 2.975 Salzburg Gnigl S3  since 2003 3.495 Salzburg Gnigl Vbf Einfahrgruppe 4.490 Salzburg Parschsince 2003  S3  5.756 Salzburg Aigen S3  7.927 Salzburg Süd S3  8.092 Hellbrunn-Glasenbach28.05.1978 closed 8.988 Elsbethen S3  429 m (AA) 12.203 Salzburg Aigen 5 crossover 13.200 Puch Ursteinsince 2005  S3  15.255 15.300 Break in kilometrage (-45 m) 14.524 Puch bei Hallein S3  15.970 Oberalmsince end of 2006  S3  17.808 Hallein S3  445 m (AA) 19.350 Hallein Burgfriedsince 2005  S3  20.923 Bad Vigaun S3  22.380 Kuchl Garneisince 2005  S3  22.875 Hallein 3 crossover 25.167 Kuchl Lst(passing loop) 25.580 Kuchl S3  28.764 Golling-Abtenau S3  468 m (AA) Salzach 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(passing loop) 41.699 41.723 break in kilometrage (-24 m) 42.236 Tenneck S3  519 m (AA) ( Konkordia Hut to 26 September 1971) 45.212 Werfen S3  526 m (AA) 46.604 Pfarrwerfen S3  528 m (AA) Rupertus Tunnel (327 m) 51.735 52.000 break in kilometrage (-265 m) Enns Valley Railway to Selzthal 52.305 Bischofshofen S3  544 m (AA) 55.272 Mitterberghütten S3  550 m (AA) 55.386 siding (passing loop) 56.882 Bischofshofen 2 crossover 61.266 St. Johann im Pongau S3  565 m (AA) Salzach 66.546 Schwarzach-St. Veit S3  590 m (AA) Tauern Railway to Spittal-Millstättersee Schwarzach Tunnel (190 m) Thumesbach Tunnel (380 m) Blaue Wand Tunnel (370 m) Salzach 74.978 Lend 634 m (AA) Salzach Salzach 79.040 Eschenau 673 m (AA) 81.9 Kitzlochklamm(closed) Taxenbach Tunnel (277 m) 84.328 Taxenbach-Rauris 718 m (AA) 86.371 siding (passing loop of former saw mill) 88.875 Gries im Pinzgau 744 m (AA) Salzach 93.734 Bruck-Fusch 757 m (AA) former siding to Kaprun hydropower plant Salzach ~96.6 Zell am See Süd(planned) Pinzgauer Lokalbahn to Krimml (760mm gauge) 99.414 Zell am See 752 m (AA) 102.139 siding (passing loop for Hagleitner company) 103.944 crossover Zell am See 2 104.000 Maishofen-Saalbach 765 m (AA) 104.041 Lst Maishofen-Saalbach(passing loop) 106.750 106.823 break in kilometrage (-73 m) 108.004 Gerling im Pinzgau 748 m (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 (AA) ~113.000 siding (passing loop) for Strabag diabase works 118.150 Leogang-Steinberge S6  796 m (AA) 120.483 Leogang S6  840 m (AA) 120.825 Saalfelden 2 crossover 123.076 Hüttenclosed 14.12.2008 885 m (AA) 126.312 Berg Grießenclosed 28.05.1995 946 m (AA) sidingen (passing loop) 130.141 Hochfilzen S6  970 m (AA) 134.400 Pfaffenschwendt S6  888 m (AA) 139.357 Fieberbrunn S6  783 m (AA) 141.970 142.050 break in kilometrage (-80 m) 144.475 Grieswirt S6  687 m (AA) 147.675 St. Johann in Tirol S6  663 m (AA) 150.295 siding (passing loop) for the firm of Egger 151.959 Oberndorf in Tirol S6  688 m (AA) 153.783 siding (passing loop) Hartsteinwerke Kitzbühel 153.783 siding (passing loop) Unterwerk Kitzbühel 157.077 Kitzbühel S6  773 m (AA) 159.541 Kitzbühel Hahnenkamm S6  773 m (AA) 161.442 Schwarzsee S6  772 m (AA) 164.175 Klausenclosed on 31.03.1951 166.385 Kirchberg in Tirol S6  820 m (AA) 170.065 Brixen im Thale S6  806 m (AA) 173.097 Westendorf S6  762 m (AA) 173.591 Kitzbühel 2 branch-off(old Westendorf station) 176.447 Windau S6  723 m (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 (AA) former Itter Tunnel (45 m, dismantled in summer 2009) 188.504 Wörgl Süd - Bruckhäusl S6  523 m (AA) (to 14 December 2008: Bruckhäusl) 188.975 Hopfgarten 1 crossover Lower Inn Valley Railway from Kufstein 192.405 Wörgl Hauptbahnhof S1   S2   S6  505 m (AA) Lower Inn Valley Railway to Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof

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).

Course

The standard gauge line runs through the Salzach valley, Bischofshofen station being of particular importance because of the junction with the Enns Valley Railway to Selzthal in Styria. At the Wörgl hub, 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 section from Salzburg Hauptbahnhof to Schwarzach-St. Veit was given a major upgrade, together with the Tauern Railway and the construction of the Salzburg S-Bahn network, and, in places, entirely rebuilt and re-routed.

Names

It is (and was) also known as the Gisela Railway (Giselabahn, after the second daughter of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and his wife Empress Elisabeth, the Archduchess Gisela). Today it is frequently considered to be a continuation of the Western Railway from Vienna to Salzburg; the Vienna West–Salzburg–Wörgl section is also referred to as the Empress Elisabeth Railway (Kaiserin-Elisabeth-Bahn) and the westernmost Zell am See–Wörgl section is also called the 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 10th 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". 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

File:ÖBB EC 668 bei St. Johann im Pongau.jpg

ÖBB EuroCity train next to the Salzach River near St. Johann im Pongau

File:OBB 1110-524 Zell am See.jpg

ÖBB freight train near Zell am See

File:OBB 4024-xxx Brixental.jpg

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.

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