Koralm Railway

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Koralm Railway
Koralmbahn

Track of the Koralm Railway (blue)
Overview
Type High-speed rail
Commuter rail
Freight rail
Status under construction
Locale Austria (Styria, Carinthia)
Termini Graz Central Station
Klagenfurt Central Station
Stations 12
Website Koralmbahn (in German)
Technical
Line length 127 km (79 mi)
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Minimum radius 3,000 metres (9,800 ft)[1]
Operating speed 250 km/h (160 mph)
Maximum incline 8‰[1]
Route map
Legend
Koralmbahn
Legend
to Vienna
Graz Hbf.
to Köflach
Graz Don Bosco
Styrian Eastern Railway
Graz Puntigam
Feldkirchen/Seiersberg
Süd Autobahn (A2)
Styrian Eastern Railway
Graz Airport
Southern Railway
Container terminal Werndorf
Wundschuh
Weitendorf junction
Pyhrn Autobahn (A9)
Southern Railway
Kainach bridge
Hengsberg Tunnel (1.7 km)
to Slovenia
Hengsberg
to Graz (via Lieboch)
Wettmannstätten
Laßnitz bridge
Wieser Railway
Weststeiermark station
to Wies-Eibiswald
Koralm Tunnel (32.9 km)
to Wolfsberg
Lavant bridge
Lavanttal station
Lavanttal Railway
Grutschentunnel (2.6 km)
Granitztal (0.4 km)
Langerbergtunnel (3.1 km)
Jauntal bridge
Aich/Wiederndorf
Bleiburg loop
Bleiburg
Mittlern
Kühnsdorf Tunnel (0.5 km)
Kühnsdorf-Klopeinersee
Peratschitzen Tunnel (0.2 km)
Srejach Tunnel (0.6 km)
Untersammelsdorf Tunnel
Stein Tunnel
Drava bridge
Lind Tunnel (0.5 km)
Junction to Drautal Railway
Grafenstein Tunnel (0.6 km)
Grafenstein
Gurk bridge
Glan bridge
Ebenthal
Freight terminal Klagenfurt
to Vienna via St. Veit/Glan
Klagenfurt Hbf.
Junction to Rosental Railway
to Italy

The Koralm railway (German: Koralmbahn) is a 127 km-long[1] double-track, electrified, high-speed railway that is under construction, and which will connect the Austrian cities of Graz and Klagenfurt. Construction started in 2001, and the entire railway line is expected to be operational by 2023.

Overview

Although construction will not finish until 2023, parts of the railway line are already open, or will be opened earlier, to enhance the quality of local commuter rail services. The railway is primarily built for intermodal freight transport but will also be used by passenger trains travelling at up to 250 km/h. The travel time from Klagenfurt to Graz will be reduced from three hours to one hour. Commissioning of the first new track section began in 2010 and construction is expected to be completed in 2022.[2]

The centrepiece of the new railway is the 33 km Koralm Tunnel under the Koralpe mountains that give the railway its name. The project is currently the largest under way to expand the Austrian railway network with a budget of several billion euros, and will connect the federal state capitals of the adjacent states of Styria and Carinthia. The connection is currently made by a laborious three hour train journey via Bruck an der Mur.[2] In combination with the projected 27 km-long Semmering base tunnel the Koralmbahn will remove bottlenecks in the Austrian freight and passenger railway infrastructure (namely the Semmering Pass and the Neumarkt Sattel). Together with the already existing Italian Pontebbana railway line between Tarvisio and Udine they will be part of what is referred to as Baltic-Adriatic Corridor - a traffic axis connecting the Polish port city of Gdansk and the Italian city of Bologna. In 2013 the Koralmbahn was included into the Trans-European Transport Core Network.[3][4]

Sections

Graz - Feldkirchen

Between Graz and Feldkirchen the Koralmbahn coincides with the Southern railway line (Südbahn) connecting Vienna with Slovenia. This stretch was upgraded in order to meet High-speed rail and S-Bahn standards. Specifically, level crossings were replaced by undercrossings and train stations were upgraded with some of them now serving as interchanges to other transport modes.[5] The urban tram and bus services of Graz were extended to provide direct links from the train stations Graz-Don Bosco and Graz-Puntigam to the city centre. Graz Hauptbahnhof is currently being upgraded to meet the expected increase in railway traffic following the opening of the Koralmbahn and the extension of the Südbahn between Graz and Slovenia from a single to a two track railway line.

Features:[5]

  • Length: 7 km
  • Structures: Several undercrossings (10 new, 2 upgrade)
  • Construction started: 2002
  • Progress: Finished (2 tracks; 2005), prepared for a 4 track upgrade

Feldkirchen - Wettmannstätten

Southern portal of the Hengsbergtunnel and Hengsberg station (opened in 2010)

After crossing the Süd Autobahn (A2) the Koralmbahn branches off the existing Südbahn tracks. Immediately after the junction a 3 km-long subsurface route will be erected which will also include a station serving Graz Airport. Reemerging on the surface the tracks will then cross the Grazer Feld and subsequently follow the Pyhrn Autobahn (A9). South of the Container terminal Werndorf two junctions to the existing Southern Railway line will be built - the first to integrate the container terminal, the second (Weitendorf junction) will serve as a connection for local railway services. After undercrossing the Pyhrn Autobahn and going through the 1.7 km-long Hengsberg Tunnel the Koralmbahn will arrive at Wettmannstätten.[6] In December 2010 the 14 km-long section from Weitendorf junction to Wettmannstätten was opened as a single track, non-electrified railway. It is integrated in the Styrian S-Bahn system as  S6 . When the entire Koralmbahn becomes operational this stretch will be upgraded to two tracks and become electrified.

Features:[6]

  • Length: 24.3 km
  • Total length of subsurface sections: 5.8 km
  • Structures: 2 subsurface routes, 1 tunnel, several bridges
  • Construction started: 2007
  • Progress: subsection Weitendorf junction-Wettmannstätten - Finished (1 track; 2010), prepared for a 2 track upgrade

Wettmannstätten - Sankt Andrä

Eastern portal of the Koralm Tunnel (May 2012)

This section includes the 33 km-long Koralm Tunnel undercutting the Koralpe, an up to 2000 m high mountain range separating Southern Styria and Eastern Carinthia. Before reaching the eastern portal of the tunnel the Koralm Railway crosses the Laßnitz valley on a 10 km open land stretch, incorporating the future structures of the train station Weststeiermark. The station will serve as the regional hub connecting existing local railway lines with the Intercity traffic running over the Koralm Railway. It will also harbour the safety and maintenance installations of the Koralm tunnel.[7]

The Koralm Tunnel itself will consist of two single track tubes with cross-passages every 500 m and an emergency station halfway its total length of 33 km. The construction of the tunnel is divided into three sections (from east to west): KAT1, KAT2 and KAT3.

Features:[7]

  • Length: 41.5 km
  • Total length of subsurface sections: 32.9 km
  • Structures: 23 bridges and undercrossings, 3 railway briges, 1 tunnel
  • Construction started: 2008
  • Progress: Construction of exploration tunnels started in 2003 and lasted until 2010, works on section KAT1 began in 2008 and were finished in 2013, works on the section KAT2 began in 2011, and on KAT3 in 2014.

Sankt Andrä - Aich

This 9.7 km long section between the western portal of the Koralm tunnel at Sankt Andrä and Aich includes the future Lavanttal station, which will serve a similar role as the Weststeiermark station on the Styrian side of the Koralm, that is, connecting the Koralm Railway with local train and bus services. After crossing the Lavanttal the Koralm Railway will enter a series of tunnels with a total length of around 6 km (namely the Grutschentunnel, an enclosed section crossing the Granitztal valley and the Langerbergtunnel). Preparatory works started in 2008, which included the construction of bridges, highways and the diversion of a section of the Lavant river and a part of the Lavanttal railway.[8]

Features:[8]

  • Length: 9.7 km
  • Total length of subsurface sections: 6.1 km
  • Structures: 2 tunnels, 1 enclosed section, 1 railway bridge, 2 bridges
  • Construction started: 2008
  • Progress: Preparatory works finished; construction of tunnels are expected to start in 2014

Aich - Althofen an der Drau

Construction site at Kühnsdorf (August 2012)

This 28.5 km long section between the Jauntal bridge and Althofen an der Drau, which includes a 600 metres long bridge crossing the river Drau. [9]

Features:[9]

  • Length: 28.5 km
  • Structures: 6 tunnels, 15 railway bridges, 11 bridges, 3 undercrossings, 3 wildlife crossings
  • Construction started: 2010
  • Progress: Section Mittlern-Althofen under construction, construction of section Aich-Mittlern expected to start in 2017

Althofen an der Drau - Klagenfurt

Train station Grafenstein

External links

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Koralm Railway.
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Johannes Fleckl-Ernst: Geodätische Herausforderungen beim Projekt „Koralmtunnel“. In: Felsbau, Heft 5/2010, S. 315–321, ISSN 1866-0134.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "ÖBB Infrastruktur AG: Information zur Koralmbahn" (in German). ÖBB. Retrieved 2011-06-13. 
  3. ↑ "Infrastructure - TEN-T: The new core network - key figures". European Commission. 2013-10-17. Retrieved 2013-10-31. 
  4. ↑ "Future EU transport infrastructure policy to focus on TEN-T corridors". Railway Gazette. October 22, 2013. Retrieved November 10, 2013. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Koralmbahn Graz Hfb - Klagenfurt: Graz - Puntigam - Feldkirchen" (in German). ÖBB. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Koralmbahn Graz Hfb - Klagenfurt: Feldkirchen - Werndorf - Wettmannstätten" (in German). ÖBB. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Koralmbahn Graz Hfb - Klagenfurt: Wettmanstätten - St. Andrä" (in German). ÖBB. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Koralmbahn Graz Hfb - Klagenfurt: St. Andrä - Aich" (in German). ÖBB. Retrieved 2012-04-28. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Koralmbahn Graz Hfb - Klagenfurt: Aich - Mittlern - Althofen/Drau" (in German). ÖBB. Retrieved 2013-08-04. 

Coordinates: 46°45′34″N 15°00′51″E / 46.75944°N 15.01417°E / 46.75944; 15.01417

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