Tauern Railway

Tauern Railway Schwarzach St. Veit–Spittal-Millstättersee
Falkenstein Bridge and Falkenstein Castle near Obervellach, Carinthia
Line length:	79 km
Track gauge:	1,435 mm
Voltage:	15 kV / 16.7 Hz AC
Maximum incline:	3.0  %
Minimum radius:	247 m
Maximum speed:	120 km/h
Legend Salzburg-Tyrol Railway from Salzburg 0,000 Schwarzach-St. Veit Salzburg-Tyrol Railway to Wörgl Untersberg Tunnel (270 m) Kenlach Tunnel (314 m) Birgl Tunnel (960 m) 5,431 Loifarn(since 2006 no passenger services) 6,800 Loifarn-Süd 7,103 7,422 break in kilometrage (-319 m) Lower Klamm Tunnel (739,38 m) Oberer Klamm Tunnel (744,01 m) 9,292 9,337 Loifarn 1 turnout (break in kilometrage (-45 m)) Klammstein ( closed 01.06.1991) Gasteiner Ache 14,313 Dorfgastein 19,281 Bad Hofgastein 22,360 Bad Hofgastein stop 22,570 Bad Hofgastein 1 turnout Angerschlucht Bridge New bridge (138 m) under construction 25,390 Angertalsince 2006 no passenger services 27,662 turnout Angertal 1 27,840 27,900 break in kilometrage (-60 m) 30,078 Bad Gastein Nassfelder Ache Anlaufbach 34,183 Böckstein 34,200 34,204 break in kilometrage (-4 m) 34,816 Tauern Tunnel (8370 m) 43,187 Tauern Tunnel ( closed 2001) 43,347 Mallnitz-Hintertal Seebach 45,110 Mallnitz-Nord 45,932 Mallnitz-Obervellach formerly Mallnitz 46,000 46,862 break in kilometrage (-862 m) Dösen Tunnel (891,19 m) 47,635 Kaponig Tunnel (5096 m) 51,738 Mallnitz-Obervellach crossover 2 51,767 Kaponig formerly Obervellachclosed 1999 52,731 Upper Kaponig Tunnel (236,05 m) Rescue gallery Ochenig Tunnel (690 m) Lower Kaponig Tunnel (789,22 m) Upper Lindisch Tunnel (260 m) Lindischgraben Bridge (283 m) Lower Lindisch Tunnel (379 m) 55,819 Oberfalkenstein Leutschach Tunnel (247 m) Falkenstein Tunnel (67 m) Falkenstein Bridge (396 m) Gratschach Tunnel (357 m) Pfaffenberg Bridge (377 m) Pfaffenberg Tunnel (499 m) Zwengenberg Tunnel (391 m) 57,942 58,300 break in kilometrage (-358 m) 58,417 Penk Mölltheuergraben Bridge (94 m) Litzelsdorfergraben Bridge (185 m) Rieckenbach Bridge (190 m) 64,790 Kolbnitz 69,124 Kolbnitz crossover 2 69,360 Mühldorf-Möllbrücke 69,428 Bahnhof Mühldorf-Möllbrücke replaced by Kolbnitz crossover 2 72,904 Pusarnitz 74,000 Pusarnitz-Süd 74,394 Line 407 01 turnout Drava Valley Railway from Innichen 80,897 Spittal-Millstättersee Drava Valley Railway to Villach and Maribor

The Tauern Railway (German: Tauernbahn) is an Austrian railway line between Schwarzach-Sankt Veit in the state of Salzburg and Spittal an der Drau in Carinthia. It is part of one of the most important north-south trunk routes (Magistrale) in Europe and also carries tourist traffic for the Gastein Valley. The standard gauge railway line is 79 km (49 mi) long and climbs the High Tauern range of the Central Eastern Alps with a maximum incline of 2.5%, it crosses the mountain crest through the 8,371 m (27,464 ft) long Tauern Tunnel.

History

Map of the Alpine Railways, 1921

The building of the Tauernbahn was part of the larger "Alpine Railways" investment project pushed by the Cisleithanian government of Austria-Hungary and Minister Heinrich von Wittek from 1901 onwards to connect the restored main Austrian seaport at Trieste with Bohemia and the northern parts of the Monarchy. Construction was executed by the public Imperial Royal Austrian State Railways to achieve an alternative route bypassing the Southern Railway line from Vienna to Trieste via the Semmering railway operated by the private Austrian Southern Railway company. Other sections built in the course of this infrastructure investment were the Karavanke railway including the Karawanken Tunnel from Villach to Jesenice, continued by the Bohinj Railway (Wocheiner Bahn) leading through the Julian Alps to Trieste, as well as the railway line from the city of Linz across the Pyhrn Pass to the Selzthal rail hub.

Construction of the Tauern Tunnel began in July 1901, the northern ramp from Schwarzach-St. Veit was built from 1902 onwards. The Bad Gastein station opened in 1905. The southern ramp down to Spittal an der Drau was erected from 1906 under the supervision of the Viennese engineer and entrepreneur Wilhelm Carl Gustav von Doderer, father of the writer Heimito von Doderer. The railway line was completed in 1909 and inaugurated by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria at Spittal station on July 5.

The tunnel itself had been built double-track, the northern and southern sections only single-track. The Obervellach station near the southern tunnel exit, situated on a slope 365 m (1,198 ft) above the village, from 1931 could be reached by a cable car, that was dismantled in 1976. In 1999 the Obervellach station was finally abandoned and relocated to Mallnitz. In 1933-35 the Tauern Railway line was completely electrified. From 1969 onwards further sections were restored to double track including several new passages, viaducts and straightenings to cope with the high traffic load ad to allow higher travelling speeds, the southern ramp was completed in 2009.

Since 1920 car shuttle trains (Tauernschleuse) through the Tauern Tunnel ply between the stations of Bad Gastein-Böckstein and Mallnitz.

See also

• Rail transport in Austria
• Austrian Federal Railways

Sources

• Eckert, Kowarik, Moll Tauernbahn - Österreichs moderne Alpenbahn, Europmedia-Verlag, 2009 ISBN 978-3-940262-03-5
• Christoph Posch (Hrsg.), Detlef Löffler: 100 Jahre Tauernbahn - Das waghalsige Unterfangen eine railwaylinie über die Tauern in den Süden zu bauen., Art Quarterly Publishing House, Wien 2009, ISBN 978-3-9502841-0-2
• Horn Alfred: railwaybilderalbum 12. Bohmann Verlag, Wien 2008. ISBN 978-3-901983-81-8

External links

• Departure times
• Tauern Railway Museum in Schwarzach im Pongau
• Buchtipp: 100 Jahre Tauernbahn
• Opening of the North Ramp of the Tauern Railway by Franz Joseph I 20 September 1905
• Tauern Railway – Austria’s Modern Alpine Railway / Buchtipp
• The Tauern Railway - www.tauernbahn.at
• of Construction of the Tauern Railway
• Fotoalbum: TAUERNBAHN – Railway photographs of the Tauern Railway (www.eisenbahn-in-oesterreich.at)

References

Coordinates: 47°04′13″N 13°08′21″E / 47.0703°N 13.1391°E / 47.0703; 13.1391