Narrow gauge railways in Austria

Train of the Mariazellerbahn in Lower Austria

The first railway in Austria was the narrow gauge line from Gmunden in the Salzkammergut to Budweis, now in the Czech Republic, this was 1,106 mm (3 ft 7 ¹⁄₂ in) gauge. Some two dozen lines were built in 760 mm (2 ft 5 ¹⁵⁄₁₆ in) gauge, a few in 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in) metre gauge gauge. The first was the Steyrtalbahn. Others were built by provincial governments, some lines are still in common carrier use and a number of others are preservation projects. The tramway network in Innsbruck is also metre gauge; in Linz the rather unusual gauge of 900 mm (2 ft 11 ⁷⁄₁₆ in) is in use.

384 km 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in) metre gauge gauge; 88 km 760 mm (2 ft 5 ¹⁵⁄₁₆ in) gauge (2008) ^[1]

Metre gauge railways

• Achenseebahn
• Innsbrucker Mittelgebirgsbahn, 8,4 km and electrified.
• Lokalbahn Innsbruck–Hall in Tirol, 11,8 km, closed in 1974.
• Lokalbahn Vöcklamarkt–Attersee, 15,3 km and electrified.
• Lokalbahn Mödling–Hinterbrühl, 4,5 km, closed in 1932. It was the first electrified railway in Austria.
• Pöstlingbergbahn built at the gauge of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in) metre gauge, converted to 900 mm (2 ft 11 ⁷⁄₁₆ in) in 2009 and integrated in the Linz tram network.
• Schafbergbahn,a cog railway.
• Schneebergbahn, a cog railway.
• Straßenbahn Unterach–See, 3.258 km, closed in 1949.
• Stubaitalbahn
• Traunseebahn

900mm gauge railways

• The Florianerbahn is a museum tramway in Upper Austria.
• The Trams in Linz are electrified, operating at 600 V C, opened in 1913 and extended in 2009 when the Pöstlingbergbahn was integrated with the tramway after gauge conversion from metre gauge.

760mm gauge railways

• Bregenzerwaldbahn
• Feistritztalbahn in Steiermark, 42,2 km.
• Gurktalbahn in Kärnten, 28,8 km and was closed for regular traffic in 1974, now a 3,6 km heritage railway
• Höllentalbahn, today a 5 km heritage railway, originally called Lokalbahn Payerbach–Hirschwang and 6 km long
• Klammbachwaldbahn, a forest railway in the forests northeast of Achenkirch, closed in 1960.
• Lokalbahn Ober-Grafendorf–Gresten in Lower Austria
• Lokalbahn Mixnitz–Sankt Erhard in Steiermark, 10,7 km, electrified
• Mariazellerbahn, an 85-km-long electrically operated railway.
• Murtalbahn
• Pinzgauer Lokalbahn
• Salzkammergut-Lokalbahn, closed and partially revived as the SKGLB Museum
• Stainzerbahn in Steiermark, 11,3 km.
• Steyrtalbahn
• Taurachbahn, a museum railway.
• Thörlerbahn, now dismantled.
• Tschagguns–Partenen railway, converted to standard gauge in 1961
• Vellachtalbahn in Kärnten, 17,5 km
• Waldbahn Deutschlandsberg in Steiermark, 9,9 km, closed in 1959
• Waldbahn Reichraming, 38,3 km, closed in 1971.
• Waldviertler Schmalspurbahnen in Lower Austria, 82 km.
• Ybbstalbahn
• Ybbs Straßenbahn, 2,943 km, closed in 1953.
• Zillertalbahn

750mm gauge railway

• Dienstbahn der Internationalen Rheinregulierung, 25 km. Common freight carrier and partly a heritage railway

600 mm (1 ft 11 ⁵⁄₈ in) railway lines

• Feistritzwaldbahn; 22 km, defunct
• Kleinbahn Neusiedl am See; 1.5 km, defunct
• Museumsfeldbahn Großgmain; 1.7 km, operating
• Reißeck-Höhenbahn, 3.3 km, operating
• Schwertberger Kaolinzug; 3.8 km, defunct
• Waldbahn Haselbach; 2.5 km, defunct
• Waldbahn Naßwald; 2 km, a defunct heritage railway

500 mm (19 ³⁄₄ in) railway lines

• Geriatriezentrum Am Wienerwald Feldbahn

See also

• History of rail transport in Austria
• Rail transport in Austria

References

Notes

1. CIA World Fact Book

Bibliography

• Organ, John (2003). Austrian Narrow Gauge: featuring steam in the Alps. Narrow Gauge Branch Lines series. Midhurst, West Sussex, UK: Middleton Press. ISBN 1904474047.
• Organ, John (2012). Northern Alpine Narrow Gauge: Interlaken to Puchberg. Narrow Gauge Branch Lines series. Midhurst, West Sussex, UK: Middleton Press. ISBN 9781908174376.

External links

Media related to Narrow gauge railways in Austria at Wikimedia Commons