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)

Metre-gauge railways

• Achenseebahn, 6.78 km, steam engine.
• Lokalbahn Vöcklamarkt–Attersee, 15.3 km and electrified.
• Schafbergbahn,a cog railway, 5.85 km, steam engine.
• Schneebergbahn, a cog railway, 9.85km
• Stubaitalbahn, 18.2 km, now trams in Innsbruck Linie STB, Fulpmes-Innsbruck Hbf, electrified
• Innsbrucker Mittelgebirgsbahn, 8.4 km and electrified. Now became trams in Innsbruck Linie 6, electrified.
• Traunseebahn 14.9km, connects to the Gmunden tramway, electrified.
• Lokalbahn Mödling–Hinterbrühl, 4.5 km, closed in 1932. It was the first electrified railway in Austria.
• Straßenbahn Unterach–See am Mondsee, 3.26 km, closed in 1949.
• Lokalbahn Innsbruck–Hall in Tirol, 11.8 km, closed in 1974.

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 35.3 km, steam engine
• Feistritztalbahn in Steiermark, 42.2 km, steam engine
• Höllentalbahn, 5 km
• Lokalbahn Ober-Grafendorf–Gresten in Lower Austria, 62.3 km, a branch of Mariazellerbahn.
• Lokalbahn Mixnitz–Sankt Erhard in Steiermark, 10.7 km, electrified.
• Mariazellerbahn, from Sankt Pölten to Mariazell, 85 km electrified.
• Murtalbahn, 76.1 km, steam engine
• Pinzgauer Lokalbahn, from Zell am See to Krimml, 52.6 km
• Stainzerbahn in Steiermark, 11.3 km, steam engine.
• Steyrtalbahn, from Garsten to Klaus, 19.2 km, steam engine
• Taurachbahn, a museum railway.
• Thörlerbahn, from Kapfenberg to Au-Seewiesen in Styria, 22.7 km, diesel engine, closed in 1999.
• Vellachtalbahn in Kärnten, 17.5 km
• Waldviertler Schmalspurbahnen in Lower Austria, 82 km, steam engine.
• Ybbstalbahn, 76.6 km, steam engine.
• Zillertalbahn, from Jenbach to Mayrhofen, 33.1 km, locomotive.
• numerous logging railways build from surplus military equipment after 1918, no longer in operation.

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

• Museumsfeldbahn Großgmain; 1.7 km, operating
• Feistritzwaldbahn; 22 km, defunct
• Kleinbahn Neusiedl am See; 1.5 km, defunct
• Reißeck-Höhenbahn, 3.3 km, defunct
• 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

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