The Pöstlingbergbahn () is a

narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curv ...

electric railway, or "mountain

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

way", in

Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. It connects the main square in the centre of Linz with the district of Pöstlingberg, located at the top of a hill (or small mountain) at the northern end of the city. Opened in 1898, for 110 years the metre-gauge railway ran from a terminal station in Linz's Urfahr neighbourhood, located across from the terminus of urban

route 3, to Pöstlingberg. In 2009, service was extended from Urfahr to the city centre. To permit this change, the railway was regauged from to and a track connection to the Linz tram network was built. Service was suspended from March 2008 until May 2009 for this work. With a maximum

grade Grade most commonly refers to: * Grading in education, a measurement of a student's performance by educational assessment (e.g. A, pass, etc.) * A designation for students, classes and curricula indicating the number of the year a student has reach ...

of 11.6%, the Pöstlingbergbahn is one of the

steepest In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a line is a number that describes the direction of the line on a plane. Often denoted by the letter ''m'', slope is calculated as the ratio of the vertical change to the horizontal change ("rise over r ...

adhesion Adhesion is the tendency of dissimilar particles or interface (matter), surfaces to cling to one another. (Cohesion (chemistry), Cohesion refers to the tendency of similar or identical particles and surfaces to cling to one another.) The ...

railways in the world.Buckley, Richard (2000). ''Tramways and Light Railways of Switzerland and Austria'' (2nd edition), p. 139. Gloucester, UK:

Light Rail Transit Association The Light Rail Transit Association (LRTA), formerly the Light Railway Transport League (LRTL), is a non-profit organisation whose purpose is to advocate and encourage research into the retention and development of light rail and tramway/streetc ...

. . There are steeper grades on at least one other tram system, that of

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, but the Pöstlingbergbahn is still among the world's steepest adhesion railways and has the steepest grade of any in Austria.

History

From the mid-18th century, the community of Pöstlingberg was a destination for

pilgrim The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...

s. A chapel was built there around 1720, and a church opened in 1748. From the end of the 18th Century, the mountain was increasingly frequented by hikers, especially after the summit area had been cleared for military reasons in 1809 and in the 1830s and revealed an impressive view. The construction of a railway was deemed worthwhile. To increase the attractiveness of Pöstlingberg as a destination and to distribute electric current to households in the area it was planned to construct transformers for the distribution of power to both the railway and homes. This was aided in 1883 when the fort in the area was demilitarised. In 1897 the construction company Ritschl & Co. purchased the fort and three months later, transferred the property rights over the land to the newly established ''Tramway- und Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft Linz-Urfahr'' (Tramway and Electric Company Linz-Urfahr) (TEG), the forerunner of today's Linz AG. Tower IV of the fortress incorporates the Pöstlingbergbahn station. At the fortress wall between the tower and tower VI, a hotel/restaurant (now "Pöstlingberg Schlössl") was established. In 1906, the was opened in Tower II. The Pöstlingbergbahn was initially intended to be run as an excursion-type service, in summer months only, and for this reason the only rolling stock procured were six open-sided cars (locally referred to as "summer cars"). Passenger numbers exceeded expectations in the first year of operation, and consequently two enclosed cars were purchased in early 1899.

Ridership

Ridership slowly increased to just over 200,000 passengers per year by the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. During the war and immediate postwar years, passenger numbers rose because of an increase in city dwellers taking trips into the countryside in search of scarce provisions. In the 1920s, commuter numbers increased further still, to 400,000 per year, and then declined in the 1930s to 300,000 per year. During and after

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, passenger numbers reached record levels (1943: 1,264,000 passengers). Until the mid-1950s, the numbers fluctuated to between about 1 and 1.1 million passengers, decreasing since then. Today, about 500,000 people per year use the line. In 1988 the service was converted to a

one-man operation One-person operation (OPO), also known as driver-only operation (DOO), one-man operation (OMO), single person train operation (SPTO), or one-person train operation (OPTO), similarly to driver-controlled operation, is operation of a train, bus, ...

; i.e., the use of conductors to collect fares was discontinued. The tramcars (except for the summer cars) were consequently fitted with a Dead man's handle. Furthermore, the

points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

(or

switches In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type o ...

), which previously had to be set by the conductor, were converted to electric operation, with key switches, which enabled the motormen easily to operate them.

Ticket vending machine A ticket machine, also known as a ticket vending machine (TVM), is a vending machine that produces paper or electronic tickets, or recharges a stored-value card or smart card or the user's mobile wallet, typically on a smartphone. For instance, ...

s were also installed. On 24 January 2005 a

derailment In rail transport, a derailment is a type of train wreck that occurs when a rail vehicle such as a train comes off its rails. Although many derailments are minor, all result in temporary disruption of the proper operation of the railway sys ...

sparked a debate over the safety of operations. Mayor Dobusch proposed rebuilding the railway and extending service to Linz's main square. In July 2006 it was decided to modernize the Pöstlingbergbahn.

Modernization and extension

Starting on 25 March 2008 service was temporarily halted for reconstruction and fleet replacement. During the 14-month suspension of rail service, buses provided a substitute service. On the existing section of the line, the most notable change was the re-gauging from

meter gauge Metre-gauge railways ( US: meter-gauge railways) are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. Metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by several European colonial powers including France, Britain and ...

to 900 mm. The track was completely rebuilt, the unusual "Y" head rails being replaced with conventional flat-bottomed rails on concrete ties/sleepers. Three new low-floor tramcars were purchased from Bombardier, numbered 501–503. The purchase price was €4.6 million each. In addition, three old trams (VIII, X and XI) from the then-current fleet were chosen to be retained and modernized through rebuilding of their chassis, and the fitting of dual traction control systems. The emergency braking system was converted to magnetic track brakes instead of the caliper brakes previously used.

Trolley pole A trolley pole is a tapered cylindrical pole of wood or metal, used to transfer electricity from a "live" (electrified) overhead line, overhead wire to the control and the electric traction motors of a tram or trolley bus. It is a type of current ...

current collection was replaced by

pantograph A pantograph (, from their original use for copying writing) is a Linkage (mechanical), mechanical linkage connected in a manner based on parallelograms so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a se ...

collection with the change; the

overhead wires An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, electric multiple units, trolleybuses or trams. The generic term used by the International Union of Railways for the tec ...

were modified accordingly. The first of three new Bombardier vehicles arrived on 2 April 2009; the other two cars followed in early May. The delivery of the three rebuilt old cars took place at a later date. In 2011 a fourth Bombardier tramcar was delivered, numbered 504 and identical to the other three. The total cost for the conversion amounted to €35 million, €20 million for the vehicles and €15 million for the rebuilding of the line including the extended operation to the main square. The changes have caused the Pöstlingbergbahn to be more closely integrated into the urban transport system. From the Hauptplatz (literally, the "main square") in the city centre, passengers, including tourists travelling by rail from the boat docks, can now travel through to Pöstlingberg. The official opening of the rebuilt and extended Pöstlingbergbahn was held on 29 May 2009, in time to celebrate the line's 111th anniversary.

Museum

A museum has been created at the old lower station of the line at Urfahr. This relates the history and the current state of the Pöstlingbergbahn. Information about various topics such as history, technology, and the vehicles is presented, along with smaller exhibits such as examples of rails, pantographs and the clasp brakes. Outside the station building, the original meter gauge tracks have been retained and used to display open and closed carriages from the original rolling stock.

References

External links