The Rosenheim–Kufstein railway (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

: ''Bahnstrecke Rosenheim–Kufstein'') is a 32 kilometre-long double-track main line of the German railways. It connects the Munich–Rosenheim and the Rosenheim–Salzburg lines at

Rosenheim Rosenheim is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It is an independent city located in the centre of the district of Rosenheim (Upper Bavaria), and is also the seat of its administration. It is located on the west bank of the Inn at the confluence of the ...

with the line to Innsbruck, thus connecting

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

and eastern

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

with Innsbruck and the Brenner line to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and the Arlberg line to far western Austria. The line is part of the Line 1 of

Trans-European Transport Networks The Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) is a planned network of roads, railways, airports and water infrastructure in the European Union. The TEN-T network is part of a wider system of Trans-European Networks (TENs), including a telecommu ...

(TEN-T). It is

electrified Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histor ...

at 15 kV, 16.7 Hz.

History

A treaty between Austria and

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

, signed on 21 June 1851, regulated the access of each state to the other in relation to the building of railways. As there was no direct rail link between

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and the

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

at that time, Bavaria agreed in Article 1 that it would build railways from Munich to the border at Salzburg and from

to the border at

Kufstein Kufstein (; Central Bavarian: ''Kufstoa'') is a town in the Austrian state of Tyrol, the administrative seat of Kufstein District. With a population of about 19,600 it is the second largest Tyrolean town after the state capital Innsbruck. The gr ...

. Austria committed itself under Article 2 to build a railway from Salzburg to

Bruck an der Mur Bruck an der Mur is a city of some 13,500 people located in the district Bruck-Mürzzuschlag, in the Austrian state of Styria. It is located at the confluence of the Mur and Mürz Rivers. Its manufacturing includes metal products and paper. Br ...

and from Kufstein to Innsbruck. The line was opened on 5 August 1858 as part of the

Bavarian Maximilian’s Railway The Bavarian Maximilian Railway (German: ''Bayerische Maximiliansbahn'') was as an east–west line built between the Bavarian border with Württemberg at Neu-Ulm in the west via Augsburg, Munich and Rosenheim to the Austrian border at Kufstein ...

Route

The line runs from Rosenheim in a southerly direction. After leaving

Rosenheim station Rosenheim station (german: Bahnhof Rosenheim) is the main railway station in the city of Rosenheim in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seventh largest passenger station in Bavaria and an important railway hub between the Munich–Rosenheim railway lin ...

, it joins the southern end of the Rosenheim loop (or Rosenheim curve). The curve was opened on the 8 February 1982 and connects the line with the line from Salzburg, bypassing the station. The line also connects in Rosenheim station with the line from Mühldorf and the Mangfall Valley line from Holzkirchen. To the south, the line passes through the

Inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway; before the advent of motorized transportation they also provided accommo ...

valley. A standard gauge line once ran from Raubling station to a

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...

works at Nicklheim. The

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller struc ...

Wendelstein Railway The Wendelstein Rack Railway (german: Wendelsteinbahn), sometimes just referred to as the Wendelstein Railway, is an electrically-driven metre gauge rack railway (with several adhesion sections) that runs up the Wendelstein in the Upper Bavarian ...

ran from Brannenburg station until 1961 when it was cut back to Waching in order to avoid several

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass An overpass (called ...

s. Another narrow gauge line, the Wachtl Railway, still connects the cement plant near

Kiefersfelden Kiefersfelden is a municipality with about 7000 inhabitants located in the district of Rosenheim in Bavaria in Germany on the border with Tyrol, Austria. Geography Geographical location Kiefersfelden is located in the foothills of the Alps, in t ...

station with

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms wh ...

quarries at Wachtl, just inside Austria in the municipality of

Thiersee Thiersee is a large municipality in the Kufstein district in the Austrian state of Tyrol located 5 km west of Kufstein, below the northern border with Bavaria, Germany. The village was mentioned for the first time in documents in 12 ...

. Since 1991 a tourist service, called the ''Wachtl Express'', has operated on the line from time to time. Between Kiefersfelden and

, the line crosses the border into Austria; the border station serves Kufstein. After Kufstein, the line becomes the Lower Inn Valley railway and leads on to Innsbruck.

Operations

The route is part of the northern access to the Brenner railway to Italy and is thus part of the Berlin–Palermo railway axis. Non-stop travel time between Rosenheim and the border at Kufstein is 15 minutes, but due to temporary speed restrictions in most cases trains take longer. There is an hourly regional train service to Innsbruck, which requires a change in Kufstein. Every two hours, a

EuroCity EuroCity, abbreviated as EC, is a cross-border train category within the European inter-city rail network. In contrast to trains allocated to the lower-level "IC" (InterCity) category, EC trains are international services that meet 20 criteri ...

(EC) train operates on the route through Innsbruck and the

Brenner Pass The Brenner Pass (german: link=no, Brennerpass , shortly ; it, Passo del Brennero ) is a mountain pass through the Alps which forms the border between Italy and Austria. It is one of the principal passes of the Eastern Alpine range and ha ...

to Italy. Every two hours,

Austrian Federal Railways Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for exam ...

runs Vienna–Salzburg–Innsbruck–

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label= Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with the ...

express trains over the line from South Rosenheim to Kufstein, but they do not stop. Although there are additional passenger services, there is still no regular-interval hourly service between Salzburg and Innsbruck. Currently, there are 32 scheduled services passenger services each day on the line. In addition approximately 20 freight trains operate each working day.

Development

The construction of additional tracks to create a four-track line on the Rosenheim–Kufstein section is considered from time to time to cope with the expected increase in traffic after the opening of the Brenner Base Tunnel. Further expansion plans would provide a bypass of Rosenheim, with a branch off the line from Munich at Großkarolinenfeld and connecting with the Rosenheim–Kufstein line at Brannenburg. Currently, only small projects are underway. These include the elimination of level crossings (most recently at Flintsbach and Brannenburg) and the installation of noise barriers, particularly in towns in the Inn Valley.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenheim-Kufstein railway Railway lines in Bavaria Railway lines in Austria International railway lines Rosenheim (district) Transport in Tyrol (state) Railway lines opened in 1858 1858 establishments in Bavaria