The Rudolf Railway (German: ''Rudolfsbahn'') refers to a railway in Austria connecting
Amstetten and the Italian border near
Tarvisio
Tarvisio (German and fur, Tarvis, sl, Trbiž) is a comune in the northeastern part of the autonomous Friuli Venezia Giulia region in Italy.
Geography
The town is in the Canal Valley (''Val Canale'') between the Carnic Alps and Karawanks rang ...
, along with a branch from
Kastenreith to
St. Valentine. Its name is derived from the ''k.k. priv. Kronprinz Rudolf-Bahn Gesellschaft'' (
Imperial–royal, "privileged"—by the grant of a concession—
Crown Prince Rudolf
en, Rudolph Francis Charles Joseph
, caption = Rudolf in 1887
, spouse =
, issue = Elisabeth Marie, Princess Otto of Windisch-Graetz
, house = Habsburg-Lorraine
, father = Franz Joseph I of Austria
, mother ...
Railway Company, ''KRB''). The main line, which was opened from 1868 to 1873, ran on the St. Valentin–Kastenreith––
Selzthal
Selzthal is a municipality in the district of Liezen in the Austrian state of Styria
Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , St ...
–
Schoberpass–
St. Michael–
Neumarkt saddle–
St. Veit an der Glan–
Feldkirchen in Kärnten
Feldkirchen in Kärnten ( sl, Trg) is a town in the Austrian state of Carinthia and the capital of the district of the same name. It consists of the Katastralgemeinden ''Fasching'', ''Feldkirchen'', ''Glanhofen'', ''Gradisch'', ''Hoefling'', ''K ...
–
Villach
Villach (; sl, Beljak; it, Villaco; fur, Vilac) is the seventh-largest city in Austria and the second-largest in the federal state of Carinthia. It is an important traffic junction for southern Austria and the whole Alpe-Adria region. , the p ...
–
Tarvisio Centrale route. The section of the line within the current borders of Italy now runs over the new
Tarvisio–Udine railway (opened in November 2000) through . It replaced a very windy route to Udine that originally formed part of the Rudolf Railway.
History
![Gesaeuse eingang](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Gesaeuse_eingang.jpg)
The Rudolf Railway formed the third north–south Alpine crossing in Austria along with the
Southern Railway (
Semmering railway) to the east and the
Brenner Railway to the west. It was built by the ''Mährischen Eisenbauunternehmen'' (Moravian iron construction company) of the Klein brothers. The chief engineer was Otto Thienemann. Since there was too little traffic on its own line, the KRB was economically dependent to a large extent on through traffic and thus on the transport policy of other railways (mainly the
Empress Elisabeth Railway—''Kaiserin Elisabeth-Bahn''; KEB). Both of the northern endpoints of the KRB network were on lines of the Empress Elisabeth Railway (St. Valentin and Amstetten on the
Western Railway and
Schärding
Schärding ( , Bavarian name: Scharing) is a town in northern Austrian state of Upper Austria, the capital of the district of the same name, and a major port on the Inn River. Historically, it was owned by the Wittelsbach family, which reflects ...
on the
Wels–Passau railway).
The financial situation of the KRB deteriorated after the economic crisis of 1873. The KRB was forced into
administration
Administration may refer to:
Management of organizations
* Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal
** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, admini ...
in 1880 and it was nationalised in 1884.
After its nationalisation, the Amstetten–Kastenreith branch was upgraded because the
Imperial Royal Austrian State Railways
The Imperial-Royal State Railways (german: k.k. Staatsbahnen) abbr. ''kkStB'') or Imperial-Royal Austrian State Railways (''k.k. österreichische Staatsbahnen'',The name incorporating "Austrian" appears, for example, in the 1907 official state ha ...
directed traffic between Vienna and Carinthia via the Western Railway and the Rudolf Railway (in competition with the still private Southern Railway). In the decades after the Second World War, direct trains from
Vienna West still operated over this route.
The KRB connected to the Italian rail network south of
Pontebba
Pontebba ( fur, Ponteibe, german: Pontafel, sl, Tablja) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Udine in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
Geography
Pontebba, named after it, ponte meaning "bridge", is situated at the confluenc ...
in the Canale valley.
Current situation
All lines of the former Rudolf Railway in modern Austria belong to the
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 example: ...
.
Today the name Rudolf Railway is only used for the northern section, although the street name ''Rudolfsbahnstraße'' (Rudolf Railway Street) that occurs in some places along the line still refer to it. This is because the St. Valentin/Amstetten–Villach–Tarvisio route as such is no longer significant.
The term ''Rudolfsbahn'' is used particularly for the Amstetten–Waidhofen–Kleinreifling–Selzthal route through the
Ybbs and
Enns valley (timetable route 130
).
Individual sections of the original Rudolfsbahn now form parts of other lines. The
Schober Pass
Schober Pass (el. 849 m.) is a high mountain pass in the Austrian Alps, located in the '' Bundesland'' of Styria.
See also
* List of highest paved roads in Europe
* List of mountain passes
This is a list of mountain passes.
Africa
Egypt
...
line between Selzthal and St. Michael also forms part of the long-distance line between Linz and Graz via Selzthal (including the ''
Pyhrn Railway'') and the Innsbruck–Bischofshofen–Selzthal–Graz line (including the ''
Enns Valley Railway
The Enns Valley Railway (german: Ennstalbahn) is an electrified, standard gauge main line railway in the Austrian states of Styria and Salzburg
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label= Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-larg ...
''). The Leoben–Klagenfurt line via St. Michael, the
Neumarkt saddle and St. Veit an der is now often considered to form part of the
Southern Railway (although this is not historically correct): Vienna–Bruck an der Mur–Leoben–Klagenfurt–Villach. All
Railjet
Railjet is a high-speed rail service in Europe operated by Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) and Czech Railways (ČD). Branded as ''Railjet Express (RJX)'' for the fastest services and as ''Railjet (RJ)'' for services with additional stops, it w ...
and EuroCity services on the
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
–
Klagenfurt Hbf Villach Hbf route as well as some freight trains, which mainly go to Italy or Slovenia, use this section of the line (until the
Koralm Railway
The Koralm Railway (german: Koralmbahn) is an Austrian 127 km-long (79 mi)Johannes Fleckl-Ernst: ''Geodätische Herausforderungen beim Projekt „Koralmtunnel“''. In: ''Felsbau'', Heft 5/2010, S. 315–321, . double-track, electri ...
opens).
![1040 003 2001-05-15 Hieflau 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/1040_003_2001-05-15_Hieflau_2.jpg)
Between the stations of
Friesach
Friesach ( sl, Breže) is a historic town in the Sankt Veit an der Glan (district), Sankt Veit an der Glan district of Carinthia (state), Carinthia, Austria. First mentioned in an 860 deed, it is known as the oldest town in Carinthia.
Geography
...
or
St. Veit an der Glan and
Villach
Villach (; sl, Beljak; it, Villaco; fur, Vilac) is the seventh-largest city in Austria and the second-largest in the federal state of Carinthia. It is an important traffic junction for southern Austria and the whole Alpe-Adria region. , the p ...
(via Klagenfurt Hbf), the line was integrated into the
S-Bahn Kärnten
The S-Bahn Kärnten is a regional transport system in the Austria , Austrian States of Austria , state of Carinthia and East Tyrol. The system is run by the federal railways Österreichische Bundesbahnen, ÖBB.
Lines S-Bahn line S1: Lienz ↠...
(Carinthian S-Bahn) as line S1 at the timetable change in December 2010. Line S2 of the Carinthian S-Bahn has been running between St. Veit an der Glan and Villach (via
Feldkirchen in Kärnten
Feldkirchen in Kärnten ( sl, Trg) is a town in the Austrian state of Carinthia and the capital of the district of the same name. It consists of the Katastralgemeinden ''Fasching'', ''Feldkirchen'', ''Glanhofen'', ''Gradisch'', ''Hoefling'', ''K ...
) since December 2011. As part of the new S-Bahn operation, the frequency and the number of local trains have increased significantly, although in some cases this had already happened with the introduction of the Kärnten-Takt (Carinthian cycle) in December 2008. The St. Michael–Unzmarkt section has been part of the S8 of the
S-Bahn Steiermark
The Styria S-Bahn (german: S-Bahn Steiermark), initially also known as "Graz S-Bahn", is a local transport project that connects the metropolitan area of Graz and the central region of Upper Styria of the Austrian state of Styria. "Warum heiß ...
since December 2016.
Partial closure of passenger services
![1141 023-0 1994-08-18 Selzthal](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/1141_023-0_1994-08-18_Selzthal.jpg)
Passenger traffic on the section between Selzthal and Weißenbach-St. Gallen was discontinued on 6 September 2009, with the exception of a pair of trains on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, as the ÖBB considered the route no longer economical for passenger traffic. It was replaced by a service with normal buses. A second pair of trains towards Selzthal in the afternoon and towards Weißenbach-St. Gallen in the morning was reintroduced at the start of the 2019/2020 timetable. In addition, both pairs of trains connect to/from Vienna West.
Amstetten–Kastenreith branch line
The Amstetten–Kleinreifling route is served every hour. In the mornings and evenings, some trains from Amstetten only run to Waidhofen a.d. Ybbs; on weekdays except Saturdays, some trains continue from Kleinreifling to Weißenbach-St.Gallen.
Until December 2017, trains from Eisenwurzen reached Amstetten mostly at 55 minutes after the hour and departed at 5 minutes after the hour. On the hour, there was a crossing of the Vienna–Salzburg
Railjet
Railjet is a high-speed rail service in Europe operated by Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) and Czech Railways (ČD). Branded as ''Railjet Express (RJX)'' for the fastest services and as ''Railjet (RJ)'' for services with additional stops, it w ...
services, which provided connections to Linz and Vienna. Since the private operator
WESTbahn has been assigned the Railjet routes by
ÖBB-Infrastruktur since December 2017, the meeting of ÖBB services on the hour in Amstetten has been abandoned. As the result of a new timetable concept geared towards Linz commuters and the replacement of most of the
Bombardier Talent
The Talent is a multiple unit railcar manufactured by Bombardier that was developed by Waggonfabrik Talbot in Aachen shortly before the company was acquired by Bombardier in 1995. The name ''Talent'' is an acronym in German for ''TALbot LEichte ...
(class 4024) services with
Siemens Desiro
The Siemens Desiro (, , ) is a family of diesel or electric multiple unit passenger trains developed by Siemens Mobility, a division of the German Siemens AG conglomerate. The main variants are the Desiro Classic, Desiro ML, Desiro UK and the la ...
(class 4744) services, which have more rapid acceleration, connections are guaranteed at Amstetten to Linz in the morning and from Linz in the afternoon.
A regional train runs between Amstetten and Selzthal on weekends. It is the only passenger train that still serves the Gesäuse section.
References
Footnotes
Sources
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{{Authority control
Railway lines in Austria
Railway lines opened in 1868
1868 establishments in Austria