The Tanvald–Harrachov cog railway is a

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

cog railway in Europe. It connects the municipalities

Tanvald Tanvald (; german: Tannwald) is a town in Jablonec nad Nisou District in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 6,000 inhabitants. Administrative parts The town part of Šumburk nad Desnou and the village of Žďár are administrat ...

, Kořenov and

Harrachov Harrachov (; german: Harrachsdorf) is a town in Jablonec nad Nisou District in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic, close to the border with Poland. It has about 1,300 inhabitants. It is known for its ski resort. Administrative parts The town ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

History

The railway was built in 1902 with the intention to connect the lines

Liberec Liberec (; german: Reichenberg ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants and it is the fifth-largest city in the country. It lies on the Lusatian Neisse, in a basin surrounded by mountains. The city centre is well preser ...

– Jablonec–

and Jelenia Góra- Kořenov ( Zackenbahn), that is to connect the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

with

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

. After the Second World War

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

was acquired by

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

and the cross-border traffic was abolished. Following an exchange of border territories between

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and

, the Bohemian part was extended to Harrachov, that became a new terminal station. Following a one-day celebration on the 100th anniversary in 2002, cross border traffic was restored on 2 July 2010. Plans to extend the line further to the centre of Harrachov were rejected. Despite this, the section between Harrachov and Szklarska Poręba has been reconstructed and is in regular use.

Use

In winter, the morning trains are packed with cross country skiers who take advantage of the gained elevation difference and continue from Kořenov to either Jablonec nad Nisou or Liberec via Jizerka or cross the border to make a trip to Orle. In summer, the train is used by cyclists. As both the express trains from

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

and

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

terminate in Tanvald, the former plans to abolish the line were dropped.

Technical parameters

* Rack system: two-set

Abt rack system A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with ...

, laid in two sections, 4,744 m * Maximum

gradient In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar-valued differentiable function of several variables is the vector field (or vector-valued function) \nabla f whose value at a point p is the "direction and rate of fastest increase". If the gradi ...

: 58 ‰ ( Czech rail record) * Elevation difference: 235 m on 7 km

External links

*
zubacka.aio.cz
– website about the cog railway {{DEFAULTSORT:Tanvald-Harrachov cog railway Mountain railways Railway lines in the Czech Republic Railway lines opened in 1902 Rack railways in the Czech Republic