Direct train: Felbertauern or Pustertalbahn? – Dolomite town
The Pustertalbahn in the South Tyrolean area is now used exclusively for regional transport. There is neither cross-border freight traffic nor long-distance trains. These two divisions, which are immediate for the railways, are not used.
Passengers between San Candido and Lienz are in short supply, except in the summer months. It would be much more expedient to save one or two pairs of trains a day and instead to run another multiple unit from Lienz from Franzensfeste to Innsbruck. Restructuring a regional train into a long-distance train should probably be possible. There would be no corrosive effect on the Pustertal population and if one were willing to cancel a few less frequented stops, an attractive travel time should also be achievable.
After the buses drive through from the Brenner Pass to Innsbruck, the train would have to stop in Matrei a. Br. suffice. The long-distance buses between Lienz and Innsbruck “process” tens of thousands of liters of fuel into harmful gases every year. When survival is at stake, as there are indications in the wake of climate change, there can be no question as to whether or not a bus or train is more convenient. You would have to do everything possible to enforce a decision in favor of the railways.
I know people who are probably happy with the bus. But I also know many who would love to board a direct train. When I compare the generous amount of space and the toilet facilities of a passenger train with a bus, the choice is not difficult for me at all.
A “Fusch line” over the Iselsberg was also discussed
Whether the Felbertauernbahn should be built or not was decided in 1901 by the representatives of the kingdoms and states represented in the Reichsrat. A study prepared by Carl Wurmb, the British Director of Railway Construction at the Imperial and Royal Ministry of Railways in Vienna, served as the basis for the decision, in which a total of 10 variants were up for discussion. In addition to the Felbertauern and Gasteiner line, there was also the Fuscher line, for example. This led, among other things, via Heiligenblut and Winklern through the Iselsberg in the Lienz Basin, the bottom of which would have been reached in Nikolsdorf.
It is astonishing with what precision Carl Wurmb drew up this government bill and the members of parliament thus had a solid basis for decision-making. The pleadings were combined with plans in a book measuring 28 x 19.5 cm and weighing over 1 kg. An original copy is in the library of the Lienz boiler house (LN V-190).
Choosing the route through the Gastein Valley was a safe decision. The building of the Felbertauern tunnel would not have happened, one would still have had to overcome the Pass Thurn, since the goal was Kufstein.
Puster Valley Railway: The 27,493-mile (107-kilometre) railway from Villach to Fortezza was built between the fall of 1869 and November 1871. The legal basis was a complex web, consisting of the concession granted in 1858, the law of May 20, 1869 and the agreement of July 27, 1869 between the state and society. The construction of the Felbertauernbahn was not up for discussion at the time.
The railway from Villach to Fortezza was not built by the state, but by the Imperial and Royal Southern Railway Company, a consortium of French financiers based in Paris. And this for economic reasons, since there was mainly a great interest in the exchange of goods between south-east Europe and the newer areas beyond the Arlberg, i.e. Switzerland, Germany and France.
“One truck follows the other”
Apart from the fact that the state had a general interest in opening up the country with railways, it also needed the line through the Pustertal for local reasons and subsidized the construction – like other railways – with a third of the costs. This means that society and the state benefit.
In fact, large quantities of goods were also transported in the Puster Valley, as is shown, among other things, by a report in Bote für Tirol No. 268 of November 20, 1884. A quote from this: “The traffic on the Pustertal line is very lively as far as freight is concerned: one truck follows the other and, of course, each one carries the heaviest load. There is no doubt that the increase in freight transport was carried over to the opening of the Arlberg Railway.”
In addition to passenger and express trains, there was also a sleeping car service through the Pustertal from Budapest/Südbahnhof via Pragerhof (today Pragersko) – Pustertal to Meran (Lienzer Zeitung No. 89 of November 5th, 1912). The most famous train was probably the Vienna – (Budapest) – Tyrol – Riviera Express, which ran three times a week from February to April in a few years (Lienzer Zeitung No. 17 of February 28, 1913). A brochure (152 pages) with all timetables of all lines of the Südbahn-Gesellschaft is in the Heizhaus library (LN VI-140.6).
With the collapse of the monarchy, the railway network was fragmented and national interests of Austria, Hungary, the kingdoms of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and Italy had to be taken into account in order to be able to maintain railway operations. The railway network lost its character as a major through-line between the agricultural east and the industrially rich west. It was no longer possible for the railway administration to organize rail traffic and a conference was held in Vienna from February 5 to 12, 1921 to find a solution. Among other things, representatives of the government and the Südbahn-Gesellschaft took part. The 100-page protocol, of which an original copy could be purchased for the Heizhaus library last year (LN VI-305), is informative about the situation at that time. They wanted to create a “régime provisoire”.
The operational management of the remaining railways of the Südbahn-Gesellschaft in Austria, including the route from Bleiburg to San Candido, was taken over by the Austrian Federal Railways from January 1, 1924.
Little is known to me about the traffic situation on the Pustertalbahn between the world wars. After 1945 there were one or two freight trains to San Candido every day, sometimes with four steam locomotives being used on one train. The steam locomotive era ended in Lienz in November 1963 and then diesel locomotives were used until operations started on May 28, 1989. Class 2043 locomotives by Jenbacher Werke AG. delivered in the years 1964 – 1977, completely handled freight traffic from 1969 to May 1989. With their 1,500 hp, these could pull 1,000 tons between Spittal-Millstättersee and Lienz and 330 tons from Lienz to Sillian. At that time, too, there were usually one or two freight trains to San Candido, which often weighed 1,200 tons and required diesel locomotives to transport four of them.
The impetus for the electrification of the railway from Lendorf to Franzensfeste was the effort to promote the shift of traffic from road to rail. From 1989 there was an increase in freight trains. But that will soon change, because there has been no cross-border freight traffic for many years. Freight wagons are only provided between Lienz and Sillian.
Comments on the cover picture:
In the years after 1945, many young people outside of the district sought to pursue their professional career. Innsbruck and the surrounding area were very attractive. The railway was important as a connection to home, because the Felbertauernstraße did not yet exist and only a few had a car or a motorbike. This platform was sometimes firmly in “East Tyrolean hands”.
At that time, as can be seen in the photo from March 1955, the corridor train consisted of an ÖBB railcar from the 5042 series. It had two engines, each with 210 hp. In the middle of the car there was a cabin in which a steam boiler operated with an oil burner was heated. In the photo, the boiler was in operation, because some steam flows out of the front valve of the steam line below the buffers. The radiators create cozy warmth. And yet it was often quite uncomfortable inside: Smells of diesel oil, exhaust fumes from the oil burner and the two engines were sometimes noticeable inside the car and the many curves often made many a stomach rebel, which is why the railcar was known by the nickname “Speiberl-Express”. War.
Another novelty: boarding and disembarking on Italian territory and any exchange of goods were prohibited. On the way to Innsbruck, tax officials boarded in Winnebach and police officers in San Candido. You could still get off there, provided you had the appropriate travel documents. Doors were sometimes locked and travelers who produced at least an ID card were counted. The exchange of goods was not fulfilled: many demijohns filled with wine were handed into the interior of the car by dealers with the window open.
The car with its 64 seats was often overcrowded and so I was lucky enough to experience the trip to Lienz in the driver’s cab. Today it would cost quite a lot to be able to experience the Brenner Railway, planned by Carl von Etzel and put into operation in 1867, in a historic vehicle.