Schmalspurbahnen#

Narrow Gauge Railways, railways with a gauge below the normal gauge (1,435 mm); one such example was the first Austrian railway, the horse-drawn railway line Budweis- Linz (1832, 1836 to Gmunden), with a gauge of 1,106 mm. Narrow rights of way, lighter substructures and carriages as well as the ability to pass narrow bends, all features characteristic of narrow gauge railways, made it possible to open up narrow valleys quickly and at minimum cost. Narrow gauge railways were tram-like and only served small areas. In 1878/79 (when Austria-Hungary occupied Bosnia) military railway lines had to be built quickly. Their tracks and carriages fitted a gauge of 760 mm. From 1889 (1st part of the Steyrtalbahn railway) local railway services in the pre-Alpine and Alpine valleys were set up. Modelled on the electric railway service Moedling- Hinterbruehl (1883-1885, discontinued in 1932), local railway services in and around Innsbruck as well as in Upper Austria were also built in the 1,000 mm gauge from 1891 on.

Important 760 mm railways: Mariazeller Bahn (1898-1907, line similar to the Semmeringbahn railway, electrified in 1911), Murtalbahn (1894), Pinzgauer Bahn (1898), Zillertalbahn (1900-1902); the last 760 mm railway was opened in 1930 and ran between Birkfeld and Ratten. From 1957 the following narrow gauge railways were gradually discontinued: Salzkammergut-Lokalbahn, the two Carinthian lines (Gurk Valley, Vellachtal valley), the Steyrtalbahn, the Bregenzerwaldbahn and the railways in the northern Waldviertel region (now only excursion trips from Heidenreichstein). All the remaining track sections are still in use as museum pieces.

The tram in Linz and the former electric local railway service to St. Florian (historic railway line) were built with the rare gauge of 900 mm. The latest narrow gauge railway in Austria is the Hoehenbahn Reisseck in Carinthia (alt. 2,240 m), the only one with a gauge of 600 mm. To avoid re-loading, some narrow gauge railway lines can be adapted for standard-gauge wagons with trolleys or dollies.

Literature#