Eastern Railway (Austria)

The Eastern Railway ( formerly Vienna - Raab train) south of the Danube from Vienna to Hungary is part of the European railway highway Paris -Munich- Vienna -Budapest -Bucharest and Belgrade -Sofia - Istanbul. From this main line still branching in Vienna routes: see Laa Eastern Railway ( to the north ) and Marchegger Eastern Railway ( north of the Danube to the East ).

• 2.1 Branch right of the Danube: the "actual " Eastern Railway 2.1.1 In addition to route fish Amend - Götzdorf
• 2.1.2 Branch-line Bruck an der Leitha Petronell -Carnuntum ( - Hainburg )
• 2.1.3 Branch-line Parndorf -Bratislava

• 2.2.1 route Vienna -Bratislava main station - Marchegg
• 2.2.2 route Vienna main station Mistletoe Bach Laa an der Thaya

History

Construction

In order to improve the transport supply versus only partially navigable Danube, the entrepreneur Baron Georg Simon Sina instructed the expert Matthias Schönerer with the plans for a railway from Vienna Schwechat and Bruck an der Leitha ( here was until 1921 the border between Lower Austria and Hungary ) by Raab ( Györ) with a branch in the Hungarian until 1918 Pressburg ( Pozsony ). He also planned a further distance from Vienna to Wiener Neustadt and Ödenburg by Raab. 1836 applied for Sina on these lines in the kk Government grant for preparatory work.

On January 2, 1838 Sina received a preliminary permit for the proposed rail lines, but not an exclusive privilege. Then it came on March 20, 1838 establishing the Vienna - Raab Railway Company, of which 12.5 million guilders share capital were 8.5 million in hand Sina. The originally proposed naming Kaiser- Ferdinand- south runway was rejected by the government ( since 1837 there have been the Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway ).

During the construction of the southern route was undertaken swiftly, the construction was driven from Vienna to Bruck an der Leitha after the start of construction in 1840 only slowly. This was due since 1839 existing plans for a competing rail line, the later Hungarian Central train from Pest to Bratislava with a turn-off to Gaenserndorf in Lower Austria on the north track already existing. Initiator of this project was the banker Salomon Rothschild, a competitor Sina. Although already 15 km substructure of the Eastern Railway were completed, put Sina in 1842 because he saw disappear because of the competition emerged the expected return, the request for replacement of railway construction by the state. The k.k. Government refused, however, to continue building the route at their own expense. Instead, withdrew the k.k. Sina government concession for the railway construction to Hungary and instructed his corporation, which was renamed Vienna Gloggnitzer Railway Company, with the Southern Railway project.

Since the work was not begun at the Hungarian Central Railway but planned, presented Sina 1844 again a concession application. On February 4, 1844, he was again the concession for the construction of the Vienna- Bruck an der Leitha, as well as the route of Wiener Neustadt- Katzelsdorf. 1845, the construction was resumed to Bruck an der Leitha, and on 12 September 1846, the route from Vienna was opened to Bruck.

Since 1853, the Vienna- Gloggnitz, Mödling - Laxenburg and Wiener Neustadt- Katzelsdorf by kk southern state railway were taken, the Company appointed again to Vienna - Raab Railway Company.

Eastern Railway

The train began when Raaber station in Vienna, which ( with a right angle between the two buildings ) was right next to the train station Gloggnitzer. 1870, the state railway station, from 1913 Ostbahnhof was in place of the Raaber station called, built and from the Gloggnitzer station was the old South Station. After damage in the Second World War, the two stations were newly built in a common building, which was called the South Station ( which the real meaning of the two railway lines is made clear in the years 1945-1990 ). The merger of two railway stations owed ​​the third South Station its peculiar track arrangement: In depth of the main line of the Vienna S -Bahn runs, the first floor they found the platforms of the so-called east side, on the second floor, at right angles to the platforms of the Southern Railway. ( Track connections between the two webs ran diagonally on the outer edge of the common premises. ) In Favorites, which is situated viewed from the center of Vienna from behind the train station Vienna's 10th district, is found to commemorate the original name of the Raaber - Bahn-Gasse. The third South Station was demolished in 2010; for the trains of Eastern Railway remained until 2012, a provisional called Vienna South Station ( east) into operation. Its functions have been since December 9, 2012 replaced by the new central station.

This proximity of South Eastern Railway and also often led to confusion. Originally, the rail link should have taken place in the south to Trieste along the Alps eastern edge over parts of the Eastern Railway. However, this was k.k. of the Government is not required, since they are by the Mur- Murz - furrow in Styria promised benefits for the resident heavy industry from a compound. Only the mountain landscape of the Semmering was still an obstacle but resolved Carl Ritter von Ghega the construction of the Semmering Railway, opened in 1854.

Today the route of the Eastern Railway and the bypass around the eastern foothills of the Alps to Hungary for a powerful freight rail link between Vienna and the Adriatic Sea is separated again in conversation. One could avoid the curvaceous and therefore slow to be traveled Semmering line with their slopes and save the regional controversial Semmering base tunnel. However, the transport policies of the Austrian government does not address this alternative.

The State Railway Company

1855 Raaber Railway was merged with the ( private despite the name ) State Railway Company. This established the " northern line " on Stadlau and Marchegg to Pressburg ( Pozsony, now Bratislava ) ( Marchegger Eastern Railway ) and on mistletoe Bach and Laa an der Thaya to Brno ( Laa Eastern Railway ) (since 1945 at the state border at Laa interrupted). - The old name lives on in local denominations, such as the state railway road in Laa an der Thaya.

Orient Express

The Austrian Eastern Railway is frequented by the now legendary Orient Express. Before the First World War, in the interwar period until 1938 and from 1945 to 1951, this was done out of Vienna on the Marchegger Eastern Railway to Pressburg, where the course was on the left, the north bank of the Danube to Budapest. From 1951, the luxury train traveling on the line Raaber former railway, which he had already traveled from 1938 until the outbreak of the Second World War. He no longer went about Bratislava, but via Bruck an der Leitha on the right, the southern bank of the Danube to Budapest, which is the number of time-consuming border crossings decreased by one.

The locomotives

The Vienna - Raab -Bahn directed her own machines factory, which later Lokomotivfabrik the StEG, a; she was the first locomotive factory in Austria. Under the leadership of John Haswell designed and delivered the factory, most of locomotives for the railway Raaber. They are evolutionarily the oldest locomotives in Austria:

• Philadelphia
• Laxenburg and Baden
• Dornau to Neustadt
• Vienna II to Altmannsdorf
• Weilburg, Brandhof and Liesing
• Ödenburg to Semmering
• Höllenthal and Neunkirchen
• Schott Vienna and Thalhof
• Brunn and Gumpoldskirchen
• Adlitzgraben and Kaiserbrunn
• Bruck to Schwechat
• Fahrafeld to Felix village
• Esterház to Liesing
• Stixenstein to Kranichberg
• Vienna -Raab to Lake Neusiedl

Route

The routes of the Eastern Railway partly belong to the network of S -Bahn Vienna, all routes belong to the Eastern Transport Association Region. The Eastern Railway starts at Vienna's main train station. After a few kilometers the route bifurcates just before the simmering Eastern Railway Station:

Right branch of the Danube: the "actual " Eastern Railway

When one speaks today in Austria on the Eastern Railway, is this route, the former Raaber train, meant: The route leaves at Kledering the city of Vienna and runs over Himberg and Gramatneusiedl where a connection via Ebenfurth branches to Wiener Neustadt, to Bruck an der Leitha. The following Parndorf station one hand, the path forks to Neusiedl am See ( and further along the Lake Neusiedl, Eisenstadt and Sopron and the Neusiedler Seebahn by the Seewinkel ) and the other hand on the connection to Pressburg / Bratislava on Petržalka. After nickel village the mainline Austria leaves ( the Hungarian border station is Hegyeshalom ). Border controls were abandoned in late 2007. This is also the distance over which the long-distance transport Austria - Hungary is performed, a two-hour clock with the Railjet.

Nebenstrecke fish Amend - Götzdorf

The route is single track and not electrified. The passenger traffic was discontinued in 1951. Because of the absence of freight and bad Superstructure condition of the section of Schwadorf after Götzdorf in 1973 was locked - three years later, however, there was a superstructure rehabilitation, as was planned at this time, the operation of the railway sidings, due to the new route of the Preßburgerbahn, second only to Götzdorf carry out.

Branch-line Bruck an der Leitha Petronell -Carnuntum ( - Hainburg )

The route is single track and not electrified. It was originally performed to Hainburg an der Donau and tied this city so already long before the construction of Pressburger Bahn, one emanating from Vienna local railway, from 1886 to the railway network at. Currently, the branch path is performed only to the pre AB Mars Austria at 2,621 km. From km 3.900 to 13.300 a trolley route for tourists was set up in September 2011.

Branch-line Parndorf -Bratislava

The route is single-tracked and electrified. She was interrupted from 1945 to the state border at Kittsee and Petržalka, passenger services were set in 1951. On 15 December 1998, the continuous rail link was reopened. Today it is operated every hour in passenger Vienna -Bratislava main station Petržalka.

Left branch of the Danube River (northern line )

Yet the road turns to the city of Vienna in Simmering at right angles to the northeast, crossing the Prater (connection to the Donauuferbahn ) and the Danube on the Stadlauer bridge and bifurcates again at Stadlau.

Route Vienna -Bratislava main station - Marchegg

Main article Marchegger Eastern Railway

This route runs in an easterly direction nearly straight over Obersiebenbrunn / Leopold Village by the March field after Marchegg where it leads crossed the bridge over the border river March and Slovakia to the north of the Danube to Bratislava / Bratislava. Plans are for the earlier double-track line, they again expand on two tracks and the station Wien Hausfeldstraße ( until then runs the S-Bahn ) to electrify eastward.

Route Vienna main station Mistletoe Bach Laa an der Thaya

Main article Laa Eastern Railway

The other part goes north to the wine district. Important stations are Wolkersdorf, mistletoe Bach and the current route endpoint Laa an der Thaya, located directly on the border with the Czech Republic. The cross-border traffic to Grusbach / Hrusovany and Brno in Moravia came after 1945 by the Iron Curtain to a halt. The bridge over the Thaya is destroyed; the interest of the ÖBB at the reactivation by the Czech Railways is not given.

Further routes

Originally branched from the main line of the Eastern Railway from various branch lines. They are shut down for the most part today.

Outlook

The Eastern Railway is, since the Lainzer tunnel, an underground connection between Western Railway, Southern Railway and Donauländebahn was opened in the western part of Vienna in December 2012, much better than available in the East-West transport before. The new Vienna Central Station, the transport tracks were also taken in December 2012 in operation, also helps that the through traffic can be handled saving time in the East-West relation ( the long-distance tracks are to be taken late in 2014 ).

The Twin -Cities - concept of the cities of Vienna and Bratislava, which is based on strong economic, cultural and social cooperation between the two capitals is only 60 km away, provides for the intensive use of the Eastern Railway south and north of the Danube for the " local traffic " between the two cities before.

Furthermore, it was planned, the Vienna Airport, located on the Bratislava train, connected via the so-called Götzendorfer clasp, a new line, with the Eastern Railway and the East-West highway to; these plans were shelved in 2012 not financially viable because of the necessary budget consolidation as provisional.

Since April 2012, is instead a link to Donauländebahn in construction. It aims at facilitating means of appropriate divestitures by the end of 2014, the control of trains between Vienna Central Station and the airport; so far this traffic would Donauländebahn cross at the same level. The link starts in the area of central shunting station and crosses there its tracks with a bridge, south of the central cemetery they will be connected to the Donauländebahn.