Saxon steam railway company

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The Saxon Steam Railroad Company, Inc. (SDG) is a railway infrastructure company and a railway company based in Annaberg-Buchholz , Saxony . The company operates the narrow-gauge railways Radebeul Ost-Radeburg , Freital-Hainsberg-Kurort Kipsdorf and Cranzahl-Kurort Oberwiesenthal . The SDG was created in 2007 from the former BVO Bahn and has belonged to the central Saxony (VMS) and Upper Elbe (VVO) transport associations since the beginning of 2019 .

history

BVO Bahn GmbH was founded in 1998 as a subsidiary of BVO Verkehrsbetriebe Erzgebirge GmbH (BVO) when Deutsche Bahn AG wanted to part with the narrow-gauge Fichtelbergbahn from Cranzahl to Oberwiesenthal . This route was taken over on May 4, 1998. In order to win more customers for the until then unprofitable railway, the daily operation with steam locomotives should be geared more towards the tourist needs. With this in mind, an extension to the nearby Annaberg was initially considered. However, this project could not be implemented for financial reasons.

Since 2004 the SDG has also operated the Lößnitzgrundbahn from Radebeul to Radeburg . The route is best known for the traditional trains of the Traditionsbahn Radebeul eV, which have been in service since 1974, and the sights along the route ( Karl May Museum Radebeul , Moritzburg Castle ). Here, too, the SDG primarily focuses on the tourist attractiveness of the railway. But the route is also important for school traffic.

The third Saxon narrow-gauge railway, the operation of which has been taken over by SDG, is the Weißeritztalbahn from Freital-Hainsberg to the health resort of Kipsdorf. Several large sections of the line were destroyed in the flood in August 2002 . From December 14, 2008, the Freital-Hainsberg - Dippoldiswalde section will be used again, and since 2017 the entire route to the Kipsdorf health resort.

In accordance with the resolutions of the Verkehrsverbund Oberelbe (VVO) on June 4, 2007, the Weißeritzkreis acquired the infrastructure and the SDG took over the operation. At the same time, the VVO took a 35% share in the SDG because the Chemnitz regional council insisted that the activities of municipal companies be limited to the area of ​​the shareholders. The subsequent renaming from BVO Bahn to Sächsische Dampfeisenbahngesellschaft took place on May 9, 2007.

In 2004, the company set up a new locomotive workshop in Oberwiesenthal in order to be able to carry out large-scale examinations and repairs on its own.

On January 1, 2019, the previous majority owner Regionalverkehr Erzgebirge GmbH (RVE) sold its shares to the special purpose associations Verkehrsverbund Oberelbe (VVO) and Verkehrsverbund Mittelachsen (VMS), since municipal transport companies are only allowed to provide transport services in their own area due to EU law. Since then, two thirds of the shares have been held by VVO and one third by VMS.

Due to the Corona crisis , the SDG suspended railway operations on all three routes from March 28 to May 16, 2020.

stretch

vehicles

The SDG owns the following vehicles:

Many of these vehicles are not used in regular operation and are not operational.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ MDR: On the narrow track - The Fichtelbergbahn. First broadcast December 16, 2011.
  2. ↑ Press release of the VVO from December 11, 2018
  3. ↑ "SDG stops driving on all routes" on the SDG website
  4. ↑ mdr.de: Saxon steam railways go back into operation | MDR.DE. Retrieved July 28, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Vehicle lists on www.sdg-bahn.de