Ausserfernbahn

Garmisch-Partenkirchen – Kempten (Allgäu) central station
Route number (DB) :	5403 (border – Kempten (Allgäu) Hbf) 5452 (Garmisch-Partenkirchen – border)
Route number (ÖBB) :	352 01
Course book section (DB) :	965 (Garmisch-Partenkirchen – Reutte in Tirol) , 973 (Reutte in Tirol – Kempten (Allgäu) Hbf)
Course book route (ÖBB) :	410 (Innsbruck Hbf – Pfronten-Steinach)
Route length:	93.920 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Route class :	CE (Garmisch-Partenkirchen - border) D4 (border - Reutte in Tirol) D2 (Reutte in Tirol - Vils) C4 (Vils - Oy-Mittelberg) CE (Oy-Mittelberg - Kempten)
Power system :	(Garmisch-Partenkirchen - border near Schönbichl) 15 kV / 16.7 Hz ~ 1913–1923 15 Hz  ~
Maximum slope :	37.5  ‰
Top speed:	70 km / h
Legend from Munich 0.000 Garmisch-Partenkirchen 708  m above sea level NN Mittenwaldbahn to Innsbruck 1.242 Garmisch-Partenkirchen local mountain formerly Hausbergbahn 2.100 Rießersee 3.100 Bavarian Zugspitzbahn 3.400 Kreuzeckbahn Hammersbach 4.700 Upper grainau 5.458 Under grainau 740  m above sea level NN 6.400 Loisach Bridge 13.266 Griesen (Upper Bay) 818  m above sea level NN 14,846 30,445 State border between Germany and Austria 29.500 Loisach Bridge 29.200 Schober until May 29, 1960 27.600 Schanz dodge 25.900 Schanz until September 26, 1971 28.700 Loisach Bridge 23.300 Ehrwald Zugspitzbahn 974  m above sea level A. 22.900 Ehrwald Viaduct 20.400 Lermoos 1004  m above sea level A. 19.000 Lermoostunnel (105.6 m) 18.500 Lichtenberg Viaduct 16.400 Lähn 1106  m above sea level A. 13.100 Bichlbach-Berwang 1072  m above sea level A. 11.600 Bichlbach -Almkopfbahn 8.800 Heiterwang - Plansee 1012  m above sea level A. 7.200 Fernpassstrasse 6.900 Thanellerkar until November 7, 1966 5.700 Fernpassstrasse 5.000 Katzenberg tunnel (512.5 m) 3.600 Bad Kreckelmoos 938  m above sea level A. 0.500 Reutte in Tirol school center 0.000 14.390 Reutte in Tyrol 850  m above sea level A. 12.000 Pflach 840  m above sea level A. Lech Bridge 7.600 Musau 822  m above sea level A. 6.400 Ulrichsbrücke- Füssen 814  m above sea level A. 3.900 Vils 817  m above sea level A. 3.400 Vils Stadt (since Dec. 11, 2016) 820  m above sea level A. 0.500 Schönbichl (until December 10, 2016) 831  m above sea level A. 0.000 34.239 State border between Austria and Germany 33.000 Pfronten-Steinach 841  m above sea level NN Vils (Lech) 30.700 Pfronten-Ried 858  m above sea level NN 29.300 Pfronten- Weissbach 874  m above sea level NN 27.000 Pfronten -Kappel 23.910 Nesselwang 864  m above sea level NN Wertach Bridge 21.600 Maria Rain 19.800 Wertach- Haslach 891  m above sea level NN 17.600 Oy-Mittelberg 909  m above sea level NN 13.600 Customs house - Petersthal 899  m above sea level NN 12.000 Bodelsberg 898  m above sea level NN 8.400 Jodbad Sulzbrunn ( PV until 2008 ) 818  m above sea level NN 6.900 Sulzberg 778  m above sea level NN 3.900 Durach 711  m above sea level NN 1.800 St Mang (formerly Kottern-Neudorf) Allgäu Railway from Munich from Neu-Ulm Upper Illerbrücken 0.000 Kempten (Allgäu) Hbf (until 1969) 0.410 Kempten (Allgäu) Hbf (from 1969) 705  m above sea level NN to Isny Allgäu Railway to Lindau

Coordinates: 47 ° 29 ′ 35.1 ″  N , 10 ° 43 ′ 17.5 ″  E

The Ausserfernbahn is a 93.920 km long, standard-gauge , single-track, cross-border branch line between Bavaria and Tyrol . It runs from Kempten via Pfronten , Reutte to Garmisch-Partenkirchen . It is named after the Ausserfern , which opens up the route.

The railway line was opened between 1895 and 1913 and connects the Ausserfern with the Mittenwald Railway and the Munich – Garmisch-Partenkirchen railway in the east and the Bavarian Allgäu Railway and the Illertal Railway in the west. The Austrian section is isolated from the rest of the Austrian railway network . It is electrified between Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the border at Schönbichl.

history

Prehistory and construction

Long-distance railway

The opening of the Semmering Railway in 1854 showed that a mountain railway over the Alps is possible. The trading cities of Augsburg and Kempten , which had been connected by the Ludwig-Süd-Nord-Bahn since 1852 , wanted to revive the old trade routes over the Fernpass and Reschenpass to Northern Italy. Therefore, in the second half of the 19th century, the first plans for a "long-distance railway" from Kempten over the Fernpass into the Inn Valley appeared. The Bavarian state government, however, favored the connection via Munich and Kufstein, which was reflected in the construction of the Bavarian Maximiliansbahn . For the connection from the Inntal to South Tyrol, the Brennerbahn was preferred over a railway over the Reschenpass, as it was easier to build. The south-west German cities then campaigned for a railway over the Fernpass as a feeder line to the Brenner Railway in order to shorten the detour via Munich and Kufstein. This railway line was also discussed as a connection between Tyrol and Vorarlberg and further into Switzerland. After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/1871, however, the Arlbergbahn was preferred as an inner-Austrian connection to Vorarlberg, compared to the connection via the Fernpass and Kempten. With the opening of the Gotthard Railway in 1882, the south-west of Germany was given an alternative to the Brenner Railway, which had a negative effect. Therefore, in the 1890s, Tyrol requested a train over the Fernpass. However, the Bavarian government was not interested in this connection and on May 26, 1892 approved a local line from Kempten to Pfronten instead of a main line .

Section Kempten - Reutte

Construction of the local railway began in March 1894 at the Wertach Bridge. The route was often traversed with 180-meter arcs and gradients of 25 ‰. Shortly before the opening, there was a landslide at the Wertach Bridge in November 1895. Nevertheless, on December 1, 1895, the line from Kempten to Pfronten-Ried was opened.

When an extension of the line was discussed, the following three variants were discussed:

• Pfronten – Reutte– Ehrwald –Gaistal– Leutasch –Innsbruck
• Pfronten – Reutte – Fernpass– Imst ("Fernbahn") and
• Pfronten – Reutte – Ehrwald – Garmisch – Leutasch – Innsbruck.

Since Garmisch already had a rail connection to Munich at the time, it made sense to strive for a direct connection between Munich and Innsbruck. Another argument in favor of this route was that the lowest pass height had to be overcome via Garmisch and more villages could be opened up.

On the initiative of the market town of Reutte, the Austrian engineer Josef Riehl was commissioned to work out a plan for the extension of the local railway to Reutte. After the necessary capital could be made available through share subscription, the concession for the local railway Reutte – Schönbichl was issued on October 11, 1904 . The groundbreaking ceremony on October 8, 1904, was followed by a state treaty between Bavaria and Austria on November 22, 1904. In this agreement it was agreed to extend the local railway from Kempten to Reutte and to build a railway line from Innsbruck via Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Reutte. On December 16, 1905, the extension of the local railway to the Reich border and the local railway on the Austrian side to Reutte were opened. According to the state treaty, the construction of the line to the border and the operation of the Kempten-Reutte line were carried out by the Bavarian State Railways . The financing, the construction, the administration and the maintenance of the Austrian route were carried out by the private stock corporation Lokalbahn Reutte – Schönbichl AG .

Section Garmisch-Partenkirchen - Reutte

After several years of planning, the private Mittenwaldbahn AG was founded on July 1, 1910 , which was responsible for the financing, construction, administration and maintenance of the Austrian sections of the Innsbruck-Reutte route. Work then began on the Garmisch-Partenkirchen - Reutte line, still known as the Mittenwaldbahn II . The Mittenwaldbahn I from Garmisch to Innsbruck was opened in 1912, the Garmisch – Reutte line on May 29, 1913. Both lines were operated electrically from the start.

As with the Kempten – Reutte local railway, the route on the Bavarian side was built by the Bavarian State Railways. The Bavarian State Railways also operated the line from Garmisch to Reutte. The Innsbruck – Garmisch route, on the other hand, was operated by Mittenwaldbahn AG .

First years of operation

The Bad Kreckelmoos stop was rebuilt as early as 1920 to promote tourism. During this time, the Schober stop was set up for woodworkers. Until 1925 the electrified part of the Ausserfernbahn was supplied with electricity from Austria. There was also a substation near the Schanz stop . Since the Walchensee power plant opened , the line to Reutte has been fed by the Murnau substation and the Schanz substation has been shut down. With the increase in tourism in Ehrwalder Becken, additional repeater trains were used between Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Lermoos from the summer of 1925 . With the opening of the Tiroler Zugspitzbahn in 1926, the number of passengers increased further.

When the 1000 Mark block came into force in the summer of 1933, traffic on the Ausserfernbahn fell noticeably. Only when the economic sanctions were lifted in 1936 did traffic pick up again. To this end, the Thanellerkar winter sports stop was opened in 1937. On January 1, 1935, the Mittenwaldbahn AG was nationalized, whereby the management of the Mittenwaldbahn was transferred to the Austrian Federal Railways (BBÖ). The operation on the Ausserfernbahn continued to be carried out by the Deutsche Reichsbahn . With the connection of Austria in March 1938, the incorporation of the Austrian Federal Railways into the Deutsche Reichsbahn and the nationalization of the local railway Reute – Schönbichl AG on January 1, 1939, the eastern section Garmisch-Partenkirchen – Reutte became the Reichsbahndirektion Munich and the western section Kempten– Reutte was added to the Augsburg Railway Directorate . In order to be able to use class E 44 locomotives, the superstructure was reinforced by the DRG in the 1940s . During the Second World War, the timetable was severely cut. Shortly before the end of the war in February 1945, Garmisch-Partenkirchen station was bombed and the depot on the Ausserfernbahn partially destroyed.

Decline after 1945

With the end of the Second World War, the Austrian part of the Ausserfernbahn came under the administration of the State Railway Directorate Innsbruck. Soon they returned to the tried and tested management, according to which the Ausserfernbahn was completely operated by the Deutsche Bundesbahn . On December 10, 1949, an agreement was signed between the Deutsche Bundesbahn and the Austrian Federal Railways, according to which the Austrian section is called "Ausserfernbahn". Between 1949 and 1951, a siding was built from Vils train station to the Schretter & Cie cement works . In a state treaty of October 31, 1957, a privileged through-rail traffic between Germany and Austria was decided. On this basis, the transport service agreement of 1913 was replaced on August 21, 1959 by the Ausserfernbahn-Mittenwaldbahn Agreement (AMÜ), which allows the respective railway administration to use vehicles and locomotive drivers in the Scharnitz-Garmisch-Partenkirchen-Reutte-Pfronten-Steinach area. The agreement also stipulated that, with the exception of corridor traffic between Innsbruck and Reutte and freight train prestressing services, all locomotive services were carried out by DB.

With the increase in individual traffic and the decrease in passengers, the Tanellerkar stop was closed in 1965 and the Schanz stop in 1971. For the bypass of Reutte through the Fernpassstraße , 1.5 kilometers of track were newly laid between Reutte and Bad Kreckelmoos in 1978/79.

In 1993 the Reutte stop in Tirol Schulzentrum was opened. In September of the same year, the maximum speed for electric traction vehicles was set at 40 km / h due to the German overhead line system in need of renovation. Thereupon the passenger traffic between Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Pfronten-Steinach was taken over by the ÖBB with diesel railcars of the 5047 series . The freight traffic between Ehrwald and Vils was also handled by the ÖBB. With the withdrawal of the ÖBB diesel multiple units in 1996, the ÖBB class 4020 multiple units were used between Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Reutte and buses to Pfronten. With the conclusion of a transport service contract for regional rail traffic between the state of Tyrol and the ÖBB in 1998, the ÖBB undertook to maintain passenger traffic on the Ausserfernbahn until 2007. As a result, the DB railcars ran from Kempten to Reutte again. The Whitsun floods in 1999 devastated the Ausserfernbahn in many places between Grainau and Ehrwald, whereupon operations had to be stopped by the end of August 1999 in order to repair the damage. Despite the transport service contract of 1998, the ÖBB announced in the summer of 2000 that they wanted to shut down the Ausserfernbahn. As a result of this announcement, the funds already approved for the rehabilitation of the overhead line from the Federal Railways Expansion Act were frozen. The overhead line in need of renovation therefore had to be shut down and dismantled in autumn 2000 for safety reasons. Since the ÖBB did not want to handle passenger traffic with diesel vehicles, buses were used instead between Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Reutte from October 16, 2000. From February 2001, individual DB diesel trains ran from Kempten to Ehrwald. On June 10, 2001 the DB Regio took over the transport service contract of the ÖBB and thus the passenger transport on the entire Kempten – Garmisch-Partenkirchen route.

Boom and renovation since 2000

Eventually the overhead line was restored between June 24th and September 13th, 2002. In December 2003 the Verkehrsverbund Tirol signed a new transport service contract with DB Regio and commissioned them with the operational management of passenger transport for at least 5 years.

On January 28, 2007, the Hausbergbahn stop at the valley station of the cable car of the same name , which opens up a ski area, was reopened for seasonal use by winter sports tourists. In the first quarter of 2007 and in the winter of 2007/08, only special winter sports trains Munich – Garmisch-Partenkirchen – Hausbergbahn stopped there on the weekends. From December 14, 2008 until the end of the ski season on the Hausberg on April 19, 2009, all the trains of the Ausserfernbahn also served the station, during which the stop in Griesen was canceled. From July 20 to August 8, 2007, the DB renewed the tracks between Untergrainau and Griesen on a distance of 3.6 kilometers. At the same time, the ÖBB replaced six bridges at Musau, Bichlbach and Ehrwald with new steel bridges. The largest bridge was the 27 meter long Loisach Bridge between Griesen and Ehrwald. For the construction of the Heiterwang bypass, a 56 meter long road bridge over the railway line and a 61.10 meter long railroad bridge over the road were built between 2007 and 2010. The bypass also protects the railway line from landslides and avalanches.

In September 2009 the Bavarian Railway Company and the Verkehrsverbund Tirol jointly put the E-Netz Werdenfels out to tender. The tender was won by DB Regio Bayern , which has been running the section from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Reutte under the Werdenfelsbahn brand since December 2013 .

Since 2011, the number of approx. 90 level crossings in the Austrian section has been reduced to around a third and all stations and stops have been renewed. The Vils train station was generously expanded, but is only used for goods traffic (especially the Schretter cement works). The new Vils Stadt stop, which is much closer to the center, was built for passenger traffic. By converting the safety technology between Kempten and Pfronten, travel times have been reduced since December 2012. At Lähn, a 300 meter long and 8 meter high wall was built next to the railway line in 2013 to protect against the Wiestall avalanche.

The Ausserfernbahn celebrated its centenary in 2013. On this occasion, the Austrian Post issued a stamp worth 70 cents.

In 2013, the Bavarian Railway Company put the route from Kempten to Reutte to tender as part of the Allgäu diesel network. The tender was won by DB Regio Bayern, which will carry out the traffic until December 2029.

Due to defects in the substructure , the route category between Durach and Pfronten-Steinach was reduced from C3 to A on July 16, 2015 . Due to the associated reduction in the axle load , rail freight traffic with diesel locomotives to Vils and Reutte is no longer possible in the event of the eastern connection being blocked . Rail passenger transport with the light diesel multiple units used there was not affected. In the meantime, however, the deficiencies have been remedied. In May 2018 a new video travel center was opened in Pfronten-Ried .

To complete the construction work in the Austrian section, the section between Reutte in Tyrol and the border at Schönbichl was electrified by November 2019. A corresponding letter of intent between the parties involved was signed on September 29, 2017. The total investment was estimated at around 14.3 million euros. Of this, ten million euros in Tyrol and 4.3 million euros in Bavaria. On the Bavarian side, a control post was also set up in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. From March 15, 2019 to April 27, 2019 and from September 13, 2019 to November 4, 2019, the Ausserfernbahn between Reutte in Tyrol and Pfronten-Steinach was closed. During this period it was electrified between Reutte in Tyrol and the state border next to Schönbichl. The first electric test drive took place on November 5, 2019. On the freight trains to the cement works in Vils, the electric locomotive has not been parked in Reutte since electrification. The diesel locomotive for island operation between Reutte and Vils can thus be saved, but a diesel locomotive is still required to operate the siding in Reutte.

In August 2020, Deutsche Bahn applied to the Federal Railway Authority for the electrification of the 1.4-kilometer section from the state border to Pfronten-Steinach . The construction measures subsidized by the federal government and the Free State of Bavaria are to take place in the second half of 2021, so that electrical operation can begin with an hourly cycle between Munich Hbf via Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Reutte to Pfronten-Steinach when the timetable changes in December 2021. Since passengers in Pfronten-Steinach are forced to switch between diesel and electric trains, they will be expanded to be barrier-free by the end of 2022.

Incidents

On April 7, 1926, an accident occurred near the Schober stop in which the EP 3/5 20003 locomotive and some passenger cars derailed due to excessive speed and fell down an embankment.

On January 22, 2020, there was a near-accident two passenger trains near Griesen. The train RB 5523 coming from the Austrian train station Ehrwald Zugspitzbahn was standing in front of the stop signal of the train station Griesen. The train RB 5522 came from the opposite direction from Garmisch-Partenkirchen and was supposed to go to Reutte in Tyrol. The train pulled out of the Griesen station and after an emergency brake had been initiated, it came to a halt 20 meters in front of the train coming from Ehrwald.

Route description

course

Section Kempten - Reutte

The railway line begins at Kempten station in the hilly Alpine foothills , where it branches off from the Bavarian Allgäu Railway. After crossing the Iller, the Ausserfernbahn leaves the main line and turns south in a right-hand bend. It crosses the Kemptner district of Sankt Mang and reaches the stop of the same name . The route then turns in a south-easterly direction and reaches Durach train station. Together with the state road 2520 , the route leaves the town of Durach in a southbound direction and passes under the federal motorway 980 . In the following winding section, the line reaches the Sulzberg stop, crosses the federal autobahn 7 and immediately afterwards under the state road 2520. Shortly afterwards, the line reaches the Jodbad Sulzbrunn station, where no passenger trains have stopped since 2008. The route continues to climb, winding, in the direction of the Bodelsberg and Zollhaus-Petersthal stops. The line crosses the federal highway 7 again and reaches the Oy-Mittelberg station. Heading south-east, the route crosses the federal highway 310 in order to then open up the Wertach-Haslach stop in a narrow loop. At the Maria Rain stop, the route is crossed by State Road 2520 and then crosses the Wertach itself, heading east. Further to the southeast, the route crosses the towns of Nesselwang and Weißbach and then turns south to lead through the town of Pfronten. Following the Pfronten train station, the line crosses the Vils and follows it in a south-southeast direction until it crosses the border with Austria between Pfronten and Schönbichl.

Further following the Vils, the route reaches the city of Vils and then turns east. Shortly before the Lech, the route turns right and follows the Lech upstream. The Ausserfernbahn follows the Lech for around one kilometer until it turns off in the direction of Musau and, continuing to the southeast, crosses the Lech near Pflach. Immediately after the bridge, the route leads south in a right-hand curve until it reaches Reutte in Tyrol.

Section Reutte - Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Overview of the route and the elevation profile from 1913

After the Reutte train station, the route turns east in a left-hand curve for about a kilometer, and then turns south-south-west. The route climbs from the Lechtal into the Zwischenentoren valley and crosses the Falkenberg below Fort Claudia in the Katzenberg tunnel, again heading south-east . The route winds past Heiterwang and then follows the Grundbach in a south-easterly direction. Between Bichlbach and Lähn the route tends to the east in order to cross the valley watershed between Lech and Loisach in Lähn . With a height of 1106  m above sea level. A. This is also the highest point on the railway line. Further to the south-east there is a valley narrowing between Lähn and Lermoos, whereby the route hugs the northern mountain slope. Shortly before the Lermoos train station, the route leads through a trough structure that has been built over to about 105 meters. There the route also turns to the east and bypasses the moor in the Ehrwald Basin a little higher on its northern edge. At Ehrwald, the route turns in a left curve towards the north and crosses the state road and the Loisach on the Ehrwald Viaduct. The Ausserfernbahn thus leaves the intermediate gates and follows the narrow Loisach valley. Shortly after the Weißlehnbach flows into the Loisach, the railway line crosses the Loisach.

Shortly before the border between Ehrwald and Griesen, the route turns first to the northeast and then to the east. It follows the Loisach valley until it crosses the Loisach one last time shortly before Grainau. There the valley basin of Garmisch-Partenkirchen opens up and the railway line runs along the northern Wetterstein foothills. The route is crossed by the Bayerische Zugspitzbahn with a sheet metal girder bridge, which runs parallel to the Ausserfernbahn after an arch to Garmisch-Partenkirchen station. In front of the Garmisch-Partenkirchen train station, the route turns through a left curve in a north direction and ends there.

The maximum gradient of the route is 25 per mille between Kempten and Reutte and 37.5 per mille between Reutte and Garmisch  .

Security technology

The safety-related renewal of the infrastructure was completed on September 14, 2016. All train stations in the entire ÖBB section (Ehrwald-Zugspitzbahn, Lermoos, Bichelbach-Berwang, Reutte in Tyrol and Vils) are now equipped with modern security systems, complete (light) signaling, track vacancy detection systems and route blocks. The entire Austrian route section is remote-controlled from Reutte station and operated in train control . The total costs were estimated at around 54 million euros.

Reutte train station in Tyrol

In Germany, too, level crossings were abandoned or secured and the signaling and safety technology was renewed. For this purpose, an electronic interlocking regional (ESTW-R) was put into operation in Durach in November 2011 , which controls the Durach – Pfronten-Steinach section.

The semolina (Oberbay) station is provided with a mechanical interlocking of the type Krauss equipped by 1913th Originally the station only had mechanical entry signals. Later the station was equipped with simplified light signals . The light signals are set via an equally simplified track diagram control panel and are brought to the mechanical interlocking using keys . A carrier frequency block 71 was used in the direction of Garmisch-Partenkirchen , which was replaced by a self-block 60 when the Garmisch-Partenkirchen ESTW went into operation . The section between Griesen and Ehrwald Zugspitzbahn is not equipped with a section block. The train journeys are secured by telephone train reports .

Vehicle use

Section Garmisch-Partenkirchen - Reutte

The Royal Bavarian State Railroad procured five electric locomotives of the EP 1 series (later E 62) especially for the operation of the route from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Reutte . These locomotives were the first electric locomotives of the Bavarian State Railroad that were procured for single-phase alternating current with 15 kV and 16 2/3 Hz. Ten CL Bay 13 type passenger cars, four BCL Bay 13 type passenger cars and four baggage cars specifically for use on the Ausserfernbahn were purchased for passenger transport .

At the end of the 1920s, tourism and passenger numbers increased in the Ausserfern. In order to increase the stock of vehicles, the four locomotives of the EP 3 series (later E 36) were located at the Garmisch depot and from there, together with the EP 1 series locomotives, were used on the Ausserfernbahn. For a short time from 1940 until it was retired in 1941, the E 73 02 was also on the road on the Ausserfernbahn. Class ET 85 railcars were also used.

From the mid-1940s, when the first generation of electric locomotives were decommissioned, locomotives of the E 44 series were mainly used. The E 44 series dominated traffic on the electrified section of the Ausserfernbahn until the end of the 1970s. Austrian locomotives, such as the 1145 series , came to Reutte only as pre-tensioning services for freight trains and in corridor traffic between Innsbruck and Reutte. Starting in 1950, railcars of the 4041 series were used there , and later also with the 4030 series railcars .

Subsequently, locomotives of the series 139 , 141 , 140 , 112 , 110 and 111 alternated in passenger train traffic. Freight trains were driven by locomotives of the E 94 series until freight traffic was taken over by ÖBB series 1110 and 1020 locomotives in the 1980s . In the summer of 1981, E 69 series locomotives drove a pair of trains between Garmisch and Griesen.

Due to the poor condition of the overhead line from the mid-1990s, diesel multiple units of the 5047 series were used for passenger transport . Freight traffic was temporarily handled with class 290 diesel locomotives .

A class 425 railcar in Bichlbach - Berwang station (2005)

Class 425 railcars have been in use since 2003 . Particularly in winter, individual services were covered with the 111 series. Electric railcars of the 442 series (Talent 2) have been in use between Reutte and Garmisch since 2013 . Up to the electrification of the Reutte – border section near Schönbichl, mixed double traction consisting of a class 1016 , 1116 or 1216 electric locomotive and a 2016 class diesel locomotive were used in freight traffic . Since the electrification, the freight trains have been driven in double traction with two electric locomotives all the way to Vils.

DB class 425 towards Garmisch-Partenkirchen between Bad Kreckelmoos and Katzenberg tunnel

Section Kempten - Reutte

In the beginning of the route, the Royal translated Bavarian railways on the portion Kempten-Reutte tank locomotives of the genus D XI (later series 98 ^4-5 ) and BB II (later series 98 ⁷ ) comprises a stationed in Bahnbetriebswerk Kempten. From 1925 locomotives of the class GtL 4/4 (later class 98 ⁸ ) and from the 1930s also the classes 64 , 86 and 98 ^{10 were} used.

1987: A class 628.0 railcar near Schönbichl

From 1950 rail buses of the series VT 95 ⁹ , VT 95 and VT 98 were in use in passenger transport . The rail buses were occasionally driven to Garmisch. In freight transport, the class 86 steam locomotives were replaced by class V 100 and class 218 diesel locomotives from the mid-1960s . After the rail buses were taken out of service, class 627 and 628 railcars were used from 1974 . These remained the standard vehicles on the section until 2005. A class 2067 locomotive was stationed in Reute in 1993 to operate the Vils station. Locomotives of the series 2068 and 2043 were also used later . In the last few years before the Reutte – Vils section was electrified, the ÖBB used locomotives of the 2016 series for service trips to Vils .

Today, diesel multiple units of the 642 series are mainly used between Kempten and Reutte .

traffic

Today, operations are managed by DB on the entire route ; all DB offers apply to traffic to and from Germany. The maintenance of the infrastructure on the Austrian section is subject to the ÖBB .

Today, the railway is important in school and commuter traffic, in excursion traffic and in considerable freight transport for a cement works and wood loading in Vils. These goods transports only take place on the Vils – Garmisch section.

Since December 2013, the offer has been reduced to an hourly cycle from Monday to Friday. On weekends and public holidays, the two-hour service was maintained, although direct connections from Munich to Lermoos are offered. On December 15, 2013, the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Hausberg stop was put back into operation, but at the same time the last stops in Bad Kreckelmoos were canceled, the stop was last only served by school traffic.

At the end of 2019, the Verkehrsverbund Tirol agreed a transport service contract with DB Regio for passenger transport on the Ausserfernbahn, which runs until 2028, but can also be terminated prematurely after the completion of the electrification Reutte-Pfronten-Steinach.

Touristic

The stops at the Ausserfernbahn between Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Reutte in Tyrol ( Griesen , Ehrwald , Lermoos , Lähn , Bichlbach - Berwang , Heiterwang - Plansee , Pflach ) are starting points for mountain tours in the Ammergau Alps ( Friederspitz and Frieder, Schellschlicht , Daniel , Hochschrutte , Plattberg, Säuling ), in the Mieminger Mountains ( Ehrwalder Sonnenspitze ) and in the Lechtal Alps ( Thaneller , Roter Stein , Pleisspitze ).

future

There were repeated considerations to build the line over the Fernpass or a connection to the tracks on the line to Füssen, only four kilometers away . However, these plans were never realized.

In March 2019, a study by the state of Tyrol in cooperation with the ÖBB is to be presented, which examines a possible new line between Ehrwald and the Inntal. Politicians hope that road traffic will be reduced.

A Swiss study presented in March 2019 envisages a direct railway line from Ulm via Kempten and Landeck to Bozen or Bormio to relieve road traffic over the Fernpass. According to the study, this would require an expansion of the Ausserfernbahn from Kempten to Reutte and a connection from Reutte to the Inn Valley.

The electrification of the section from the state border to Pfronten and the barrier-free expansion of the Pfronten-Steinach train station are to take place by the end of 2021. Once these measures have been completed, the Reutte – Pfronten-Steinach section will also be served hourly. In order to achieve synergy effects, DB Netz AG, which is the owner of the adjoining route in Bavaria, has also commissioned ÖBB with the planning up to the right to build the overhead line on the 1.4 kilometer section on this side of the border to Pfronten-Steinach. In the future, one less diesel multiple unit will be required for the western section, while the extension of the electric regional trains from Garmisch-Partenkirchen will not affect circulation.

literature

• "Please get in". 100 years Ausserfernbahn Garmisch-Partenkirchen - Reutte 1913–2013. Werdenfels Museum, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, 13 July to 31 October 2013. Museum Grünes Haus, Reutte, 21 June to 31 October 2013 . Green House Museum, Garmisch-Partenkirchen Museum, Reutte / Garmisch-Partenkirchen 2013, OBV .
• Günter Denoth: The Ausserfernbahn. 100 years of the Ausserfernbahn. Between Loisach and Lech. Garmisch-Partenkirchen - Ehrwald - Reutte in Tyrol . Railway-Media-Group, Vienna 2013, ISBN 978-3-902894-10-6 .
• Franz Gemeinböck, Markus Inderst: Mittenwaldbahn. Innsbruck - Garmisch-Partenkirchen - Reutte. Kiruba-Verlag, Mittelstetten 2012, ISBN 978-3-98129-775-1 .
• Angela Jursitzka , Helmut Pawelka: Railway in the rugged rock. The history of the Mittenwald- and Ausserfernbahn . Alba publication, Meerbusch 2011, ISBN 978-3-87094-256-4 .
• Siegfried Bufe: Ausserfernbahn. Kempten, Reutte, Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Bufe-Fachbuch-Verlag, Egglham 2001, ISBN 3-922138-75-6 .
• Wolfgang Krutiak: Mittenwaldbahn. Innsbruck - Garmisch-Partenkirchen. History, technology and regional studies of the Mittenwald and Ausserfernbahn Innsbruck - Garmisch-Partenkirchen - Reutte. 1 overview map. Slezak, Vienna 1976, ISBN 3-900134-30-8 .
• Günter Denoth (Red.), Helmuth Petrovitsch: … over the distance. The Mittenwaldbahn Innsbruck - Garmisch - Reutte, published on the occasion of "90 Years of the Ausserfernbahn" September 14, 2003. Special publications on railway technology, Volume 1. Self-published Railway Archive Tirol, Neugötzens 2003, OBV .

Movie

Eisenbahn-Romantik ( SWR ) Episode 594: The Ausserfernbahn (March 19, 2006)

Web links

Commons : Ausserfernbahn  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Working group Fahrgast-Pro Bahn Allgäu / Tyrol: The Ausserfernbahn on erlebnisbahn.at (archived).
• Stefan von Lossow: KBS 965/976 - The Ausserfernbahn on Mittewaldbahn.de (archived).
• Karlheinz Dörner: Pictures of the tunnel portals on eisenbahntunnel.at.
• Tecneum: Article about the Ausserfernbahn on tecneum.eu.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} GeoViewer. Retrieved January 2, 2018 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c} ÖBB route class map. Retrieved January 2, 2018 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Kurbetriebe Pfronten (ed.): 90 years of the local railway Kempten-Pfronten-Ried and 80 years of Pfronten-Ried-Vils-Reutte / Tyrol . Eberle Verlag, Pfronten 1985.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Günter Denoth: The Ausserfernbahn: 100 years of the Ausserfernbahn. Between Loisach and Lech. Garmisch-Partenkirchen - Ehrwald - Reutte in Tyrol . Railway-Media-Group, Vienna 2013, ISBN 978-3-902894-10-6 .
5. ^ Georg Roggenhofer:  Mountain tours on the new Kempten – Pfronten railway. In:  Der Alpenfreund. Illustrated tourist magazine for the Alpine region , issue 8/1896, (VI. Year), pp. 77–83. (Online at ANNO ). .
6. ^ Contract for several rail connections at the border . In: Gustav Roloff (Ed.): Das Staatsarchiv, collection of official files . tape 64 . Verlag von Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1907, p. 148 ff . ( archive.org [accessed January 17, 2019]).
7. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Angela Jursitzka, Helmut Pawelka: Railway in the rugged rock: The history of the Mittenwald and Ausserfern Railway . Alba, Düsseldorf 2011, ISBN 978-3-87094-256-4 .
8. ^ Günter Denoth, Albert Ditterich, Helmut Petrovitsch, Claus-Jürgen Schulze: The Mittenwaldbahn . Railway-Media-Group Association, Innsbruck 2012, ISBN 978-3-902894-02-1 .
9. ↑ ^{a b} Reichsbahndirektion Innsbruck. In: http://www.bahnstatistik.de/ . Retrieved March 9, 2019 . 
10. ^ Reichsbahndirektion Augsburg. In: http://www.bahnstatistik.de/ . Retrieved March 9, 2019 . 
11. ^ February 22, 1945 - Air raid on Garmisch-Partenkirchen train station. Retrieved February 18, 2019 . 
12. ↑ Agreement between the Republic of Austria and the Federal Republic of Germany on facilitated rail traffic . In: Federal Law Gazette . No. 242 , May 18, 1956, pp. 1385 ( bka.gv.at [PDF]).
13. ↑ ^{a b} Traffic Report 2000. In: www.tirol.gv.at. State of Tyrol, accessed on May 20, 2019 . 
14. ^ History of the Ausserfernbahn - reports from the year 2000. PRO Bahn, accessed on May 21, 2019 . 
15. ^ History of the Ausserfernbahn - reports from 2001. PRO Bahn, accessed on May 21, 2019 . 
16. ↑ History of the Ausserfernbahn - reports from the year 2002. PRO Bahn, accessed on May 24, 2019 . 
17. ^ History of the Ausserfernbahn - reports from 2003. PRO Bahn, accessed on May 24, 2019 . 
18. ↑ "Free State of Bavaria optimizes local transport in Upper Bavaria" - press release of the Bavarian Railway Company of July 17, 2008.
19. ↑ Historically: 2007 GP - GRI track renewal. Retrieved February 18, 2019 . 
20. ↑ Loisach bridge near Ehrwald renewed. Retrieved January 25, 2019 . 
21. ↑ A lot of money for the Ausserfernbahn. Retrieved January 25, 2019 . 
22. ^ Office of the Tyrolean provincial government: B 179 Heiterwang bypass. Retrieved January 18, 2019 . 
23. ^ Bavaria: Call for tenders for the Werdenfels network. Retrieved February 18, 2019 . 
24. ↑ Günther Reichel: The station is being renovated for € 2.8 million . In: mein district.at , November 8, 2011. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
25. ↑ Bayerische Eisenbahngesellschaft : Modernization of the Ausserfernbahn Kempten - Pfronten-Steinach - DB Grenz ( Memento from December 20, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 499 kB) on beg.bahnland-bayern.de, from June 6, 2013.
26. ^ Günther Reichel: "Corset" for the Wiestall avalanche. In: mein district.at. August 27, 2013, accessed January 18, 2019 . 
27. ↑ Illustration of the brand and information in austria-forum.org
28. ↑ Freistaat puts diesel network Allgäu out to tender - improved offer for passengers. Retrieved February 18, 2019 . 
29. ↑ Regional transport in the Allgäu diesel network should go to DB Regio - improvements in detail. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on June 21, 2016 ; accessed on February 18, 2019 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
30. ↑ KBS 973 Kempten - Pfronten (-Reutte in Tirol) . In: Bahn-Report . tape 33 , no. 197 , September 1, 2015, ISSN  0178-4528 , p. 70 ( website [accessed August 31, 2015]).
31. ^ Official opening of a new video travel center at the Pfronten-Ried train station. Retrieved February 18, 2019 . 
32. ↑ ÖBB will invest EUR 415 million in Tyrol in 2019. tt.com, January 30, 2019, accessed January 31, 2019 . 
33. ↑ ^{a b} Christoph Gasser-Mair: Milestone - Tyrolean ÖBB route network 100% under power. ÖBB, December 11, 2019, accessed on December 12, 2019 . 
34. ↑ Electric from Reutte to Schönbichl - 3 SiBis. Retrieved December 12, 2019 . 
35. ^ Electrification in Swabia. Transport Minister Schreyer: "Another step towards attractive rail traffic in the Allgäu!" - Electrification between Pfronten-Steinach and the state border is within reach. (Press release). Bavarian State Ministry for Housing, Building and Transport , August 21, 2020, accessed on August 22, 2020 . 
36. ↑ ^{a b} interim report . Disruption due to operational error, January 22nd, 2020, Griesen (Upper Bavaria). Federal Agency for Railway Accident Investigation , accessed on July 16, 2020 . 
37. ↑ pd / schr: near collision on the Ausserfernbahn . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International 3/2020, p. 116.
38. ↑ Ausserfernbahn is being refurbished with 54 million euros. (No longer available online.) Tt.com, August 27, 2012, archived from the original on December 11, 2013 . 
39. ↑ ÖBB is investing 49 million euros in infrastructure in Tyrol this year. tt.com, January 15, 2013, accessed March 3, 2020 . 
40. ↑ Bayerische Eisenbahngesellschaft : Modernization of the Ausserfernbahn Kempten - Pfronten-Steinach - DB Grenz ( Memento from December 20, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 499 kB) on beg.bahnland-bayern.de, from June 6, 2013.
41. ^ Holger Kötting: List of German signal boxes. In: stellwerke.de , November 24, 2019, accessed on March 3, 2020.
42. ^ Frank Pfeiffer: Signal boxes from Garching to Gutenfürst. In: stellwerke.de , January 10, 2020, accessed on March 3, 2020.
43. ^ The BW Garmisch . In: Matthias Fuhrmann (Hrsg.): Deutsche Bahnbetriebswerke and the locomotive fleet of the German railways from 1920 until today . tape 7 . GeraNova Zeitschriften-Verlag, ISSN  0949-2119 .
44. ↑ Horst Obermayer: Mallet locomotives of type BB II . In: Railway Journal . No. 8/1991 . Hermann Merker Verlag GmbH, ISSN  0720-051X , p. 28 .
45. ^ Siegfried Bufe: Ausserfernbahn . 2nd Edition. Bufe-Fachbuch-Verlag, Egglham 1988.
46. ↑ VVT orders more trains on the Ausserfernbahn. (No longer available online.) Verkehrsverbund Tirol, July 26, 2010, archived from the original on December 13, 2013 ; Retrieved April 29, 2013 . 
47. ↑ Electronic course book of Deutsche Bahn: timetable table KBS 965 , accessed on December 14, 2013
48. ↑ DB Regio receives a transport service contract for the Ausserfern . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International 5/2020, p. 226.
49. ↑ Tiroler Tageszeitung Online: 114,000  € for the study of the railway tunnel . In: Tiroler Tageszeitung Online . ( tt.com [accessed February 11, 2018]).
50. ↑ Swiss study: Large rail solution on the Fernpass. March 12, 2019, accessed March 13, 2019 . 
51. ↑ Swiss study: Specific plans for the Fernpassbahn. March 12, 2019, accessed on March 13, 2019 (German). 
52. ↑ Bavaria and Tyrol: Cross-border train traffic in Werdenfelser Land is being improved. Bavarian State Ministry for Housing, Building and Transport, January 14, 2020, accessed on January 24, 2020 . 
53. ↑ https://www.stmb.bayern.de/med/aktuell/archiv/2019/190501electrification/
54. ^ Bavaria: Declaration of intent to electrify the railway from Reutte via Pfronten to Steinach. In: lok-report.de. October 2, 2017, accessed January 5, 2018 . 
55. ↑ film