Podbrezová – Tisovec railway line

Podbrezová – Tisovec
Diesel multiple unit 812 011 in Pohronská Polhora
Course book series (ZSSK) :	174
Route length:	41.180 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Maximum slope :	50  ‰
Rack system :	Dept
Top speed:	70 km / h
Legend from Zvolen 55.137 Podbrezová 55.640 0.000 (Start of the route) 2.735 Chvatimech to Hronec Čiernohronská lesná železnica Čierný Hron 4.036 Valaská 8,473 Brezno 10.238 Brezno mesto 12,990 Brezno-Halny to Červená Skala Rohožná 17.345 Brezno-Rohožná 21.730 Michalová zástavka 23,600 Michalová 25,132 Pohronská Polhora 29,336 Zbojská 30.410 Čertov viaduct (105 m) 31.750 Pod Dielom (175 m) 33.330 Bánovo 34.024 Tisovec-Bánovo 37.040 Teplica II. 37.940 Teplica I. Realignment in 1949 40.450 Tisovecký tunel (770 m) 41.180 Tisovec (Hairpin until 1949) to Revúca (not completed) to Jesenské

The Podbrezová – Tisovec railway is a railway connection in Slovakia . It runs in central Slovakia from Podbrezová over the Slovakian Ore Mountains to Tisovec , where it connects to the continuing route to Jesenské . Between Podbrezová and Brezno , the line is part of the national main line connection from Zvolen to Košice , the rest of the line to Tisovec is operated as a branch line.

Between Pohronská Polhora and Tisovec, part of the route is equipped with the Abt rack and pinion system because of the steep gradients . This section was declared a National Cultural Monument in 2008.

history

Rack entrance between Pohronská Polhora and Zbojská

Cogwheel locomotives of the ČSD series T 426.0 ; here as museum locomotives in Kořenov / Czech Republic (2010)

Vintage train with the TIVc 4296 steam locomotive

Gejza Kubiny, Pavol Mendel, Alexander Hoffmann and Viliam Quittner, who founded a private local railway company called Zólyombrezó-Breznóbánya-Tiszolczi HÉV , received the concession to build the line in 1893 .

The line from Podbrezová to Pohronská Polhora was opened on December 15, 1895. The Hungarian State Railways (MÁV) took over the management .

In order to close the gap to the Jesenské – Tisovec railway line , which had existed since 1874 , a mountainous landscape of the Slovak Ore Mountains at the Zbojská pass had to be tackled, with a maximum gradient of 50 ‰. It was therefore decided to use the cog railway operation with the Abt system for a total of 5,836 meters on this route , which meant the first use of the Abt system in the Kingdom of Hungary. This pass ended at a hairpin in the existing Tisovec station. The opening took place on November 30, 1896.

After the First World War , the railway area was on the territory of the newly formed Czechoslovakia . The operator of the route was now the Czechoslovak State Railways (ČSD).

After the First Vienna Arbitration and the subsequent dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1938-39, several railway lines in the Slovak Ore Mountains area were divided and only accessible via Hungarian territory. Therefore, in 1940, planning began in “independent” Slovakia to replace the rack railway line and to build a new line to Revúca (so-called Gemerer connecting railways ); At the beginning, work began on the new tunnel near Tisovec. Work on the laying did not begin until 1943. The breakthrough of the Tisovec tunnel took place in March 1944, but further work was stopped because of the Slovak national uprising.

After the restoration of Czechoslovakia in 1945, the work was definitely stopped in 1949 and has never been resumed since. Only the Tisovec tunnel with the relocation was opened in the same year, eliminating the hairpin at Tisovec station. The planned replacement of the rack railway was never carried out.

Today some local trains run on the railway line. With the exception of special trains, the cogwheel operation is no longer used and there is pure adhesion operation in regular traffic. On January 2nd, 2008 the railway was declared a national cultural monument.

The cogwheel railway was restarted for tourist purposes in 2015. A MÁV TIVc series (CFR 40 series) steam locomotive was procured from Romania and extensively repaired.

Vehicle use

The operating Hungarian State Railways procured four cogwheel steam locomotives especially for the rack railway, which were classified as the TIVb series. From 1925 they were designated by the ČSD as 403.501 to 403.504.

From 1961 the steam locomotives were replaced by brand-new cogwheel diesel locomotives of the ČSD class T 426.0 . From 1964 onwards, ČSD began using M 240.0 series railcars specially equipped for operation on steep routes .

literature

• Arthur Meyer, Josef Pospichal: Rack railway locomotives from Floridsdorf , Verlag bahnmedien.at, Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-9503304-0-3

Web links

Commons : Podbrezová – Tisovec railway line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website of the rack railway
• Details of the route at rail.sk II (Slovak)
• Details of the route at rail.sk III (Slovak)
• Description on www.vlaky.net (Slovak)
• A page about the rack railway, with a German summary

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://spravy.pravda.sk/sk_regiony.asp?c=A080117_140027_sk_regiony_P04&k=96001