Rybník – Lipno nad Vltavou railway line

Rybník – Lipno nad Vltavou
Course book series (SŽDC) :	195
Route length:	22.185 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Route class :	C2 (2016)
Power system :	1912–1955: 1280 V = 1955–2003: 1500 V = since 2005: 25 kV, 50 Hz  ~
Maximum slope :	33.2  ‰
Minimum radius :	150 m
Top speed:	60 km / h
Legend of St. Valentin 0.000 Rybník used to be a tender village 675 m to České Budějovice 3,349 Jenín early Kodetschlag 625 m 5.900 Černy les formerly Rosenberg Black Forest 6,988 Rožmberk nad Vltavou formerly Rosenberg 565 m Větší Vltavice 8.379 Herbertov formerly Obermühle 545 m 10,557 Těchoraz formerly Hohenfurth 555 m Vltava (Moldova) 11,528 Hohenfurth raft place 11,846 Vyšší Brod klášter formerly Hohenfurth monastery 560 m 14.768 Čertova Stěna formerly a stone hammer 575 m 18.796 vlečka Papírny Vltavský mlýn 19.137 Loučovice formerly Kienberg-Moldaumühl 675 m vlečka Teplárna Loučovice 20,046 vlečka píla 20.653 Loučovice zastávka formerly St. Prokop 685 m 20.681 vlečka Papírny Sv. Procopius (Re-alignment 1955) Vltava (Moldova) 22,000 Lipno nad Vltavou (since 1955) 710 m 22.098 vlečka Elektrárna Lipno I 22.185 End of the route Lippnerschwebe raft place ~ 22.5 Lipno formerly Lippnerschwebe

The Rybník – Lipno nad Vltavou railway is an electrified regional railway connection in the Czech Republic , which was originally built and operated as the Hohenfurt Electric Local Railway . The route runs in southern Bohemia along the upper Vltava from Rybník ( Zartlesdorf ) via Vyšší Brod ( Hohenfurth ) and Loučovice ( Kienberg ) to Lipno nad Vltavou ( lip ).

According to a decree of the Czech government, the line has been classified as a regional railway ("regionální dráha") since December 20, 1995.

history

In 1885 Ernst Porak (Arnošt Porák) opened a pulp mill in Kienberg . In the following years a cardboard box factory and a paper factory were added. In order to better connect the industry to the east-running St. Valentin – Budweis railway line, a railway line was required. The city of Linz also wanted to increase trade with this region with a route via Leonfelden , Hohenfurth and Krummau to Budweis . Bruno Pammer , Abbot of Hohenfurth Monastery , also campaigned for the construction of the railway line . Despite a building permit from May 9, 1902, this route could not be realized for financial reasons.

The concession “to build and operate a standard gauge local railway from the Zartlesdorf station of the kk state railways via Hohenfurth to Lippner Schwebe” was awarded to Bruno Pammer and Ernst Porak on September 12, 1911. Part of the concession was the obligation to start building the line immediately to be completed within two years. The duration of the concession was set at 90 years.

The first freight train drove from Zartlesdorf to Kienberg on October 18, 1911. Passenger traffic began on December 17 of the same year. The Hohenfurth Electric Local Railway is initially operating it itself. From July 1, 1912, the State Railway Directorate Linz of the kk Staatsbahnen (kkStB) took over the operation for the account of the owners. A separate management was set up in Hohenfurth for this purpose.

Mixed local train at the Teufelsmauer (1912)

Train on the Vltava Bridge near Hohenfurth (1912)

In the first full year of operation in 1912, the local railway carried 61,788 passengers and 45,377 tons of goods. The transport of products from the paper industry in Kienberg and the transport of raw wood between Lippnerschwebe and Hohenfurth Stift, where rafting was not possible due to the rapids of the Vltava, dominated freight transport .

In 1913 the concessionaires founded the Hohenfurth Electric Local Railway Company . Their share capital totaled 877,000 kroner in 87 common shares of 10,000 kroner each and 35 common shares of 200 kroner each. Partners were the Cistercian order of the Hohenfurth monastery and Ernst Porak. The seat of the company was in Hohenfurth.

After the First World War , the route lay in an area claimed by Austria and the Czechoslovak Republic . After the Treaty of Saint-Germain of March 10, 1919, the railway area was finally assigned to Czechoslovakia. The line thus belonged to the network of the Czechoslovak State Railways (ČSD).

After the Sudetenland was annexed to Germany in autumn 1938, the line came to the Deutsche Reichsbahn , Reichsbahndirektion Linz . In the Reich course book the connection was included as course book route 455k Zartlesdorf – Lips . This was accompanied by the final nationalization and dissolution of the Hohenfurt Electric Local Railway. The law of August 2, 1940 "regarding the takeover of railways in the Reichsgau Sudetenland and in the parts of the Sudeten German territories incorporated into the Reichsgaue Oberdonau and Niederdonau" regulated a. a. the nationalization of nine local railways with a total length of 169.77 km, in which the Czechoslovak state had already held the majority of the shares.

From 1940, steam locomotives were also used to cope with the increasing traffic. In 1942 four railcars and two passenger cars came from the Berchtesgaden – Königsee local railway to Hohenfurth, which had become dispensable there due to the conversion of the electricity system.

After the end of the Second World War in May 1945, the line came back to the ČSD, which continued operations unchanged. From this point on, only the Czech station names were valid.

The expulsion of the German-Bohemian population in the railway area in 1945/46 initially led to a significant reduction in transport demand. A far greater turning point were the several floods of the Vltava River in 1946/47, the effects of which forced plans to build a dam at the beginning of the Vltava Valley near Lipno, which had been in existence since the 1930s. Between Sv. Prokop and Lipno, the rail traffic was suspended from January 6th to March 20th, 1946 and from December 29th, 1947 to March 10th, 1948 because of the damage to the tracks and facilities.

In January 1947, the Obermühle power station burned down to the ground. Until the construction of a new substation in Vyšší Brod klášter, which went into operation in September 1948, all trains had to be driven by steam locomotives.

Vyšší Brod klášter station (2009)

Lipno nad Vltavou station was rebuilt in 1955 (2010)

The construction of the Lipno dam began in 1951, which again led to an increase in the volume of goods transported. The ČSD reacted to the increase in traffic performance initially by housing two electric locomotives from the Prague hub, which took over the freight traffic to the paper mill. The ČSD, on the other hand, used steam locomotives to transport building materials, as no suitable electric locomotives were available for such heavy loads. Due to the lack of fire protection strips during electrical operation, there were several forest fires along the route, which were triggered by flying sparks from the steam locomotives.

At the beginning of the 1950s, vehicles and systems on the line were completely worn out, so that a fundamental renovation was inevitable. Between 1953 and 1959, the ČSD renovated the tracks and built a new, modern catenary. Because of the interruption of the route by the dam, around one kilometer had to be completely re-routed. The Lipno train station was built on the left bank of the Vltava directly below the new dam. The contact line voltage was raised to 1500 volts in 1955. The vehicles from the opening year of the railway were taken out of service and replaced by new railcars and locomotives.

After the construction of the dam, the construction workers' settlement developed into the new municipality of Lipno nad Vltavou , which subsequently developed into a popular holiday resort on the reservoir. At least during the tourist season in summer (and later also in winter), this ensured that the railway would receive an increasing volume of tourist traffic. The 1968/69 timetable recorded five pairs of passenger trains running daily over the entire route, and another pair running on workdays during the morning rush hour. In addition, there were additional trains on sections of the route, the travel times of which were geared towards the shift changes in the paper mill in Loučovice and tourist traffic in summer. This timetable structure was essentially retained until the 1990s.

After the end-to-end electrification of the Summerau – České Budějovice line in 2000/01, the contact line voltage was changed to 25 kV / 50 Hz alternating current in 2005. Since December 2011, the Jenín stop has no longer been served by scheduled passenger trains due to a lack of demand.

Route description

course

simplified elevation profile of the route

The route begins at Rybník ( Zartlesdorf ), a district of Dolní Dvořiště ( Unterhaid ), on the St. Valentin – České Budějovice railway line , which runs from České Budějovice ( Budweis ) to Linz . It initially descends into the Vltava valley to Rožmberk nad Vltavou . The place Rožmberk nad Vltavou is a few kilometers north of the train station. The track reaches its lowest point near Herbertov. The railway then follows the Vltava upstream via Vyšší Brod ( Hohenfurth ) and Loučovice ( Kienberg ) and ends directly below the dam of the Vltava reservoir at Lipno nad Vltavou ( Lips ).

Superstructure

Initially, rails of the Austrian XXI-Va profile with a meter weight of 26.3 kg on wooden sleepers were used for the tracks. The minimum radius was 150 meters on the open track and 100 meters on side tracks. After the Second World War, the ČSD rebuilt the tracks on superstructure K with rail profile S49. More recently, concrete sleepers and Y-sleepers , which have increased lateral displacement resistance, have been installed on some sections and in narrow curved tracks .

power supply

Obermühle power plant (around 1913)

Former Rectifier substation at Vyšší Brod klášter station (2015)

The Obermühle power station at rail kilometer 8.2 was originally responsible for supplying the line with traction current. The hydropower of the Vltava was fed to a Francis turbine , which drove two DC generator sets of 100 kW each with a nominal speed of 950 rpm. To compensate for voltage fluctuations, there was a backup battery with a nominal charge of 148  Ah . In the event of an accident and when the water level was low, the electrical power supply could be maintained by means of a Lanz locomobile that had an output of 125 kW. The system was supplied by the Leobersdorfer Maschinenfabrik and the Austrian Siemens-Schuckert works. After the fire at the Obermühle power station in 1946, the ČSD set up a new substation at the Vyšší Brod klášter station that obtained the energy from the national grid via a rectifier. It initially fed 1200 volts into the catenary, and after a further modification in 1956 it fed 1500 volts. In 2005, a new substation for a contact line voltage of 25 kV, 50 Hz went into operation in Vyšší Brod. A switching station was built in Rybnik.

The catenary of the line had a cross-section of 50 mm². With the exception of the Zartlesdorf train station, where iron masts were erected, the catenary and a feeder line hung on simple wooden masts with arched arms. When the catenary system was rebuilt in 1955, ČSD erected steel masts throughout and converted the catenary to a post-tensioned catenary system. A special feature is the catenary, which is braced at an angle in the arches and does not need a jib on the mast.

Vehicle use

At the opening of operations in 1912, the Hohenfurther Electric Local Railway had three multiple units for mixed service as well as an electric shunting locomotive with which the towing tracks of the paper industry in Kienberg were served. For passenger traffic there were still two trailer cars for the railcars and a combined mail and baggage car. Freight traffic was handled with two covered and two open freight wagons and eight long timber wagons. Six of the log wagons had no brakes, the remaining two only a handbrake. For official purposes, the Hohenfurther Electric Local Railway owned a tower car , two snow plows, two master trainer's cars and a bicycle trolley.

Railcars and locomotives of the Hohenfurt Electric Local Railway (HeL)
No.	kkStB no.	ČSD no.	DR no.	Manufacturer	design type	Construction year	Remarks
1	22.001	M 201.001	ET 187.01	Ringhoffer (mechanical part) / ÖSSW (electrical part)	Bo	1912	Retired in 1951
2	22.002	M 201.002	ET 187.02	Ringhoffer (mechanical part) / ÖSSW (electrical part)	Bo	1912	Retired in 1956
3	22.003	M 201.003	ET 187.03	Ringhoffer (mechanical part) / ÖSSW (electrical part)	Bo	1912	Modernized after 1950 with a new car body, retired in 1963
-	22.004	M 201.004	ET 187.11	Ringhoffer (mechanical part) / ČMK (electrical part)	Bo	1924	Replica by ČSD, retired in 1956
51	1083.01	E 200.001	E 174.01	Ringhoffer (mechanical part) / ÖSSW (electrical part)	Bo	1912	Shunting locomotive, retired in 1956

After nationalization in 1942, the Deutsche Reichsbahn was home to three class ET 184.0 railcars , one type ET 194.0 baggage railcar and two trailer cars in Hohenfurth, which came from the Berchtesgaden – Königsee local line and the Berchtesgaden – Hangender Stein local line . The vehicles designed for 1000 volts contact line voltage were provisionally adapted to the 1280 volts customary in Hohenfurth by mechanically blocking all upper speed levels in the drive switch (in series connection of the drive motors). In the meantime, trains were also run with steam locomotives of the DR class 93.1 (formerly BBÖ 378) in order to cope with the high volume of traffic. Two of the Berchtesgaden railcars were withdrawn as early as 1944. They came on loan to the Linz Local Railway , where they replaced vehicles that had been lost in a fire.

From today's perspective, the registered home of the Berlin S-Bahn locomotive E 178 01 in 1943, which was supposed to handle heavy goods traffic, was curious . The locomotive did not match the voltage of the contact line, nor did it have a normal pantograph for overhead line operation. The necessary renovation was to be carried out in the Reichsbahn repair shop in Linz, which no longer happened in view of the ongoing war events. The locomotive was scrapped in Linz after 1945.

Passenger train with ČD class 210 near Jenín (2015)

The ČSD continued operations after 1945 initially with the existing vehicles that had been worn out by the war. It was not until the catenary voltage was changed to 1500 volts that new locomotives and railcars were purchased. From 1956, two railcars of the ČSD series EM 411.0 handled the tourist traffic . In 1956, Škoda delivered new baggage locomotives of the ČSD class E 422.0 (ČD class 100). From 1956 to 1973, two electric locomotives of the ČSD series E 423.0 were used for freight transport , which were originally built for the electrified network in the Prague hub . From 1973 three locomotives of the ČSD series E 426.0 (ČD series 113) were located, which from then on handled the freight traffic. Passenger trains were formed from 1976 to 2005 with the locomotives of the E 422.0 series and Görlitz double-decker single wagons of the first generation .

Since the catenary voltage was changed to 25 kV with 50 Hz AC voltage, traffic has mainly been carried out with the electric locomotives of the ČD series 210 . After the switch trains were also DMU ČD-series 809 or 810 and 814 out.

literature

• Siegfried Bufe, Heribert Schröpfer: Railways in the Sudetenland . Bufe-Fachbuch-Verlag, Egglham 1991, ISBN 3-922138-42-X , p. 229-232 .
• Martin Harák: Elektrická dráha Rybník – Lipno , Malkus Praha 2012; ISBN 978-80-87047-19-4
• Andreas Petrak: By train through the high Bohemian Forest . Eisenbahn-Kurier Verlag, Freiburg 2006, ISBN 3-88255-359-6 .
• Radovan Rebstöck: Bohemian Forest Railways: Entertaining railroad history Bohemian Forest / Šumava and Bavarian Forest . 1st edition. Ohetaler Verlag, Riedlhütte 2007, ISBN 978-3-937067-83-4 .

Web links

Commons : Rybník – Lipno nad Vltavou railway line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• KBS 195: Rybník – Lipno nad Vltavou on www.zelpage.cz
• Timetable 1944
• Timetable 2018
• Info page about the route

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Zdeněk Hudec u. a .: Atlas drah České republiky 2006–2007 , 2nd edition; Publishing house Pavel Malkus, Praha, 2006, ISBN 80-87047-00-1
2. ↑ Prohlášení o dráze 2016 ( Memento from July 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ Decree of the Czech government of December 20, 1995
4. ↑ Reich Law No. 190 for the kingdoms and states represented in the Reichsrathe of September 12, 1911
5. ↑ Historical securities at www.geerkens.at
6. ^ Siegfried Bufe, Heribert Schröpfer: Railways in the Sudetenland. Bufe-Fachbuch-Verlag, Egglham 1991, ISBN 3-922138-42-X , p. 54f
7. ^ Law on the takeover of railways in the Reichsgau Sudetenland and in the parts of the Sudeten German territories incorporated into the Reichsgaue Oberdonau and Niederdonau on August 2, 1940