Nordwestbahn (Austria)

0.000	Vienna northwest	166 m above sea level A.
	Brigittenau junction
	Northwest Railway Bridge
	Vienna Jedlesee
	from Vienna Praterstern
4.150	Vienna Floridsdorf
	to Břeclav
5.686	Vienna Brünner Strasse
	Jedlersdorf junction
	from Vienna Leopoldau
6,500	Vienna Jedlersdorf	164 m above sea level A.
	IZ Strebersdorf connection railway
8.105	Vienna Strebersdorf	165 m above sea level A.
	Provincial border Vienna - Lower Austria
11.179	Langenzersdorf	169 m above sea level A.
12.403	Bisamberg	168 m above sea level A.
15.631	Korneuburg	170 m above sea level A.
	to Hohenau
18.355	Üst Korneuburg 1
18,810	Leobendorf - Kreuzenstein Castle	174 m above sea level A.
22.465	Spillers	172 m above sea level A.
22,862	Connecting railway ( Awanst ) Brauplan Transport
25.762	Stockerau	173 m above sea level A.
	to Absdorf-Hippersdorf
30.626	Upper Olberndorf	183 m above sea level A.
32,706	Sierndorf	190 m above sea level A.
34.915	Höbersdorf	191 m above sea level A.
37,435	Schönborn - Mallebarn	200 m above sea level A.
41.110	Goellersdorf	204 m above sea level A.
43.176	Groß Stelzendorf (closed May 16, 1949)
45.715	Breitenwaida	216 m above sea level A.
49.022	Sonnberg (closed May 16, 1949)
51,421	Hollabrunn	225 m above sea level A.
57.840	Hetzmannsdorf-Wullersdorf	230 m above sea level A.
62.121	Guntersdorf	250 m above sea level A.
70.610	Flat	243 m above sea level A.
	from Sigmundsherberg
72.0	Zellerndorf East
73.675	Zellerndorf	225 m above sea level A.
	according to Novosedly
81.397	Retz	244 m above sea level A.
	to Drosendorf
85.615	Unterretzbach freight yard	238 m above sea level A.
86,560	Unterretzbach
87.660	State border between Austria and the Czech Republic
89.139	Šatov ( Schattau )	248 m nm
	Znojmo-Nový Šaldorf ( Neu Schallersdorf )
99.297	Znojemský viaduct (Znojmo Viaduct)
100.149	Znojmo ( Znojmo )	290 m nm
	to Břeclav
	to Kolín (–Děčín-Prostřední Žleb)

The Nordwestbahn is a partly double-track, electrified main line in Austria and the Czech Republic , which was originally built and operated by the Austrian Northwest Railway Company. It runs from Vienna via Retz into the Czech Znojmo ( Znaim ).

history

Prehistory and construction

Due to the Floridsdorf– Stockerau railway line, which had already been built by the Nordbahn, building a separate line in this section was unprofitable, and so the ÖNWB tried to buy this line. The purchase contract was concluded on August 21, 1871 and from November 1, 1871, the ÖNWB ran the operation on this section.

The start of construction was already set for September 8, 1870 in the concession. The building permits were granted

for the train station in Vienna on August 14, 1869,
for the route Vienna – Jedlersdorf on April 24, 1870,
for the Stockerau– Zellerndorf route on September 8, 1870,
for the line from Zellerndorf to the border near Unterretzbach- Znaim on September 21, 1870.

Nordwestbahn from the Nordwestbahnhof to Jedlersdorf over the Nordwestbahnbrücke

The line from Stockerau to Znojmo was put into operation on November 1st, 1871. On this day, the ÖNWB also took over operations on the Floridsdorf - Stockerau section acquired from the Nordbahn.

With the commissioning of the Vienna Nordwestbahnhof – Jedlersdorf line, the line from Vienna to Znaim was continuously passable. After the completion of the freight facilities at the Nordwestbahnhof in Vienna, operations (passenger and freight traffic) began on July 1, 1872.

Route extensions

1872 of Zellerndorf after was Sigmundsherberg leading railway Zellerndorf-Sigmundsherberg opened.

In 1874, the ÖNWB built a junction to the Danube area near Korneuburg with its own train station to connect to Danube shipping from Korneuburg station. The final commissioning took place on September 22, 1874.

In 1890 a connection to the railway network of the Imperial and Royal State Railways was established in Vienna .

On October 4, 1904, the Absdorf – Stockerau local railway was opened.

Retz railway station (Lower Austria)

The Retz – Drosendorf local railway branching off in Retz was opened on October 21, 1910. On June 10, 2001, passenger traffic on the entire local railway and goods traffic between Weitersfeld and Drosendorf were suspended.

business

Before the First World War

With the installation of security systems, the speed of passage in the stations could be increased. For this reason, mechanical signal boxes were built between 1884 ( Spillern ) and 1895 (Hetzmannsdorf– Wullersdorf ) . The north-west station itself followed in 1909.

As the train traffic increased more and more, a second track was soon necessary. At the end of 1898, the corresponding building permit for the Vienna – Stockerau section was granted. However, the start of construction has been postponed further and further. In 1904 the second track between Vienna and Znojmo was picked and in July of the same year work began between Vienna and Stockerau. The rest of the route was left single-track. On May 1, 1908, full operation began on the new track.

In 1916, the Jedlersdorf station near the Autokaders was generously expanded and the integration of the Stammersdorfer local railway was prepared. But this project was never realized. The connection from Jedlersdorf train station to the Leopoldau loading point on the northern line was built between May and November 1916 and is known as the Floridsdorfer Hochbahn or - because of the use of Italian prisoners of war in the construction - as the "Italian loop".

After the First World War

With the end of the First World War , train traffic was reduced, and the subsequent economic crisis forced the federal railways to rationalize. A change in the law in 1922 made it possible to dismantle at least 56 barrier systems and the associated barrier guards. From 1934 to 1938, the line to Höbersdorf was also included in alternating traffic between the municipal Viennese electric light rail and the Austrian federal railways.

During the Second World War , the station on the Danube area of Korneuburg was expanded considerably. A connecting track from the Vienna Northwest Railway Station to the North Railway Station was commissioned on January 26, 1945, but was only completed after the end of the war as a so-called “Russian loop”. The railway crossing at the junction of Tabor Road in the Nordbahnstraße both roads and was abandoned in the transition to electric operation at the latest.

After 1945

Znojmo Viaduct (bridge has since been renewed)

Znojemský viaduct in full length before reconstruction

The political changes in Czechoslovakia led to the cessation of passenger traffic beyond Retz on May 18, 1952.

On January 17, 1962, electrical operations began at the same time as the rapid transit railway on the Floridsdorf – Stockerau section. The express train operation required the construction of a second track between Floridsdorf and Jedlersdorf. This expansion was completed on May 5, 1969.

Electrical operation from Vienna to Hollabrunn was started on May 27, 1979 .

The village of Platt near Zellerndorf received a stop on September 27, 1981, which is closer to the place than that of the Pulkautalbahn .

Unterretzbach station - view towards Znojmo / Znaim

For the first time since 1952, a passenger train ran again between Retz and Znojmo on December 16, 1989. Scheduled passenger traffic between the two cities began on May 26, 1990. The Znojmo Viaduct over the Thaya was considered one of the highest bridges in Europe when it was built. Before cross-border rail traffic between Vienna and Znojmo could be resumed, the viaduct had to be rebuilt.

On September 25, 1993, electrical operation began on the northwest railway line from Hollabrunn to Retz.

In October 2006, the electrification of the route from Retz to Znojmo began. The cost was around 39 million euros (of which ÖBB 3.5 million euros and Czech Railways 35.5 million euros). Electrical operation began in December 2006 from Retz to Schattau , and at the end of November 2009 to Znojmo. Operation is also carried out on this section, as the subsequent lines are not electrified, with the Austrian electricity system (single-phase alternating voltage 15 kV, 16.7 Hz).

Vienna Northwest Railway Bridge

The construction of the initially single-track and 810 meter long north-west railway bridge was dependent on the final plans for the regulation of the Danube . It was built from 1870 to 1872 according to plans by Building Director Wilhelm Hellwag and Chief Inspector Eduard Gerlich . An ice rush after construction started damaged one of the bridge piers so badly that it had to be rebuilt.

Due to the sharp increase in traffic, the bridge was rebuilt and double-tracked on November 24, 1909. The older of the two tracks was shut down in 1924 after passenger handling in the north-west station had ceased. In 1930 it was dismantled after a rapid transit railway project failed.

Of the bridges that were blown up by the German Wehrmacht when they withdrew from Vienna in April 1945, the Northwest Railway Bridge was the easiest to restore, so that it could be put back into operation on August 25, 1945. It also took up traffic on the northern railway until 1959 , only then was the northern railway bridge and the connecting sections restored.

After the final closure of the north-west railway station as a passenger station on May 30, 1959, the north-west railway bridge was converted into a road bridge between 1962 and 1964 and has been known as the north bridge ever since .

Operating points

Northwest train station in Vienna

In Vienna, the Nordwestbahn ended in the 2nd district of Vienna , since 1900 in the 20th district, in a splendid Wilhelminian style building, the Nordwestbahnhof . From 1924 the hall was no longer used. At times they were used by the National Socialists for political events. From 1945 to 1959, passenger traffic on the Nordwestbahn and Nordbahn was handled here. In 1959, dispatch to the Vienna Praterstern station on the restored northern line was relocated. After 1959 the station buildings were demolished. The only original building is what was then the station post office, 20., Nordwestbahnstraße 6.

passenger traffic

The S-Bahn lines (Leobersdorf -) Meidling - Hollabrunn and Wiener Neustadt - Absdorf-Hippersdorf (- Tullnerfeld) and regional trains to Retz / Znojmo are currently running on the Nordwestbahn . The S3 / S4 trains run every quarter of an hour to Korneuburg until 8 p.m. (and in the morning to Stockerau), to Stockerau for the most part every half hour and between Stockerau and Hollabrunn every hour. The regional trains to Retz run every hour, with a few exceptions (including weekends), and to Znojmo every 2 hours. During the rush hour, the load direction between Retz and Vienna is compressed every half hour.

On the Czech section between Šatov and Znojmo, the passenger trains are run as the S82.

literature

Roland Peter Herold: The Austrian Northwest Railway . On the move on rails. Sutton-Verlag, Erfurt 2009, ISBN 978-3-86680-520-0 .

Wolfgang Kos (Ed.), Walter Öhlinger (Red.): Great station: Vienna and the wide world. Wien Museum Karlsplatz, September 28, 2006 - February 25, 2007 . … Special exhibition of the Vienna Museum, Volume 332. Czernin-Verlag, Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-7076-0212-5 .

Peter Wegenstein, Heinz Albrecht (photo): The north-west railway line . This volume deals with the routes Vienna Nordwestbahnhof - state border next Unter Retzbach, Floridsdorf - Jedlersdorf, Korneuburg - Korneuburg Donaulände, Stockerau - Absdorf-Hippersdorf, turnoff Rohrmühle - turnoff brick furnace and Retz - Drosendorf . Bahn im Bild, Volume 91, ZDB -ID 52827-4 . Publisher Peter Pospischil, Vienna 1995, OBV .

Alfred Horn: The Austrian Northwest Railway . The Austrian-Hungarian Railways, Volume 1, ZDB -ID 504717-1 . Bohmann-Verlag, Vienna (among others) 1967, OBV .

Web links

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

Individual evidence

↑ K. k. priv. Austrian Northwest Railway. It is hereby made known that (...). In: Znaimer Wochenblatt , No. 44/1871 (XXII. Volume), November 4, 1871, p. 493. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / zwb.
^ Alfred Horn: Wiener Stadtbahn. 90 years of light rail, 10 years of underground. Bohmann-Verlag, Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-7002-0678-X , p. 172.
↑ Electrification of the Retz - Znojmo railway line begins . In: ots.at , October 20, 2006, accessed April 7, 2011.

[1] K. k. priv. Austrian Northwest Railway. It is hereby made known that (...). In: Znaimer Wochenblatt , No. 44/1871 (XXII. Volume), November 4, 1871, p. 493. (Online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / zwb.

[Horn-2] Alfred Horn: Wiener Stadtbahn. 90 years of light rail, 10 years of underground. Bohmann-Verlag, Vienna 1988, ISBN 3-7002-0678-X , p. 172.

[3] Electrification of the Retz - Znojmo railway line begins . In: ots.at , October 20, 2006, accessed April 7, 2011.