Bellinzona – Mesocco railway line

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Bellinzona – Mesocco
Mesocco station around 1970
Mesocco station around 1970
Route length: 31.3 km
Gauge : 1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Power system : 1500 volts  =
Maximum slope : 60  ‰
Minimum radius : 80 m
Legend
   
 0.0 Bellinzona BM 227  m above sea level M.
   
 2.0 Molinazzo 236  m above sea level M.
   
 Gotthard Railway
   
 Moesa I
   
 3.5 Castione-Arbedo 241  m above sea level M.
   
 4.2 Castione Villaggio
   
 5.7 Lumino (formerly the train station) 258  m above sea level M.
   
 6.9 Cantonal border between Ticino and Graubünden
   
 8.1 Valmoesa works siding 262  m above sea level M.
   
 9.1 S. Vittore 275  m above sea level M.
   
 Moesa II (75 m)
   
 10.8 Roveredo 294  m above sea level M.
   
 Moesa III (81 m)
   
 11.2 S. Antonio 302  m above sea level M.
   
 12.2 Grono level crossing 325  m above sea level M.
   
 12.7 Grono 332  m above sea level M.
   
 13.3 new depot
   
 15.2 Leggia 340  m above sea level M.
   
 16.2 Cama 351  m above sea level M.
   
 17.6 Piani di Verdabbio 367  m above sea level M.
   
 18.7 variety 403  m above sea level M.
   
 21.4 Lostallo 423  m above sea level M.
   
 23.3 Cabbiolo 446  m above sea level M.
   
 25.4 Vigna 486  m above sea level M.
   
 Piotta (42 m)
   
 Capella (31 m)
   
 28.5 Soazza 620  m above sea level M.
   
 S. Giovanni (13 m)
   
 31.3 Mesocco 766  m above sea level M.

The Bellinzona – Mesocco railway , also known as the Misoxerbahn, the Misoxer line or in Italian Ferrovia Bellinzona – Mesocco or Ferrovia Mesolcinese , is a former meter- gauge narrow - gauge railway in the Swiss cantons of Ticino and Graubünden . The 31.3 kilometer route led from Bellinzona, the capital of Ticino, through the Misox valley in Graubünden to Mesocco .

The line was opened in 1907 by the railway company Società Ferrovia elettrica Bellinzona – Mesocco (BM), which was incorporated into the Rhaetian Railway (RhB) in 1942 . In 1972 passenger traffic was discontinued, and in 2003 goods traffic also ended. Until 2013, a tourist museum railway was maintained on the remaining 12.7 kilometer long section by the Società Esercizio Ferroviario Turistico (SEFT) and the railway was called Ferrovia Mesolcinese (FM) . A project to upgrade the Roveredo settlement area and an expansion project by the canton of Ticino at the Castione-Arbedo public transport hub resulted in a further shortening of the route to 3.9 kilometers between Grono level crossing and Cama in 2014. The license for this remnant was canceled on June 15, 2016 at the request of SEFT.

history

Bellinzona-Mesocco-Bahn

Share over 200 francs in SA della Ferrovia Elettrica Bellinzona-Mesocco from October 15, 1905

In 1895 there were initial plans, the Misox with the station Castione-Arbedo the Gotthard railway outgoing branch line to open up. After initially thinking of a standard-gauge line, the decision was made in favor of an electrically operated narrow-gauge railway at the suggestion of the Bündner . After the operating company was founded in Lostallo on July 26, 1903 , construction work began in 1905.

The first section, 21.4 kilometers long, was opened to traffic on May 6, 1907. It was the section from Bellinzona via Castione-Arbedo, the operational center of the line, Lumino , San Vittore , Roveredo , Grono , Leggia and Cama to Lostallo. The 9.9 kilometer continuation between Lostallo and Mesocco with stations in Cabbiolo and Soazza followed almost three months later and was navigable from July 31, 1907. The 31.3 kilometer long route had three tunnels, 28 bridges - including three large viaducts over the Moësa River - as well as 18 train stations and stops . The center of operations was Castione-Arbedo, another depot and workshop was located at the Mesocco terminus. The maximum gradient was 60 ‰, the smallest curve radius 80 meters. The railway's own power station Cebbia near Mesocco supplied the route with 1500  volts direct current .

Efforts have repeatedly been made to extend the route from Mesocco via San Bernardino and Splügen to Thusis and to connect it to the existing main network of the Rhaetian Railway. However, these plans could not be realized, so for decades the railway line discussed here was the only Graubünden narrow-gauge railway without a connection to the main network.

Merger with the Rhaetian Railway

Soazza station around 1970

After traffic had developed unsatisfactorily in the 1930s, the Società Ferrovia elettrica Bellinzona-Mesocco merged with the Rhaetian Railway on New Year's 1942. This began immediately with the modernization of the vehicles, track systems and power supply. In 1955 the roller stool operation was started, in the Castione-Arbedo train station there was a corresponding roller stool ramp.

However, the Rhaetian Railway was unable to solve the problem of the peripheral departure point in Bellinzona. There, the line to Mesocco did not begin at the SBB Bellinzona station , but around ten minutes' walk away at Piazza Mesolcina . However, at the Castione-Arbedo station it was possible to transfer directly to and from the Gotthard Railway.

Instead of further investments in the railway, it was decided in the 1960s to expand the parallel national road A13 as a winter-safe north-south connection. This led to conflicts with the road planners, who saw the railway as an obstacle when building the A13. In 1966, for example, a task of railway operation was discussed for the first time. Nevertheless, the Rhaetian Railway continued the renovation and in 1966 ordered six light metal passenger cars for the Misoxerbahn and prepared to order three railcars. An expert report on the replaceability of the railway in 1967 came to the conclusion that it was more appropriate to keep the railway. Since this report did not please the responsible head of department (transport minister), a second report was commissioned. The Rhaetian Railway had to change the order for the passenger cars; instead of six short cars, five long cars were delivered for the Arosa Railway. In 1969 the federal government ordered the cessation of passenger traffic. Protests from the valley and a petition with 5,000 signatures were unable to prevent this.

Cessation of operations by the Rhaetian Railway

Elevation profile of the route
The former Mesocco train station

On May 28, 1972, passenger traffic on the Misoxerbahn was finally stopped. Postbuses took over this task from then on . The decisive factor here was, among other things, the better development of the valley through the now completed A13. The buses inverted henceforth from Thusis over the San Bernardino Pass or by the San Bernardino tunnel to Bellinzona.

The freight between Castione-Arbedo and Mesocco remained the time being, the 3,4-kilometer section between Bellinzona and Castione, however, was canceled after the adjustment of passenger transport. In August 1978 severe storms severely damaged the upper part of the route, which led to the closure and demolition of the route from Cama. The two oldest railcars that remained in Mesocco were to be scrapped, but the Pro Misoxerbahn association bought one of them. However, this also had to be scrapped in 1983.

In 1980 it was decided to build a new, non-electrified freight track in Misox. In order to simplify road construction and to free land in the villages, a new route was planned, which drove up costs. The decision remained on paper and the RhB continued to maintain freight traffic on the remaining stretch between Castione and Cama. As a replacement for the former Mesocco depot , a disused factory hall was set up in Grono as a workshop. The closure of the Val Moesa works ( Monteforno SA / Von Roll ), the largest industrial company in the valley and the most important customer for goods transport, meant the final end of the planned operation in 1987. The remaining, increasingly scarce freight transport finally no longer justified the cost of the route. On New Year's Eve 2003, the route and concessions (infrastructure concession and passenger transport concession) were transferred to the Società Esercizio Ferroviario Turistico (SEFT), an association registered in the commercial register, which has been running a tourist museum here since 1995 . The vehicles were labeled with Ferrovia Mesolcinese.

Museum railway operation by SEFT

Little has changed on the line during operation due to SEFT. The vehicles were serviced in the Grono depot. The spacious railway facilities of Castione-Arbedo, where the railcars and wagons of the Ferrovia Mesolcinese were parked, acted as the operations center . The Castione – Cama route was electrically accessible; scheduled trains ran on Sundays from July to October. In the years 2009/2010 there was a major change due to the reconstruction of the SBB train station in Castione-Arbedo, including the demolition of the previous reception building and the dismantling of some meter gauge tracks. A planned relocation of the departure point to the main track on the other side of the main road ultimately no longer occurred due to the closure of the museum at the end of 2013.

The SEFT on the Misoxer Bahn covered costs with a budget of 50,000 Swiss francs. Around ten employees were responsible for driving operations. In 2011, 2585 people were carried.

Suspension of museum railroad operations

The municipality of Roveredo requested the removal of the tracks to enable the redesign of the town center. The town, which was previously divided in the middle by the motorway and railway line, is to receive a new center. The renovation of the railway underpass would have been associated with high costs or extensive renovation measures.

Operations ceased in December 2013 because the passenger transport license expired on December 14, 2013 and the canton of Graubünden had applied to the federal government to revoke the infrastructure license valid until the end of 2020. Long stretches of the railway have now been dismantled, and consideration is being given to setting up a museum in Grono in the future.

Vehicle fleet

BDe 4/4 491 shunting freight wagons in Mesocco (1977)
In the 1980s, railcar 42 was used for roller bolsters at the Valmoesa steelworks
Railcar BDe 4/4 491 of the Ferrovia Mesolcinese in Cama (2006)

Bellinzona-Mesocco Railway between 1907 and 1942

For the opening of the Bellinzona – Mesocco line in 1907, three BCe 4/4 railcars were put into operation. The cars were given the road numbers 1 to 3 and were henceforth used on the entire line. Two identical vehicles with the numbers 4 and 5 followed in 1909. An Fe 4/4 luggage railcar, road number 501, was procured for freight traffic. The wagon construction part of all six railcars came from the Ringhoffer wagon factory in Prague , the electrical part from the Rieter machine factory in Winterthur-Töss , which was also responsible as general contractor for the railway construction as a whole.

Rhaetian Railway between 1942 and 2003

After the merger, the Rhaetian Railway renumbered the railcars of the BM to 451–455 and 471 respectively and modernized them. To rejuvenate the vehicle population, it put the BDe 4/4 491 railcar into service in 1957 . The two ABDe 4/4 483 and 484 of the Arosabahn were occasionally seen in the Misox as temporary workers . In 1969 three railcars (451, 455, 471) were damaged in collisions. As a replacement, the Rhaetian Railway rented the ABe 4/4 41, built in 1933, until 1972 from the Appenzeller Bahn (AB) . After the storm in 1978, the Rhaetian Railway broke off the ABDe 4/4 452 and sold 453; 454 was brought on the road to the lower part of the route, where it served from then on as a reserve for the BDe 4/4 491, which carried the main load of the remaining traffic until 2003. 491 came to Landquart for an overhaul in 1980, during which time it was replaced by the ABe 4/4 42 of the Appenzeller Bahn. In 1987 this railcar was rented long-term from the Rhaetian Railway and labeled Ferrovia retica, whereupon 454 could be discarded, but remained.

Ferrovia Mesolcinese since 2003

With the transition of the line, the Rhaetian Railway also transferred the entire rolling stock of the line (42 and 491) to Ferrovia Mesolcinese. In addition, this also acquired the second “Appenzeller”. Other Swiss narrow-gauge vehicles later found a new home here. Initially, the Ferrovia Mesolcinese had the following railcars, some of which have since been canceled (if necessary, noted):

  • Number 1–2, formerly AB ABe 4/4 41–42
  • Number 3, formerly FLP ABe 4/4 3, demolished in 2007 after an accident, parts to Agno
  • Number 4, formerly RhB ABDe 4/4 454, original BM railcar, in poor condition, inoperative, demolished March 22, 2011
  • Number 5, formerly BA ABe 4/4 5
  • Number 6, formerly RhB BDe 4/4 491

literature

  • Rolf Rütimann: Bellinzona – Mesocco Railway. Swiss Private Railways 1, Ernst B. Leutwiler Verlag, Zurich 1984, ISBN 3-906681-01-7 .
  • Wolfgang Finke, Hans Schweers: The vehicles of the Rhaetian Railway 1889-1998. Volume 3: Locomotives, railcars, tractors. Verlag Schweers + Wall, Aachen 1998, ISBN 3-89494-105-7 .

Web links

Commons : Ferrovia Mesolcinese  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ TU directory of the Federal Office of Transport, accessed on September 5, 2016 ( Memento from May 7, 2018 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ Railway amateur. No. 8, Volume 21 / August 1967, p. 294: “5 unit B 2315–19 ... instead of 6 short B 2315–20 for the Misoxer line”
  3. ↑ License directory of the Federal Office of Transport> Search for SEFT (expired licenses can be accessed with "Unlock" and the password "incomplete")
  4. ^ Railway amateur. 2/2012, p. 70.
  5. ↑ Info Forum - ProBahn Switzerland. 2/2012, p. 3f: "Counted days for the Misoxer-Bahn"
  6. ↑ Passenger statistics on the SEFT Ferrovia Mesolcinese website ( Memento from November 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive )