Railway line Bozen – Merano
Bolzano-Merano | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Regional train in Gargazon station
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Route number (RFI) : | 45 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Course book series (IT) : | 211 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Route length: | 31.8 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Power system : | 3 kV = | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Maximum slope : | 10 ‰ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Minimum radius : | 181 m | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Top speed: | 100 km / h | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Bolzano – Merano railway ( Italian: Ferrovia Bolzano – Merano ) is a single-track, standard-gauge branch line in South Tyrol ( Italy ), which was originally built and operated by the Bozen-Meraner Bahn company as a private secondary railway. Today it is part of the Italian railway network under the management of RFI. It branches off from the Brennerbahn in the Bozen Süd industrial area and follows the course of the Adige to Merano .
Route
The route does not have any particularly demanding engineering structures, as the line follows the floor of the Adige Valley. Originally, the railway line moved away from the Brenner railway line in Bolzano station before the Eisack bridge in order to follow the Eisack on the right bank. After a three-span steel bridge over the Talfer , there were two stops, Rombrücke and Reschenbrücke, before reaching Sigmundskron . In 1980 the route was relocated in the city of Bolzano. Since then, the tracks of the Brenner Railway have been used initially. In the Bozen industrial zone, the new line branches off the Brenner line with a right-hand curve and leads straight across a long reinforced concrete viaduct to Sigmundskron station. In the course of this renovation, the Rome and Reschenbrücke stops were closed without replacement. The Bolzano industrial zone was opened up with the Bolzano South stop, which was relocated a few hundred meters in 1998 and has since provided direct access to the Bolzano exhibition center . The abandoned Überetscher Bahn branched off the old route shortly before the Sigmundskron station.
From Sigmundskron the railway line follows the former natural course of the Etsch. After passing the Siebeneich demand stop, the former course of the river required the route to the village of Terlan. From Vilpian the route runs much straighter, due to the Adige, which was already straightened on this section, via Gargazon, Lana-Burgstall and (formerly) Sinich to Meran-Untermais. Here it connects a tight right-hand bend with the actual main train station of the city of Merano.
There has also been a connection to the Vinschgau Railway since 1906 .
As long as the local line Lana – Meran was in operation, there was a track crossing after both the Lana-Burgstall station and the Untermais station. Due to the different contact wire voltages, elaborately insulated contact line crossings were necessary.
history
Immediately after the Brennerbahn was built, it was decided to connect the spa town of Merano to the European rail network.
With the law of June 28, 1872, concerning the construction of a locomotive railway from Bolzano to Merano , the first formal legal basis was created for the project, in particular for the concession granted on September 14, 1872, according to the concessionaires Carl Freiherr von Schwarz , Johann Putzer von Reibegg and Eduard von Weinhardt were granted the right to build and operate a locomotive railway from Bozen to Merano that was connected to the southern line . Since this concession was not implemented, it was declared expired on July 24, 1874 by a declaration by the Ministry of Commerce .
With the law of March 11, 1876, provisions were again made to secure a local railway from Bolzano to Merano , which resulted in the concession document of June 11, 1880 on the right to build and operate a standard-gauge secondary railway . This document, announced on July 16, 1880, was accompanied on the same day by an agreement in which the state administration undertook to make an advance payment of one million guilders at interest for the immediate start of construction. Finally, the line was inaugurated on October 4, 1881.
In the course of the construction of the route, the dams that line the Adige today were also built to finally dry the valley floor and use it for agricultural purposes. However, since only the Meran-Vilpian section was straightened at the time of construction, you can still see from the large number of curves from Vilpian that the railway line followed the natural course of the Adige at that time. These loops, which resulted in an extension of the route, were also used to save expropriation costs. Another advantage was that at that time the Imperial and Royal Government subsidized secondary railways that could have a minimum length of 30 km.
The Merano train station was located on the site of what is now the Emma Hotel; a new train station was built a little further from the city center for the Vinschgau Railway. This is why the route still has a characteristic, very tight curve before it reaches Merano station.
In 1934, Ferrovie dello Stato electrified the railway line in connection with the Brenner southern ramp with three-phase current (3.6 kV with 16⅔ Hz). In 1952 the line was converted to direct current (3 kV) together with the Trient – Bozen section of the Brenner Railway .
In 1980 the section in downtown Bolzano was replaced by a new section further south in the industrial zone. This project had been planned since the mid-30s, as the two, mostly closed, level crossings at the Rome and Reschen bridges caused major traffic problems. However, lack of money delayed this project. For lack of money, the two stops at Rome and Reschenbrücke were closed without replacement, but a new stop was built in the Bolzano industrial area. This was moved a few hundred meters in 1998 in order to be able to offer a direct connection to the trade fair. Today the abandoned part of the route is part of the Bolzano cycle path.
In 1995 the Meran-Sinich train station was closed.
The Gargazon train station was moved a few hundred meters south in 2003 and reactivated after being closed for many years. In the years 2007–2008, all access points along the route were renovated. These now have higher platforms for easier boarding and alighting. The overhead line was also completely renewed. In 2011, all train stations and stops were equipped with flat screens to provide up-to-date information about the trains.
In 2012, the train station in Bolzano South was redesigned and received raised platforms for level boarding.
In the period from June 22 to July 21, 2013, the RFI closed the railway line due to urgent maintenance work and operated it alternatively with buses. The four-week closure was also used for work close to the track at the new Kaiserau stop between Bozen Süd and Sigmundskron, which went into operation on December 15.
business
The railway line was originally operated by the Bozen-Meran-Bahn BMB building company from 1881 to 1906 and then by the KK Staatsbahn until 1918. In 1919 it was taken over by the Italian state railways Ferrovie dello Stato (FS); today it is managed by the FS subsidiary RFI. In 1994, all of the train service lines at the stations were closed. Initially, the route was remote-controlled from Bolzano; today from Verona. In the past, Merano was also regularly served by long-distance trains. There were connections to Dortmund, Hamburg, Bologna and Milan. However, these were gradually reduced, since 2003 there has only been regional traffic.
The line benefited from the restart of the Vinschgau Railway in 2005 , as all stations and stops were converted and expanded in a user-friendly manner. In addition to the Trenitalia trains, SAD trains have also been running since September 2005 , so that there was a half-hourly service. The direct connections between Mals and Bolzano were canceled with the 2010/2011 timetable, but they are to be reintroduced after the Vinschgau Railway has been electrified.
The first step is to double-track the Bozen – Terlan section; the measure should be completed by 2026.
In addition, an independent access point to the Bolzano train station is to be set up. This means that trains to and from Merano will be able to run without using the tracks of the Brenner Railway. Since December 2013, a pair of trains has been running from Merano to Innsbruck for the first time in a long time from Monday to Friday. In addition, the new Kaiserau stop has been served by Trenitalia trains every hour, and the Flirt low-floor trains run the route once an hour.
Freight transport
In addition to passenger traffic, the railway also had a heavy freight traffic. At the beginning of the 20th century, south of Untermais, there was a five-track freight station and in every further station there were connections for surrounding businesses, mostly fruit stores, which had been located in large numbers conveniently near the railway. Many former connections are still visible or can be guessed at when you are near a train station. The freight traffic with collective trains was stopped in 1992.
Currently (2013) there are no longer any freight trains running. The last freight train last ran on Thursdays and brought RID tank wagons with trichlorosilane to Untermais. From here they were brought to the MEMC Electronic Materials company in Sinich on a street scooter . However, the company stopped production at the Merano plant in December 2011.
Vehicle use
BMB no. | First name | number | Manufacturer | Years of construction | Axis formula | kkStB no | FS no. | Whereabouts | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1-2 | MERANO | 2 | Krauss / Munich | 1882 | C n2t | 294.11-12 | OIL 605-606 | ordered by BMB, delivered to ÖLEG | |
1 "-2" | MERAN " | 2 | Krauss / Linz | 1882 | C n2t | 294.09-10 | FS 899.006-007 | ||
3 | ENGADIN | 1 | Wr. Neustadt | 1881 | C n2t | 397.01 | |||
4th | 1 | 1873 | B n2t | Retired in 1905 | Adopted from the Adige Regulation in 1879 | ||||
5-10 | TRAFOI | 6th | Krauss / Linz | 1891-1905 | C n2t | 294.04-08, 13 | FS 899.001–005, 008 |
gallery
Steel truss bridge over the Talfer of the Bolzano – Meran and Bozen – Kaltern railway lines ( Überetscher Bahn ) before re-routing
literature
- Victor von Röll : Art. Bozen-Meraner Eisenbahn . In: Enzyklopädie des Eisenbahnwesens , Volume 2. Berlin, Vienna 1912, p. 478.
- Populorum, Michael Alexander: The Bozen-Meraner-Bahn. Through wine and fruit cultures from Bolzano via Sigmundskron and Terlan to Merano. Series of publications by the Documentation Center for European Railway Research (DEEF), Volume 19, 2nd edition 2016 on DVD, ISBN 978-3-903132-15-3 . Mercurius Verlag Grödig / Salzburg. Railway Research Austria
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Tecneum station Gargazon [1]
- ↑ RG Bl. No. 103/1872
- ↑ RG Bl. No. 143/1872 as well as Volkswirthschaftliche Zeitung. ... (Bolzano – Meran railway.) The Fatherland, August 30, 1872
- ↑ RG Bl. No. 107/1874
- ↑ RG Bl. No. 38/1876
- ↑ RG Bl. No. 88/1880
- ↑ RG Bl. No. 89/1880
- ^ Nico Molino: Trifase in Italia 1925-1976. Locknotes, Edizioni Gulliver, Torino 1991, ISBN 88-85361-12-9
- ↑ Railway line Bolzano-Meran will soon be out of service for four weeks. The Südtirolbahn, accessed on June 3, 2013 .
- ↑ State is checking electrification of the Vinschger Railway. Press office of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano - South Tyrol, December 16, 2014, accessed on December 12, 2015 .
- ^ Land-RFI: Big rail projects for South Tyrol launched. suedtirolnews.it, accessed June 28, 2019 .
- ↑ Three major rail projects are on track. rainews.it, accessed June 28, 2019 .
- ↑ Working meeting between the city government and some members of the state government. City of Bozen, accessed on January 29, 2011 .
- ↑ MEMC cuts 20% of workforce. renewableenergyfocus, accessed January 6, 2012 .
- ↑ MEMC: State government continues to push for electricity connection with Europe. (chr), accessed January 6, 2012 .
Coordinates: 46 ° 40 ′ 24 ″ N , 11 ° 8 ′ 55 ″ E