Danube bus

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The " DDSG - First Danube Steamship Company " procured three smaller ships for Danube cruises at the end of the 1950s. Today “Maria”, “Kriemhild” and “Juliane” are still on the road, but in a wide variety of functions. The name Donaubus was only used for these three units on the Austrian Danube.

initial situation

In 1939 and 1940, the two diesel-electric paddle wheel ships “Stadt Wien” and “Stadt Passau” were launched. This was followed by a long lull in new construction for DDSG passenger shipping due to the Second World War , before three smaller tour ships , built by the Korneuburg shipyard , were put into service in 1957 . These were so-called “Danube buses”, each with a capacity of around 110 people, and used for excursions on the entire Austrian Danube. They were extremely popular in local service, as there is both a closed saloon with on-board buffet and a small open deck located aft. The sister ships “Juliane”, “Kriemhild” and “Maria” appear on the DDSG fleet list with the numbers 409, 410 and 411 as the first new passenger ships since the “City of Vienna” and “City of Passau” went into operation.

Technical specifications

  • Year of construction 1957
  • Shipyard Korneuburg shipyard
  • Length 21.5 m
  • Width 3.75 m
  • Height to main deck 1.85 m
  • Machines 2 MAN 8-cylinder 4-stroke diesel engines
  • Power 300 HP = 220 kW
  • Capacity about 110 people

Naming

After the First World War , the DDSG cargo ships were given names such as "Ostarrichi" or "Dr. Karl Renner ”(then Federal President). Furthermore, river and place names were extremely popular as ship names and were widely used. In passenger shipping, the names of politicians, generals or composers were used as names for the “White Fleet”.

MS "Kriemhild" was named after the legendary figure from the famous Nibelungenlied , MS "Juliane" and MS "Maria" after the names of the two daughters of a committed Lower Austrian state politician.

Areas of application

The ships were used flexibly in local service on the Vienna tours, in the Wachau traffic and on the Passau - Linz route. The 1962 timetable shows that one of the Danube buses was intended for regular services in the upper Danube valley. Every day except Wednesday the ship cast off early in the morning in Passau downstream towards Linz and returned at noon. The remark “without luggage transport” is interesting. Another ship was sailing in the Wachau. Twice a day one of the Danube buses commuted between Melk and Krems . In the Wachau, Tuesday was noted as a “day of rest” in the timetable. In 1962, the 3-hour round trip in the Vienna Danube region cost 16 schillings (the equivalent of a little more than 1 euro). The ship set off twice on weekdays and 3 times on weekends for the tours. In comparison: today the DDSG Blue Danube runs five tours with three tour boats at a price of 18 euros each.

The three Danube buses in portrait

"Maria"

At the beginning the ship was used in the Wachau traffic before it was used for Vienna tours. She remained the longest of the three ships in the possession of the DDSG and was used together with "Vindobona" for Danube Canal cruises. On May 27, 1987 "Maria" was sold to Josef Graser. (“Vindobona” was the only ship to sail the Danube Canal cruises for a number of years, until the Russian-built “Vienna” tour ship was rented in 1989.) In 1988 the company “Freizeithafen Gesellschaft mbH” was established. & Personenschiffahrt Ardagger KG “with the partners Max Damböck, Josef Auinger and Alois Brandstetter, who bought the ship. The "Maria" was then used in Strudengau around the historic town of Grein for 2-hour tours.

The Danube bus was refurbished by Damböck, a trained carpenter. The bucket seats, arranged in the direction of travel like in a bus, have given way to comfortable tables and benches. After the “boom” in tours, there was a real collapse in driving performance at the end of the 1990s. "Maria" bobbed around in the Ardagger leisure harbor, was meanwhile chartered to the "Nostalgie Tours" to Krems for special trips and returned to Ardagger. The "Donauschiffahrt Ardagger" concentrated on the ship "Donaunixe", built in 1993, which took over the charter and tour service, and on the 400-person day excursion ship "Ostarrichi" , which ran the liner service between Linz and Krems between 1997 and 2001.

A few years ago Fritz Leitner from Enns took over the company shares as the sole shareholder and overhauled the ship “Maria” in the port of Ardagger and in the ÖSWAG shipyard in Linz. The "Maria" got a new equipment with a bright interior and has since been used again for charter trips in the Strudengau .

"Kriemhild"

“As you may have taken from the detailed report on television, the Danube bus“ Kriemhild ”was sold to the ÖBB in September . The ship was handed over in Vienna, the transport at the expense of the state of Vorarlberg . "Kriemhild" was brought coupled to Regensburg , lifted there out of the water onto a low-loader and carried on the road to Lake Constance . The difficulties that arose are easy to imagine if you consider the dimensions of the Danube bus: [...] A small mishap happened when a crane was supposed to lift “Kriemhild” into Lake Constance. The ship slipped out of its hanger and fell back onto the low-loader from a height of approx. 70 cm. The fact that only minimal damage was caused can be deduced from the solid construction of the hull. "Kriemhild" will be re-adapted in the Fußach shipyard and will begin regular service on Lake Constance as "Montafon" in spring. "(From: DonauKurier, information to the employees and friends of the First Danube Steamship Company, Volume 27, Vienna: 1975)

After extensive overhaul measures at the beginning of the 1976 season, the ship was put into service as a replacement for "Montafon (1)" in its original condition as "Montafon (2)" for the Austrian Lake Constance fleet. In the winter months of 1986/87 the owner, the ÖBB, decided to fundamentally rebuild the ship and lengthen it by 5.5 meters. The round shapes of the Danube bus gave way to angular corners. A continuous saloon was created, the steering position was raised and the open deck enlarged. In the summer of 1987 the ship was back at the lake with a new look.

"Montafon" has been owned by Vorarlberg Lines-Bodenseeschifffahrt , the successor company of ÖBB-Bodenseeschifffahrt, since 2006 , and continues to operate round trips and charter trips from Bregenz .

"Juliane"

"Juliane" was used in 1957 together with "Maria" in the Wachau traffic between Marbach and Ybbs and Krems. In the following year, the Wachau timetable was reduced again and "Juliane" withdrew from the Wachau. In the mid-1960s, “Juliane” was used together with “Maria” for tours of Vienna, while the steamship “Hebe” served the Wachau courses. In 1976 "Juliane" was sold and is used as a workshop and work ship in the ports of Linz .

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