Local railway Arad – Podgoria

Local railway Arad – Podgoria
Course book route (CFR) :	none ex 217/218/219/220 exex 57/57 to / 58
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Power system :	1500 volts  =
Maximum slope :	32  ‰
Minimum radius :	50 m
Dual track :	Piața Podgoria – DN 7
Legend Link with the Arad tram (since 1978) Piața Podgoria (until 1978 Arad Podgoria) Uzina Electrică (since 1978) Tram towards Billa (since 1987) Arad – Timisoara railway line Maximilian (since 1978) Miorita (since 1978) Păsunii (since 1978) Renasterii (since 1978) Vama Micălaca (until 1978 Micălaca) Freight bypass Vladimirescu Moara (formerly Glogovăț) Vladimirescu II (since 1978) DN 7 (since 1978) Mândruloc Cicir Sâmbăteni Arad – Alba Iulia railway line Ghioroc (formerly Ghioroc Piață) Miniș Păuliș Barațca Cladova Radna Gară Cuvin Covăsinț Poala Muntelui Șiria Galșa Mâsca Pâncota (formerly Pâncota Gară) Pâncota Oraș (formerly Pâncota Comună)

The local line Arad – Podgoria was a local line in the Romanian Banat . There was a network of three meter-gauge routes, these led from the operating center Ghioroc in the wine-growing region Podgoria in a star shape to Arad in the west (22.150 kilometers), Pâncota in the north (22.350 kilometers) and Radna in the southeast (13.086 kilometers). It was the first and, until 1965, the only electrically operated railway in what is now Romania and at the same time the only electrically operated narrow-gauge railway in the country.

At the moment only the Arad – Ghioroc section is still in operation. It is integrated into the Arad tram network as an intercity tram and is operated by the Compania de Transport Public Arad , or CTP Arad for short . Today the lines 9, 10, 11, 12 and 14 run on it . Since the Sibiu tram was closed , it has also been the last regional tram in Romania.

history

The Arad terminus of the local railway before electrification in 1911

The local train was on 11 November 1906 at the time the Banat still belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary , of the corporation Arad-Hegyaljai Motorosított Vasút Részvénytársaság , abbreviated AHMV Rt. , German  "engine railway in the Arad wine trail AG" opened. In Arad it had its own train station on today's Piața Podgoria, about 700 meters south of the state train station of Magyar Államvasutak . Although it was routed parallel to the Arad – Alba Iulia railway line for long stretches , in contrast to this, it led directly through the villages and thus made them much easier to access. The same applied to Șiria, Mâsca and Pâncota on the railway line to Brad . The local railway also played an important role in serving the pilgrimage site of Maria Radna .

The three lines began to be electrified with 1500 volts direct current as early as 1911, and modernization was completed on April 10, 1913. After the Banat fell to Romania in 1920 as a result of the Treaty of Trianon , the company traded under the name Calea Ferată Arad-Podgoria , abbreviated C.FAP , German  "Railway Arad-Podgoria" .

After the Second World War , the railway was integrated in 1948 into the Romanian state railway company Căile Ferate Române , or CFR for short.Because they repainted the vehicles from gray to green in accordance with their custom, it was nicknamed săgeata verde , Romanian for green arrow . In contrast, the railway remained independent in terms of tariffs, there was never a continuous handling or mutual recognition of tickets. In 1959, freight traffic was given up.

The establishment of the chemical combination ARCHIM near Glogovăț - which is now called Vladimirescu - ultimately led to increasing numbers of passengers in the 1970s, which could no longer be handled with the outdated infrastructure of the local railway. As a result, in 1978 the line was converted into a double- track tram line up to the level of the industrial enterprise . A branch branching off in a northerly direction, about 1.2 kilometers long and also double-track, has also been directly accessing the factory entrance since 1978. From then on, passengers had to change between the state railway trains and the tram at the chemical combine for a few years, where the local railway had a three-track station to transfer and the tram trains had a turning loop .

The section to Ghioroc, which still exists today, has been served by trams since 1982, but this route remained single-track with three switches in Mândruloc, Cicir and Sâmbăteni. On January 1, 1983, a reallocation took place. The management of all three sections of the route was then transferred to the Intreprinderea Judeteanã de Transport Local Arad (IJTL Arad), the former transport company of the Arad district . From this, after the Romanian Revolution of 1989, today's CTP Arad emerged.

The rural outer routes to Pâncota and Radna were originally also to be adapted. However, economic reasons led to the switch to bus operation on October 1, 1991 . The Gleisdreieck in the center of Ghioroc is still in operation today; it is used by trains coming from Arad to turn. At the entrance to the village there is also the former four-person depot of the railway. It is used to store historical vehicles from the Arad tram and the overland railway and also houses a small museum. The two-tier car hall in Radna serves as a bus garage, while the two-tier hall in Pâncota is orphaned.

vehicles

Preserved railcar from the electrification era, here in Ghioroc in 1995

One of the two Timiș 2 overland trains

Initially, the routes were served by eleven two - axle gasoline - electric railcars owned by the local Weitzer János Rt . Four-axle sidecars with open platforms, which also came from Weitzer, were attached to these . From 1907, two steam locomotives were also available for the freight trains .

For electrification, the AHMV procured 15 four-axle and two-class railcars from Ganz in Budapest . They wore the numbers 1 to 15 (later CFR 79.0001 to 79.0015), their top speed was 45 km / h. They were given the existing trailers. The petrol railcars were converted into non-powered passenger cars with a luggage compartment in 1913 . These sets handled all traffic until the switch to tram operation or the suspension. Some have been preserved in museums.

After the switch to tram operation, Timiș 2 and Tatra T4R trains ran. Two Timiș 2 sets were specially adapted for operation in Ghioroc in the 1990s. They received a more comfortable interior with upholstered seats and luggage nets. In addition, the proportion of seats was increased by installing 2 + 1 seating and removing the middle entrance. Today used trams from Germany are used here, including vehicles taken over from Rhein-Haardtbahn GmbH .

literature

• Andreas Mausolf: 100 years of the Arad – Podgoria local railway (1906–2006) . Hauschild Verlag , Bremen 2007, ISBN 3-89757-370-9 .
• A. Günther, S. Tarkhov, C. Blank: Tram atlas Romania 2004 . Working group Blickpunkt Straßenbahn e. V., Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-926524-23-5 .

Web links

• Official website of the CTP Arad
• Salvaţi Săgeata verde - Association Save the Green Arrow
• Narrow-gauge overland railway Arad - Radna - Pincota ran on www.europabahnen.de until 1991
• History of the railway on www.beyondtheforest.com
• History of the railway on www.jakadam.hu

Individual evidence

1. ↑ CTP route network map ( Memento of the original from September 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ Istoria "Sagetii Verzi" ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ^ Tram atlas Romania 2004, pages 14–21