Graz-Köflacher railway and mining company
The Graz-Köflach railway and mining company was founded in 1856 through the merger of seven small mining companies in the Köflach - Voitsberg - Maria Lankowitz region in western Styria . The main purpose of the merger was to market the lignite . A railway line from Köflach to Graz , the Graz-Köflach Railway, was put into operation in 1859 for the inexpensive transportation of the coal .
Initially, coal mining took place mainly underground . It was not until the middle of the 20th century that it shifted more and more to open-cast mining . In 1988 the last mine was finally closed. But the above-ground supplies were also slowly running out.
In the Third Reich, the GKEB were incorporated into the Reichswerke Hermann Göring , where they belonged to the Reichswerke AG Alpine Montanbetriebe Hermann Göring , which had emerged from Alpine Montan . At that time the GKEB was subordinate to the AG Harter Kohlenwerke (Bergbau Hart bei Gloggnitz Vienna), the Sulmtalbahn AG (Graz) and the Steirische Industrieversicherungsverein a. G. (Graz). At that time there was a connection to a large-scale Wehrmacht construction project in the Kaiserwald , which was abandoned in 1942.
In 1998, when the imminent end was in sight, the operation of the railway line was outsourced, which was more geared towards passenger transport (see Graz-Köflacher Bahn und Busbetrieb GmbH). The mining operation continued under the name "GKB-Bergbau GmbH" (owned by Österreichische Industrieholding AG , since 2019 Österreichische Beteiligungs AG ). In 2004, the supply of industrial customers with lignite was stopped. The last remaining stocks, which were still being reduced, were used until 2006 to generate electricity in the caloric power plants in Voitsberg, e.g. B. used in the steam power station Voitsberg .
In addition to the closure of the various quarries, a revitalization process was initiated. This resulted in projects such as the “Igelpfad” biotope trail , the “Piberstein” swimming and leisure pond and the Maria Lankowitz golf course . After the recultivation measures have been completed, business activity today consists of realizing the property.
literature
- Ernst Lasnik : Good luck! Luck off! The era of brown gold. Coal mining in western Styria. Huemer Mediaverlag, Hart-Purgstall 2004, ISBN 3-9501927-0-0
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bernd Gassler: The history of Unterpremstättens 1848–1995 . In: Walter Brunner (Ed.): Unterpremstätten in the course of time , pp. 566–652.