Graz Lines

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Graz Lines
Basic information
Company headquarters Graz
Web presence Homepage Graz Linien
Reference year 2007
owner Holding Graz
Board Wolfgang Malik / Barbara Muhr / Gert Heigl
Operations management interim. Andreas Solymos
Transport network Composite line
Employee 809
Lines
tram 9, of which
  • 6 regular (during the day)
  • 3 special lines (evenings, Sundays and public holidays)
bus 26 of them
  • 7 that are also used by other companies
  • 7 student lines
  • 8 night lines
Other lines Schloßbergbahn
Schloßberg lifts
number of vehicles
Tram cars 85
Omnibuses 68 solo buses (with electric buses)
93 articulated buses (with electric buses)
1 midi / city bus
other vehicles 1 convertible bus
3 coaches
1 information bus
statistics
Passengers 92.7 million per year
Stops about 800
Operating facilities
Depots 3

The Graz Lines (formerly Grazer Verkehrsbetriebe , Graz AG Verkehrsbetriebe and Holding Graz lines , short GL) are a Grazer bus - and tram - transport companies and part of the Holding Graz . They are integrated into the Styrian transport association . Graz Linien employs around 800 people.

The Graz Linien transport approx. 50.5 million passengers annually by tram, approx. 41.5 million passengers with buses and approx. 0.7 million passengers with the Schlossbergbahn and the Schlossberg lifts, that is a total of 92 annually, 7 million passengers. In 2003, GL vehicles (at that time still GVB) circled the earth approx. 481 times (corresponds to approx. 19.9 million km) with their kilometers driven by buses and trams.

In total, GL's route network covers a length of 369 kilometers. The GL fleet has existed since 2016 - up to ten tramcars, the only rush hour as amplifiers are used - completely low-floor busses and -Straßenbahnwagen.

history

The forerunner of the GVB was founded in 1878 as Grazer Tramway (GT) with the opening of the first horse-drawn tram routes. In 1885 it was re-established as the Grazer Tramway Gesellschaft (GTG) , which started operating electric tram routes from 1899. In 1894 the Grazer Schloßbergbahn started operations. Between 1941 and 1948 the company was called Grazer Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (GVG) . Then the contract with the city expired and the company was incorporated into the GVB. Since 1949 it has been part of Graz AG (formerly Grazer Stadtwerke ). Since the renaming of the Grazer Stadtwerke to Graz AG, the Grazer Verkehrsbetriebe has been called Graz AG Verkehrsbetriebe . The name was adjusted again after the restructuring of Graz AG to Holding Graz GmbH . The transport companies are now officially called Holding Graz Linien . In 2017 it was renamed Graz Linien again .

Many exhibits from the history of the Graz tram are on display in the Tramway Museum Graz .

History of GL (excerpt)

Logo as Grazer Verkehrsbetriebe
Logo as Graz AG Verkehrsbetriebe

The first horse-drawn tram line on the Südbahnhof - Jakominiplatz line was opened in 1878. In 1894 the Grazer Schloßbergbahn went into operation , in 1899 that of the electric Graz trams. The first bus routes started operating in 1929. In 1941 the Zinzendorfgasse – Mariatrost small electric train was re-gauged and integrated into the tram network, the largest network extension was around 40 kilometers. In the same year, the first was O bus -line opened after Straßgang.

In 1949 the transport company became part of the Graz municipal utility. After the foundation of the Grazer Stadtwerke AG in 1960, the GVB were incorporated into it. In 1967 the last trolleybus line was changed. The conductorless operation began a year later. In 1969 the first ticket machines were installed. In 1971 the Tramway Museum Graz association was founded . The first articulated buses went into operation in 1977. In 1988 the first female tram drivers started their service. The first low-floor bus was purchased in 1990. In 1994 the GVB became cooperation partners in the Styrian transport association . The renovation of Jakominiplatz with reversible loops in 1996 enabled trams to operate even when Herrengasse was closed.

In 2001 the first Cityrunner low-floor trams were put into operation, followed by 7 night bus routes in 2003 . The first extension in over 15 years to the new Graz-Puntigam local transport hub was made in 2006. An extension to the shopping center and local transport hub Murpark and the extension of line 6 to Peterstal followed in 2007.

Until the end of 2012, all announcements in the Graz Linien vehicles were made by the author, presenter and trained speaker Christine Brunnsteiner . In 2012, however, English announcements were re-translated and recorded by the American university professor Majorie Rosenberg.

Lines

Articulated tram tram 502 on line 1 at the Tegetthofplatz stop (April 2006)
Articulated tram car type 600 with low-floor center section on line 5 at Hauptplatz (November 2006)
Stadler Variobahn at Kaiser-Josef-Platz on line 7 towards LKH MED UNI.

The Graz Linien currently serve the majority of the inner-city local transport network with 8 tram and 26 bus routes . As a further service, 8 night bus routes are offered on Friday and Saturday and before public holidays , which run from midnight to 3 a.m. from the center to the outskirts and, more recently, routes outside of Graz.

The main traffic junction is Jakominiplatz , where all night bus and tram lines as well as 8 of the 33 regular bus lines meet. Other transport hubs are the main square (all tram lines except 13 and 26) and the main train station (terminus of seven bus lines). As part of the construction of the main train station transport hub, a tram tunnel stop was opened for the first time in Graz on November 26, 2012. This means that the main station is now served directly by all lines running through Annenstrasse. Lines 3 and 6, which used to turn at the main station, now go to the new “Laudongasse” terminus, which is three stops after the previous terminus and was built in 2010 for this purpose.

The last expansion of the network was the expansion of line 7 with the two new stops St. Leonhard / Klinikum Mitte and LKH Med Uni / Klinikum Nord, line 4 from Liebenau along the motorway feeder east to the new Murpark shopping center including park + ride parking lot in the middle in the Liebenau district and the extension of line 5 to the newly built Puntigam bus and S-Bahn station. Line 6 was also extended from St. Peter in the direction of Peterstal (opening on November 9, 2007). With a total of around 3½ km of new line, this is the largest expansion work on the Graz tram network in more than 40 years (after around 15 kilometers of the network, which was the largest network extension of around 41 kilometers, had been closed in the 1950s and 1960s).

Line numbers

The Graz line designation scheme includes three line number ranges:

  • regular tram lines are given numbers from 1 to 9 (with 2, 8 and 9 currently not in use)
  • numbers 11 to 27 are provided for special tram lines. The 10er lines cross Jakominiplatz, the 20er lines turn at Jakominiplatz. The ones place denotes a (or the) traveled branch of a regular line. At the latest with the introduction of line 12 (which, until it was discontinued in 2009, ran on a section of lines 4/5 and 7 at the weekend), this scheme was broken, as the designations 14, 15 and 17 were already used for other special lines had been used.
  • Bus routes are numbered from 30 upwards; the numbers 30 to 40 are assigned to those lines that lead across Jakominiplatz. Tangential lines have numbers in the 60s range, some feeder lines to tram (end) stations have line numbers in the 70s range, with the ones digit indicating the tram line concerned (e.g. 74 as a feeder from Dörfla to the Liebenau / Murpark terminus of tram line 4). In the case of short tours, the line number is supplemented by an 'E' (e.g. the buses on line 34E only travel part of the route on line 34). If a line crosses the core zone border, the number is supplemented by a 'U' (for the surrounding area) (e.g. line 76U from St. Peter school center to Grambach or Hausmannstätten ). This designation is necessary in order to identify the lines as city buses that cross the city or core zone border and still offer a distinguishing feature to regional buses, as regional buses may not be used for journeys within Graz, the city bus routes with a U in the Line number, however.

In addition, for unscheduled insertion courses (e.g. after operational disruptions) and on vehicles for which there are no corresponding line boards or on which they are difficult to change (e.g. trams with sheet metal line numbers), the E (Trams and buses) and 88 or 99 (interior displays in buses).

Tram route map 2008

Tram lines

The colors of the tram lines correspond to the color scheme of the official route network plan . The lettering of the tram sets is uniformly green on a black background for LCD displays or orange on a black background for LED displays.

Bus routes

Tram and bus route plan GVB (status: 2008)
Citaro - articulated bus on line 41
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienRegional health insurance fund - Geidorf route line 30
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienWebling - Uni-ReSoWi route line 31
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienWebling - Jakominiplatz (evening and weekend traffic)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienJakominiplatz - Seiersberg route 32
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienJakominiplatz - Peter-Rosegger-Straße route 33 (***)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienDon Bosco Bahnhof - Peter-Rosegger-Straße (only in the evening and on Sundays) (***)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienJakominiplatz - Thondorf route 34
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienJakominiplatz - Theyergasse route line 34E
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienJakominiplatz - Citypark - Don Bosco Bahnhof course line 35 (operated by Watzke)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienChamber of Commerce - Urn Cemetery Route line 39
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienGösting - Jakominiplatz route 40
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienSt. Leonhard / Klinikum Mitte - Dürrgrabenweg route 41 (Postbus / Graz lines)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienDürrgrabenweg - Andritz (only in the evening, on Sundays and public holidays)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienAndritz - Seminarstraße (operated by Gersin)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienAndritz - Saumgasse (from Gersin)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienAndritz - St. Veit - Ranach (operated by Handl)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienGösting - Thal - Kötschberg route 48
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienZentralfriedhof - Hauptbahnhof, route 50
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienHauptbahnhof - Ziegelstraße route line 52
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienHauptbahnhof - Stattegg-Fuß der Leber route 53
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienAndritz - Stattegg foot of the liver (only in the evening, on Sundays and public holidays)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienMain station - Ragnitz route 58
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienKrenngasse - Lustbühel route 60
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienBerliner Ring - Krenngasse route 61 (Watzke company)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienPuntigam - Carnerigasse route 62
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienGrottenhofstraße - Eggenberger Allee (additional booster trips)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienMain station - St. Peter school center route 63
  • List of the lines of the Graz Linien Stifting - Puntigam
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienStifting - Liebenau / Murpark (only in the evening, on Sundays and public holidays)
  • List of the lines of the Graz Linien Puntigam - Eggenberger Allee (*****)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienPuntigam - Kapellenwirt (only Monday to Friday evenings)
  • List of the lines of the Graz Linien St. Peter School Center - Grottenhofstraße (*)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienZentralfriedhof - Zanklstraße route 67
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienJakominiplatz - Zanklstraße (only in the evening and on Sundays)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienSt. Peter - Lustbühel route 68 (Watzke company) (****)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienSt. Peter - Petri Au route 69 (Watzke company)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienLiebenau / Murpark - Walter Percy Chrysler Platz - St. Peter School Center (Graz Linien / Watzke)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienSchool center St. Peter - Raaba roundabout - Pachern P + R (only evenings and Sundays) (Graz Linien / Watzke)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienLiebenau / Murpark - Dörfla route 74 (Graz Linien / Watzke)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienLiebenau / Murpark - Thondorf route 74E (Graz Linien / Watzke)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienLiebenau / Murpark - Pachern P + R route 69 (Graz Linien / Watzke)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienSchool center St. Peter - Grambach / Hausmannstätten (Graz Linien / Watzke)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienGedersberg Kirchweg / Pirka - Puntigam route 78 (Grünerbus / Watzke)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienPirka - Seiersberg - Pirka - Gedersberg or Seiersberg Mitte - Puntigam School (Grünerbus)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienPuntigam train station - Rudersdorf - Feldkirchen Raiffeisenplatz (Watzke company)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienMariagrün - Pfeifferhof - Senior Center (Gersin Company)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienMariagrün - Mariagrün elementary school (Gersin company)
  • List of the lines of the Graz LinienHauptbahnhof - Gösting route 85

(*) On September 7, 2019, line 66 between the St. Peter school center and Grottenhofstraße was started as a new tangential line. For the most part, line 66 replaces the discontinued line 71.

(**) On September 7, 2019, line 71 between the St. Peter school center and Ostbahnhof will be discontinued and will largely be replaced by line 66.

(***) From September 7, 2019, line 33 / 33E will end at the new terminus at Peter-Rosegger-Straße. Line 65 / 65E replaces line 33 / 33E in the area from Peter-Rosegger-Straße to Eggenberger Allee.

(****) From 7 September 2019, line 68 coming from Lustbühel will end at the St. Peter tram terminus. Some courses in the morning peak still continue to the St. Peter school center.

(*****) On September 7, 2019, line 65 will be extended from the former Wetzelsdorf terminus to the new Eggenberger Allee terminus.

Night bus routes

Nightlines

The GL Nightlines operate on the nights from Friday to Saturday, Saturday to Sunday and before public holidays, at 0:30, 1:30 and 2:30 a.m. from Jakominiplatz. The night bus routes mainly run along tram routes or bus routes that are very busy.

  • N1 Gösting - Jakominiplatz - Mariatrost - P + R Fölling
  • N2 Chamber of Commerce - Webling
  • N3 Gösting - Jakominiplatz - P + R Pachern
  • N4 Jakominiplatz - Dörfla - Hausmannstätten - Fernitz - Gössendorf
  • N5 Werndorf - Kalsdorf b. Graz - Puntigam - Jakominiplatz - Andritz - Oberandritz
  • N6 Unterpremstätten Steg - Seiersberg - Jakominiplatz - St. Peter
  • N7 Karl-Etzel-Weg - Wetzelsdorf - Jakominiplatz - Stifting - Ragnitz
  • N8 Jakominiplatz - Thondorf

Rail replacement services

If a tram line cannot be used due to construction work or as a result of an operational disruption, the replacement service receives the line number E + line number (s) of the tram line (s) it is replacing, e.g. E.g. in spring 2017 E4.5 as a replacement for lines 4 and 5 between Andritz and Jakominiplatz or in summer 2017 E1 as replacement for line 1 between Hilnteich / Botanischer Garten and Mariatrost.

Fleet

buses

Mercedes-Benz Citaro buses have been in use since 1999 . The last Citaro O530 G buses (2006) were retired in June 2019. The bus fleet has been running on biodiesel since the end of 2004, with the exception of four buses with natural gas drives and another four buses with electric drives. All buses have been fully air-conditioned since 2018.

The transport companies currently have:

The fleet of the Graz-Linien (bus)
Numbers piece Manufacturer Art Type delivery drive Remarks
9 1 Mercedes-Benz Evobus Midibus Sprinter City 77 2013 Diesel Euro VI Currently only used for special trips
7-8 2 Higer Bus -Chariot Motors Solo bus (12m) KLQ5125OEV3 2016 Electric motor Electric bus for test purposes
49-50 2 Mercedes-Benz Evobus Solo bus (12m) Citaro 2 2013 Diesel EEV Euro V The only solo buses in the fleet with the EEV Euro 5 emissions standard.
57-60 4th Mercedes-Benz Evobus Solo bus (12m) Citaro O530 facelift 2009 CNG EEV Euro V
70-105 36 Mercedes-Benz Evobus Solo bus (12m) Citaro 2 2017/2018 Diesel Euro VI Busses 100,101 with full advertising
106-118 13 Mercedes-Benz Evobus Solo bus (12m) Citaro 2 2019 Diesel Euro VI
119-129 11 Mercedes-Benz Evobus Solo bus (12m) Citaro 2 2015/2016 Diesel Euro VI Bus 126 with full advertising
15-38,

40-43

28 Mercedes-Benz Evobus Articulated bus (18m) Citaro 2 2015-2018 Diesel Euro VI Buses 15-23 with old cockpit,

Bus 39 destroyed in collision with train in Wetzelsdorf.

68-69 2 Mercedes-Benz Evobus Articulated bus (18m) Citaro O530 G 2006 Diesel Euro III The last two buses of the 1st Citaro generation. Will probably be sorted out in June 2019.
130-131 2 CRRC -CSR Articulated bus (18m) 6180GSEV1 2016 Electric motor Electric bus for test purposes
132-164 33 Mercedes-Benz Evobus Articulated bus (18m) Citaro 2 2013 Diesel EEV Euro V
165-181 17th Mercedes-Benz Evobus Articulated bus (18m) Citaro 2 2019 Diesel Euro VI
182-198 17th Mercedes-Benz Evobus Articulated bus (18m) Citaro 2 2012 Diesel EEV Euro V

Since 2004 all public service buses have been low-floor buses. 2010, the first production-ready went hybrid bus from Volvo in a three-year test phase.

A special offer is the so-called “ Cabrio-Bus ”, an earlier public service bus with the roof removed and which is used in the summer months for city ​​tours to historical places in Graz and for “full moon rides”. A plastic tarpaulin serves as protection in bad weather. There is also an information bus that can be hired for consultancy work.

Between October 1, 1941 and August 26, 1967 there was also an O-bus route with two lines (O1, O2) to Straßgang and between January 19, 1952 and December 13, 1964 another route with two lines (O3 , O4) to Liebenau / Dörfla. In 2007, the reintroduction of trolleybuses was discussed in the Graz municipal council. A study showed that the parallel operation of a third transport system does not make sense for the transport company for reasons of cost.

Graz electric bus No. 8 reloading at the central cemetery charging station

Trams

The Graz Linien tram line consists of four different types (regularly in use).

The fleet of the Graz-Linien (tram)
Numbers piece Manufacturer Type Year of construction (s) Length in m Remarks
501-510 10 SGP Graz Mannheim type 1978 25.34m continuously high-floor , three-part
601-612 12 SGP Graz 1986-1987 27m In 1999, low-floor middle parts were retrofitted , now in three parts
651-668 18th Bombardier Cityrunner 2000-2001 27m 100% low floor
201-245 45 Stadler Rail Variobahn 2009-2015 27m 100% low floor , air conditioning
CRRC-E-Bus at the stop Museum of Perception

Alternative drive models for buses

Line 50 ( Hauptbahnhof S - Zentralfriedhof ) was operated electrically in trial operation from April 18, 2017 to spring 2019 . The two 12-meter-long e-buses are used as amplifiers in addition to normal diesel buses. They are easily recognizable by their design, which differs from the rest of the Graz Linien bus fleet . The use of electric buses on line 34E began in December 2017 and lasted until autumn 2018. Systems from the Bulgarian manufacturer Chariot Motors and the Chinese company CRRC were used for this.

The original plan was to run both lines electrically in test operation from October 2016. Due to technical problems (steering, door control, cabling etc.), the use in passenger service was delayed by 14 (line 34E) or 7 months (line 50).

From 2019 fuel cell buses should be used on the new line 66 and electric buses on line 34, but as of spring 2020 only a hydrogen bus from Solaris has been tested.

particularities

Tram line 2, which once ran around the center in a ring, was discontinued in 1971. However, the Graz municipal council would like to set up such a ring line to the university again.

Jakominiplatz is the inner city hub of the transport companies, through which all tram lines pass and from which some bus routes start. Turning loops, which were built there in 1996, now allow the tram to continue operating south of the Herrengasse, which is closed for major events.

The funicular to the Schlossberg is also operated by GL ; the use takes place with tickets of the Styrian transport association without an extra tariff. The elevator in the Schlossberg is subordinate to another division of Holding Graz , the leisure operations. Separate tickets must be purchased for this.

The Grazer Märchenbahn im Schlossberg, the successor to the Märchengrottenbahn, which opened in autumn 2014 , is operated independently by the Graz Children's Museum .

Fragmented tunnel for Bim

With the lowering of the tram at the main train station on November 26, 2012, the station belt was also made more permeable for vehicles . However, tram passengers will not find a level connection to the underpass to the platforms of the train station or to the Annenpassage with shops, but have to go up and down for these destinations. The structure manages with two relatively short underground passages, as it opens up in the area of ​​the bus stop. This enabled high costs for safety requirements that apply to “real” (= longer) tunnels to be avoided. These safety requirements would also have made it impossible to drive into the tunnel at night or in the case of rail replacement services with buses.

Tram formerly also used for freight transport

According to an excursion guide to historic residential buildings in Graz, tram line 7 was also used to transport gravel . In a historical representation of the facilities of the Provincial Hospital / Clinic Graz, photos of the coal supply to the heating house of the LKH can be seen. Special wagons branching off from line 7 from the old entrance / driveway of the LKH (opposite the former "Schanzlwirt") uphill past the former consulate villa of Yugoslavia have been pushed / pulled by trams with a double driver's cab that were last on line 2. These wagons were brought directly from the Graz-Köflach train station (with coal storage) into the tracks of lines 1 and 7 at the location of the Graz regional office of the PVA (social insurance) west of the so-called Eggenberger underpass and then further along line 7.

Future of the tram network

Line 1 is currently being expanded to two tracks in the Mariagrün to Mariatrost section. The following expansions are planned by 2023:

  • Line 1: Two-track expansion in the Hilnteich section to Mariagrün
  • Extension of line 4 in the direction of Reininghaus (new: Liebenau - Reininghaus), the current route of line 4 to Andritz will be taken over by line 3 (new: Krenngasse - Andritz)
  • Extension of line 6 to the Smart City
  • Line 5: Double-track expansion of the central cemetery section to the Puntigam brewery district
  • Relief stretch through Neutorgasse and Belgiergasse to relieve Herrengasse

literature

Web links

Commons : Graz Linien  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ O-Bus Graz
  2. ↑ a b c d e From the beginning of school: New bus route 66 across Graz. In: VerbundLinie.at. Verkehrsverbund Steiermark GmbH, August 12, 2019, accessed on August 15, 2019 .
  3. ↑ History of the Lines ( Memento of the original from September 3, 2011 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.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gvb.at
  4. ↑ Special traffic
  5. ^ O-Bus Graz
  6. ↑ Styria mobile
  7. ^ Graz: Electric bus test phase from the end of September
  8. ↑ Graz starts pilot project with e-buses from China
  9. ↑ What's going on? E-buses are not allowed on the streets of Graz on kleinezeitung.at
  10. ↑ http://www.firmenabc.at/projekt-kooperatives-wohnen_JfbB Marlis Nograsek, AK Wohnbau SS 2012, excursion guide: Living quality in the course of time using the example of Graz
  11. ↑ Five tram projects in Graz are on track , report by the Kleine Zeitung dated February 5, 2018, accessed on May 28, 2018