Köflacherbahn

Graz Hbf – Köflach
Course book route (ÖBB) :	550
Route length:	40.1 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Top speed:	90 km / h
Legend Southern runway from Bruck an der Mur -0.2 Graz Central Station 363  m above sea level A. Bridge Eggenberger Strasse 0.0 Southern runway to Spielfeld - Straß 0.6 Graz Köflacherbahnhof 0.7 Alte Poststrasse bridge Connecting line for the former Reininghaus brewery Connecting line for the former Reininghaus brewery 1.2 Brickworks connecting railway 1.9 Feeder line Belgian barracks 2.8 Graz Wetzelsdorf 4.9 Graz Webling 6.4 Graz Straßgang 349  m above sea level A. 11.1 Premstätten - Tobelbad 360  m above sea level A. Bridge of Tobelbader Strasse Doblbach Bridge B 76 (Radlpass Straße) 15.0 Dear 336  m above sea level A. Wieserbahn to Wies - Eibiswald Liebochbach 18.2 Lieboch Schadendorf Soedingbach 21.7 Söding - Mooskirchen Bridge A2 feeder Mooskirchen 24.7 Köppling Kainach 27.5 Krottendorf - Ligist 359  m above sea level A. 29.5 Gaisfeld Teigitsch Krems Tunnel (103 m) 31.6 Krems in Styria Bridge B 70 (Packer Strasse) 33.9 Voitsberg 396  m above sea level A. Kainach Greißenegger Strasse bridge Kainach 36.1 0.0 Bärnbach Freight railway to Bärnbach -Oberdorf Mitterdorfer Strasse bridge Kainach 1.8 Oberdorf in Styria Stölzle-Oberglas Bridge Doktor-Niederdorfer-Strasse Rosental Tunnel (244 m) Gradnerbach Bridge Grazer Strasse B70 40.0 Lear Corp. 40.1 Köflach 448  m above sea level A. Feeder line Stölzle Oberglas former tunnel in the mining "Franzschacht" Backfilled in 1965

The Köflacherbahn is a railway line in Styria that runs from Graz via Lieboch to Köflach and is operated by the Graz-Köflacher Bahn und Busbetrieb GmbH.

history

19th century

After a horse-drawn railway from Köflach to Graz, which had been planned in 1851, was not implemented, the operating " Voitsberg-Köflach-Lankowitz coal union " received the imperial privilege on August 26, 1855 to build and operate a " locomotive railway " from Köflach to Graz. As a result, the trade union was transformed into a stock corporation with the name “ kk privilegierte Graz-Köflacher Eisenbahn- und Bergbaugesellschaft ”, which held its first general assembly in Vienna on January 16, 1856. The impetus for the construction of the Köflacherbahn was given by Archduke Johann , who also personally determined the route, as he was the great sponsor and co-planner of the southern railway and as the owner of coal mines in Köflach and one of the most modern sheet metal rolling mills in Krems in western Styria at the time personally interested in this rail connection.

Operations on the Graz – Köflach route were initially provisionally started on June 22, 1859, mainly serving to transport coal from the local mining areas. Regular passenger traffic followed on April 3, 1860, freight traffic on November 1, 1860. The " Wieserbahn " from Lieboch via Deutschlandsberg to Wies - Eibiswald was added on April 8, 1873 as a wing railway .

Voitsberg station (2006)

The GKB 671 - the longest-serving steam locomotive in the world

Köflach station (2006)

Originally the owner was the "Graz-Köflacher Eisenbahn- und Bergbaugesellschaft" (then "GKB", today "GKB-Bergbau"), which also carried out the coal mining. A separate train station was built for the two railway lines in the immediate vicinity of Graz main train station, which is still known today under the name “Graz Köflacherbahnhof” (internal abbreviation “GKf”). All GKB passenger trains that start or end in Graz Hauptbahnhof also stop at Graz Köflacherbahnhof. From 1878 to 1924, the GKB did not run the business itself, but transferred it to the Austrian Southern Railway Company . The Graz-Köflacher railway and mining company also owned Alt-Kainach Castle from 1880 .

20th century

In 1918 a private initiative considered the construction of a 5.5 km long standard gauge railway from Köflach to the industrially and forestry important Krenhof ( ). The unrealized branch line saw itself as part of the Köflach – Upper Styria line .

In 1952 the line between Oberdorf and Köflach was relocated due to coal mining and the 244 m long Rosental tunnel was built.

In the second half of the 20th century, the slow decline in coal mining and the increasing need for mobility led to a reorientation towards passenger transport .

In the 1980s, the GKB routes became a magnet for railway enthusiasts and photographers, as the GKB was one of the last railway administrations in Austria to use steam locomotives for shunting and shunting and in some cases for the route service . So the steam locomotives 671 (ex Südbahn series 29 , built in 1860 and thus one of the oldest operational and the longest-serving steam locomotives in the world) and 56.3115 (with.) Were looked after by the association "Steirische Eisenbahnfreunde" (StEF), which works closely with GKB Status 2007 not operational) received. The Köflacherbahn is to be electrified by December 2025, and electrification is to be completed at the same time as the Koralm lift is commissioned .

Events

• On February 24, 1910, there was a spectacular collision between a freight train and several parked wagons in Krottendorf. 
• On July 6, 1943, two passenger trains collided near the Köppling stop . Seven people were killed in the accident and 20 survived, some seriously injured.
• On August 16, 1965, after a dam broke, the Köflach station and part of the town of Köflach were flooded with mud, in which the GKB 671 locomotive was also stuck.
• On November 11, 1979 a multiple unit collided with a Yugoslavian coach in Seiersberg . The accident claimed nine lives and more than 60 injured.

Web links

Commons : GKB  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Graz-Köflacher Bahn und Busbetrieb GmbH: In the beginning there was coal ( memento of the original from March 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: gkb.at , accessed on July 31, 2013. 
2. ↑ P (eter) F (riedrich) Kupka: The railways of Austria-Hungary from 1822 to 1867. Duncker and Humblot, Leipzig 1888, p. 187.
3. ^ Walter Brunner on behalf of the City of Graz, Kulturamt (Ed.): Geschichte der Stadt Graz (in four volumes), self-published by the City of Graz 2003, ISBN 3-902234-02-4 ; (Volume 4, p. 167).
4. ↑ ^{a b} P (eter) F (riedrich) Kupka: The Austrian-Hungarian Railways 1822–1867. Duncker and Humblot, Leipzig 1888, p. 188.
5. ^ Railway construction news. (...) Planned railway construction in Köflach. In:  Der Bauinteressent , year 1918, No. 6/1918 (XXXV. Year), p. 44, bottom left. (Online at ANNO ). .
6. ↑ GKB route network will be electrified by 2025. steiermark.orf.at, May 7, 2019, accessed on May 28, 2019 . 
7. ↑ Graz-Köflacher Bahn plans to electrify the line by 2025. tt.com, May 6, 2019, accessed on May 8, 2019 . 
8. ↑ GKB electrifies the region. gkb.at, May 6, 2019, accessed on May 8, 2019 . 
9. ^ Railway history. Krottendorf, Thursday February 24, 1910 . In: Drehscheibe - the employee magazine of Graz-Köflacher Bahn und Busbetrieb GmbH , No. 48, February 2010, ZDB -ID 2181683-9 , p. 30, accessed on July 31, 2013.
10. ^ Sepp Tezak : Clash on the GKB . In: Rail transport currently. Railways, trams and model trains in Austria . No. 12/1979, ZDB -ID 568412-2 , p. 7.