Linz trolleybus

Lines 41 and 43


		Hessenplatz 41, 43
		Volksfeststrasse
		Humboldtstrasse
		Dinghoferstrasse
		Friedhofstrasse
		Rilkestrasse

		Hamerlingstrasse
		Union crossing
		Novaragasse
		Hanuschstrasse
		Wagner-Jauregg-Weg
		Hatschekstrasse
		At the Bindermichl
		Stadlerstrasse
		Ramsauerstrasse
		Landwiedstrasse
		Eichendorffstrasse
		Kaplitzstrasse
		Hörzingerstrasse
		Salzburger Strasse

		Laskahofstrasse
		In the Haidgattern
		Neupeint
		Siemensstrasse
		Binderlandweg
		Zöhrdorferfeld
		Baintwiese 41
		New home
		Pyhrnbahn
		Bannerstrasse
		Wattstrasse
		St. Martin
		Weinbergerstrasse

		Oberhaidstrasse
		Dionysenerstrasse
		City Cemetery 43

Lines 45, 45a and 46

Legend

		Stieglbauernstrasse 45, 45a
		Prinz-Eugen-Strasse
		Darrgutstrasse
		Paula-Scherleitner-Weg
		Port 46
		Paul-Hahn-Strasse

		Garrison Street
		Gruberstrasse
		Mozart School
		Fadingerstrasse
		Mozart Crossing
		Mariendom
		Auerspergplatz
		Karl-Wiser-Strasse
		Volksgarten

		Central station (bus terminal) 45
		Central station (Kärntnerstraße)
		Waldeggstrasse
		Johann-Strauss-Strasse
		Stadion

		Ziegeleistraße
		Froschberg 45a, 46

The Linz trolleybus is one of two remaining trolleybus systems in Austria , along with the Salzburg trolleybus . The Linz trolleybus operation has existed since May 15, 1944 and since then complements the Linz tram, which has been in service since 1880, and the urban bus service that began in 1928 . Verkehrsgesellschaft Linz Linien , a subsidiary of Linz AG , currently operates five lines with trolleybuses. One of them also serves the neighboring town of Traun to the south .

Lines and operations

Plan of the trolleybus lines including the operating routes, as of 2019

The five Linz trolleybus lines currently operate as follows:

41	Hessenplatz - Baintwiese	6:15 am to 7:45 am: 10-minute intervals (only during school hours), 8:00 am to 7:00 pm: 15-minute intervals, 7:00 pm until closing time: 30-minute intervals
43	Hessenplatz - Traun city cemetery	6:15 am - 7:45 am: every 10 minutes (only during school hours)
45	Stieglbauernstraße - main station (bus terminal)	1: 00–5: 30 pm: every 10 minutes
45a	Stieglbauernstrasse - Froschberg
46	Harbor - Froschberg	1: 00–5: 30 pm: every 10 minutes

Line 45a only runs daily from 8:00 p.m. until the end of operations and on Sundays and public holidays from the start of operations until 8:00 a.m., i.e. only at times when regular line 45 does not operate. The network length of the Linz trolleybus is 18.70 kilometers, the cumulative line length 28.32 kilometers. Lines 41 and 43 share a common route, with two branches in the south of Linz after the Salzburger Straße stop. Similarly, lines 45, 45a and 46 also share a route, branching off at Garrisonstrasse. Both routes are connected by operating routes.

Because in the rush hours is not enough trolleybuses are available is at these times in mixed operation driven by natural gas buses.

Expansion plans

In December 2019, it was announced that in connection with the abandonment of the city of Linz on the new rail axis, new trolleybus lines are to be built, which will run from Bulgariplatz via Green Center, the Kepler University Clinic , the city railway line and the New Danube Bridge Linz . The route should run from Ferihumerstraße either to Mühlkreisbahnhof or to Karlhof, whereby a decision would have to be made within the framework of the detailed planning.

The extension of line 43 from the city cemetery to the Traun intersection was already being planned in connection with the extension of tram lines 3 to the Traun intersection. However, this extension of around one kilometer has so far failed due to funding.

Depots

The depot is located off the regular network in Oberfeldstrasse and is connected to lines 45, 45a and 46 by another operating line. A former trolleybus garage was located in the St. Martin district of Traun, but in the municipality of Leonding . It opened in 1961 and shut down in December 1982. In 2006 the building was demolished and replaced by residential buildings.

history

Outdated overhead line plan, status May 1997

The first Linz trolleybus line - the later O1 - was opened in 1944, was 8.2 kilometers long and commuted between Hessenplatz and St. Martin. It served to reinforce the tram line E, the connection was designated in the planning as line W (stands for Wegscheid), at the Union crossing these two lines met. The line ran every ten minutes from May 15, 1944 and was operated between 6:00 a.m. and 10:30 p.m. At the opening there were still diesel buses because not all trolleybuses were operational. Due to technical problems, trailers could not be used until 1947. The overhead line was damaged by air raids during World War II .

Line 46 at the Stadion stop; noteworthy the old boom for the overhead line

On September 17, 1945 the trolleybus operation on line 10 was resumed; it ran from 5:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. There were two intermediate loops (Salzburger Strasse and Hanuschstrasse / Glimpfingerstrasse), which were mostly used for push-in trips. In 1952, line O10 became line O1. Line O1, which previously ended in St. Martin, was extended to the city cemetery in 1963.

On July 1, 1949, the first section of the trolleybus line to the Froschberg was opened between the Garnisonstraße stop and Volksgarten. A few months later, on September 28, 1949, operations between Volksgarten and Froschberg began. The trolleybus line was built because the ten percent gradient to the Froschberg could not be overcome by trams. In 1952 the line was named O2. However, the line had a smaller number of passengers than the O1.

Van Hool Exqui.City 24 235 on line 43 at the Salzburgerstraße stop (2019)

Line 41 towards the city in Dinghoferstraße

In 1952 the next branch was planned, in the direction of Neupeint (today's line 41). This branch branches off the trolleybus line to St. Martin at Salzburger Straße. This section was opened in 1959. Since 1961, lines 41 and 43 have been running according to a changed route: inward through Dinghoferstrasse and out of town through Humboldtstrasse.

In 1962, the route was changed at Bindermichl due to the construction of the motorway feeder (the later Mühlkreis motorway ). The contact wire of the Hanuschstrasse intermediate loop has been removed. In 1967 the route of line O2 was changed: instead of using Weingartshofstraße, the line runs via Kärntner Straße at Linz main station. From 1965 to 1967 the solo trolleybuses were converted to one-man operation. In December 1969 the first ticket machines were set up on a trial basis at the Hatschekstraße stop. In 1971 and 1972, stop request buttons and stop request displays as well as a radio device and a system for stop announcements were installed.

In 1972 the entire O1 line was converted to passenger self-service, and 47 electric ticket machines were installed. In 1974, all line names were changed, line O1 to Neupeint became line 41 and the city cemetery became line 43. The short route of line 43, which already ended in St. Martin, was called line 42; this short tour was discontinued in 1982. Line 45 was created from line O2.

The terminus of the tram line M, which was discontinued in 1968, was at the Garnisonstraße stop

Line 45 at the Paula-Scherleitner-Weg stop

After the discontinuation of the tram line M, the bus line M was created in 1968, which was then called line 20 from 1974. The line was extended to the port as line 21. It was considered to convert the bus line to trolleybus operation. But that only happened in 1991. At that time, however, it was not given a 40 line number; it stayed with the well-known name line 21. The line ran from the main station to the harbor and over the Mozart crossing, like today's lines 45 and 46. In 1996, an investigation was made to switch the line back to bus operation. In September of the same year, line 41 was extended from Neupeint to Zöhrerdörferfeld and switched to bus operation. This also meant the end of the trolleybus line 41/43 Hessenplatz – Stadtfriedhof, which ran in the evening hours and also served the Salzburger Kreuzung – Neupeint branch of line 41 in both directions. The bus line 41 was extended to Baintwiese in 1997. In 1999, a catenary was finally built on the route from Neupeint to Baintwiese, so that from 2000 trolleybuses will again run on line 41.

Line 45 was moved from Goethestrasse to Mozartstrasse in 2002. The overhead line in Goethestrasse is still there and is used for trips to the garage. At the same time, line 21 took over the Hauptbahnhof – Froschberg branch from line 45, while line 45 has only run to the main station since then. During rush hour, an extended version of Line 45 is offered under the name Line 45a, which continues to run on the Froschberg. A new overhead line was laid between Garrisonstrasse and Prinz-Eugen-Strasse through the area of the General Hospital. Line 21 became line 46 with the extension to Froschberg. The catenary lines of line 21 in Waldeggstrasse and Stockhofstrasse up to Karl-Wiser-Strasse were dismantled in the course of the change in the routing. At the same time, a new route from Volksgarten via Coulinstraße - or in the opposite direction via Gärtnerstraße - to Stockhofstraße was put into operation. The Märzenkeller stop on the old route was abandoned without replacement.

As is generally the case in Linz, short courses are marked with an asterisk following the line number. There are signals 41 * and 43 * for driving in to the Unionkreuzung, as well as 45 * and 46 * for short tours and driving in to the main train station, Fadingerstraße and Volksgarten.

More recently, the Linz trolleybus was at risk of being discontinued in favor of the widespread introduction of natural gas buses . On August 13, 2007, however, Linz AG declared that it wanted to continue operating the trolleybus in the future.

vehicles

Earlier

When the first trolleybus line O1 was opened in 1944, ten trolleybuses were procured from the Milan trolleybus; they were in use until 1963/1964. They were supplemented by ten trailers . In addition, there were three larger three-axle trolleybuses from Rome , which were withdrawn from the stock between 1959 and 1961.

In 1949 20 trolleybuses of the Graef & Stift type EO I were purchased, which were retired between 1961 and 1965. In 1959 five Gräf & Stift trolleybuses of the type EO II were procured, one of which came to Linz in 1955, as well as four vehicles of the type EO IV. These drove until 1966/1975.

1960 to 1963 came seven more Graef & Stift trolleybuses of the types EO V (two), EO VI (three) and EO VII (two), which operated until 1985–1988. In 1969 three new Gräf & Stift cars of the type OE 120/59 came, which ran until 1987/1988.

The first articulated trams from Gräf & Stift also came between 1960 and 1963 . The 20 vehicles of the type GEO I drove until 1980–1984. In 1967 and 1968 there were further articulated buses of the type GE 120/54/54 (three cars) and GE 120/54/68 (three cars) which also drove until 1984. ESG then delivered 18 of these articulated vehicles to the Bulgarian capital Sofia in 1985, and thus during the Cold War .

The first trolleybus based on the VÖV standard bus came to Linz in 1979, the type GE 150 M 16. It ran on a test basis until 1984. In 1980 an Ikarus trolleybus from Budapest was tested. Then he carried out test drives in Grenoble .

1983, procured ESG 20 articulated vehicles of the type & Graef pin GE 150 M 18 (numbers 201 to 220) and the four Steyr - solo vehicle of the type STS 11 HU (numbers 240-243). They were the last high-floor wagons for the Linz trolleybus and until 2015 ran mostly in the Russian cities of Rostov-on-Don and Vologda . Except for trolleybuses 201 to 205 and 208, which were scrapped. Car 208 served as a club home in Leonding on the Harter Plateau until 2004.

The former Linz trolleybus 218, an articulated wagon of the type GE 150 M 18 , in Vologda, Russia

In the years 2000 and 2001, 19 low-floor articulated cars (numbers (recently :) 201 to 219) made by Volvo were procured. Their type designation is V 7000 AT, they are based on the B7LA bus model and were only found in Linz. Their electrical equipment was supplied by Kiepe .

After a fire in car 207 on April 10, 2014, it was only used as a spare part dispenser, so only 18 cars are available from then on. In 2017 the car was scrapped. The trolleybuses were still running in Linz until 2019, but five now run in the Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivsk .

Trolleybus 218 on line 43 at the Stadtfriedhof stop
Trolleybus 204 at the Mariendom stop
Trolleybus 212 in the final stop Froschberg of line 46
Trolleybus 204 at Hessenplatz, the terminus of lines 41 and 43
Trolleybus 202 on line 45a at the terminus at Stieglbauernstraße

Currently in operation

On June 6, 2014, Linz Linien GmbH published a tender for 20 new articulated trolleybuses as a successor to the V 7000 AT delivered from 2000. The execution of the order was required for the period between October 1, 2016 and September 30, 2018. The design of double articulated vehicles was also taken into account, provided the necessary legal basis was created. A corresponding vehicle of the type Hess BGGT-N2C lighTram was tested on all Linz trolleybus routes with car 78 of the Zurich transport company between October 12 and 17, 2012 . This four-axle double articulated wagon has a total length of 24.7 meters, while in Austria according to §4 KFG (as in Germany) the "greatest length of articulated buses" is still limited to 18.75 meters. Negotiations were held with Salzburg in order to obtain a binding promise of permanent approval or approval.

At the beginning of November 2015, Linz AG announced that it had received approval for the double articulated trolleybuses and had ordered twenty of these vehicles. The order went to the Belgian manufacturer Van Hool , the order volume was 20 million euros. The first Van Hool Exqui.City 24T was presented in September 2017.

On November 28, 2017, after the trial and training phase of around one month, the first XXL trolleybus went into normal operation. Initially, this only ran on lines 45 and 46. The second double articulated trolleybus went into regular operation on January 5, 2018. The other vehicles were delivered from mid-2018 and went into operation a short time later.

On October 15, 2018, the Exqui.City trolleybuses were used for the first time on line 41, and since October 22, 2018 also on the fourth and last line 43, after the stops had been adjusted accordingly. The renewal of the trolleybus fleet was completed in March 2019.

Van Hool Exqui.City 24 239 on line 46 at the main station (2019)
Van Hool Exqui.City 24 228 on line 41 in Hanuschstraße (2019)
Hess lighTram in Zurich . A vehicle of this type was used in test drives in Linz in 2012.