Osnabrück trolleybus
The Osnabrück trolleybus was the trolleybus system for the city of Osnabrück in Lower Saxony . It existed from December 1949 to 1968 and replaced the tram from the late 1950s . The operator was the Stadtwerke Osnabrück .
history
When, after the Second World War, the public transport system had been rebuilt in the city, one that decided Omnibus - lines from Rißmüllerplatz after Eversburg and Atter switch to Oberleitungsbusbetrieb. Operation with trolleybuses began on December 2, 1949. The overhead line was initially only laid out in a single lane, there were evasions in several places. Only later was the line gradually expanded to two lanes. Initially, a continuous line 5 ran from Rißmüllerplatz to Piesberger Straße, then it was divided into lines 5a to Eversburg and 5b to Atter.
Initially only two trolleybuses from Henschel with the numbers 121 and 122 were available. After a few months they were supplemented by two more vehicles and by 1955 by another four. In order to cope with traffic peaks, the company procured several bus trailers that could be used flexibly behind buses and trolleybuses. The trailer operation was abolished in the second half of the 1950s; the legislature banned bus trailers in Germany in the early 1960s. Since omnibuses were already available up to number 120, the numbering system was changed in 1955 and the trolleybuses were assigned numbers from 201 onwards.
In 1957 a trolleybus chassis was procured from the Mettmann – Gruiten trolleybus, which was extended by a third axis and given a new body. This vehicle, known as Wagen 209, was Osnabrück's first one -and-a-half-decker coach. Some of the older vehicles were similarly rebuilt during general overhauls and, in addition to single-deckers, other one-and-a-half-deckers were purchased from the factory, which also became typical for trolleybus operations in Osnabrück.
For the first ten years or so, trolleybuses were a supplement to the tram. That changed with a council decision of March 1958. Now all tram routes were to be closed and replaced by trolleybuses or, finally, diesel buses.
This started the construction of trolleybus routes in the city center. Line 5 was expanded as early as February 1959:
- Lines 5/50/51/52 Eversburg / Atter - Rißmüllerplatz - Neumarkt - Ebertallee / Rosenburg.
Since the overhead lines of the tram were already in place, only minor modifications were necessary for the trolleybus operation. However, the route routes changed in several places and the network previously served by trams expanded. On May 29, 1960, the tram service in Osnabrück ended.
In 1966 the trolleybus network consisted of three main lines with several branches. The predominantly as diameter lines transport lines are still in little changed form in the Osnabrück city bus service available; the destinations were swapped, however.
- Lines 1/11/12: Hauptbahnhof - Neumarkt - Sandgrube (11) / Mittagskamp (12)
- Lines 2/21/22: Nahne (21) / Berningshöhe (22) - Schölerberg - Neumarkt - Piesberger Straße - Eversburg (21) / Atter Strothesiedlung (22)
- Line 3/31/32/33: Heger Friedhof (31) / Liszthof (32) - Saarplatz - Neumarkt - Rosenburg - Ebertallee (31) / Schinkel Ost (33)
The route network had thus reached a length of around 26 kilometers.
After less than 20 years, the trolleybus operation in Osnabrück ended in mid-1968. The reason given was extensive construction work in the city area. The remaining 30 or so vehicles were converted to diesel operation and then used on the bus network. The last converted one and a half-decker with the number 202 was parked in 1978. The Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung reports that Osnabrück's experiences with the trolleybus “are judged rather negatively in retrospect”. The reasons for discontinuing the trolleybuses are given in the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung: "too prone to failure, too inflexible, too high investments in route extensions".
future
For some time now there have been considerations to replace the diesel buses in Osnabrück with quiet, environmentally friendly electric vehicles. In addition, trolleybuses have again been discussed. The report with the cost estimate put the costs for the introduction of trolleybuses at around 194 million euros net and around 230 million euros gross.
The city of Osnabrück has 50,000 in-commuters, mainly from the surrounding communities in the districts of Osnabrück and Steinfurt, and 20,000 out-commuters, particularly in the surrounding communities. There is concern that if trolleybuses are set up to the city limits with additional transfers between trolleybuses and diesel buses, passengers could be lost, as they can now travel with regional buses from the suburbs to the city center without having to change.
The question of the extent to which the project can be subsidized is controversial. While the planning company Nahverkehr Osnabrück (PlaNOS) claims that “the operating costs, the costs for vehicle procurement and ongoing operations are to be borne entirely by the municipality”, the planners elsewhere give the impression that vehicle procurement is being subsidized. As a result, the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung accused PlaNOS of handling wrong numbers.
The local public transport company of Lower Saxony (LNVG), which is responsible for public transport , has announced that there is "no basis" for trolleybus funding.
In the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, the taxpayers' association (Landesverband Niedersachsen and Bremen) described the possible introduction of trolleybuses as a "waste of money" and criticized "contradictions" in the financing and calculation of trolleybuses.
On September 2, 2014, the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung reported that trolleybuses were not being introduced in Osnabrück. Instead, it was later decided to introduce battery buses, which are to be charged using pantographs at charging points at the terminal stops or in the depot.
literature
- Werner Stock: Trolleybus systems in Germany . Hermann Busch Verlag, Bielefeld 1987, pages 129-132, ISBN 3-926882-00-X .
- Alfred Spühr, Claude Jeanmaire: The Osnabrück tram. The history of the electric tram, its predecessor and successor . Verlag Eisenbahn, Villigen 1980, ISBN 978-3856490430 .