Reschenscheideckbahn

Reschenscheideckbahn (project June 1918)
Route length:	79.680 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Maximum slope :	27.4  ‰
Minimum radius :	250 m
Top speed:	60 km / h
Legend Arlbergbahn from Innsbruck Hbf 0.000 Landeck 776  m Arlbergbahn to Bludenz 1,600 Landeck market 787  m 1,900 Landecker Tunnel (1250 m) Inn Inn 5,700 Urgen 827  m Inn 8,400 Flow ~ 853  m Inn Flag 14.150 Prutz ~ 868  m 16,700 reed 882  m 21,950 Tossing 924  m planned connection to Scuol Inn Inn 28,300 Pfunds 1081  m 31,300 Brunnwald 1141  m 36,300 Dark coin 1250  m 40,000 Nauders 1328  m 43,700 Piengertal 1413  m ~ 45.0 State border Austria-Italy (since 1919) 47,900 Resia 1509  m 50.310 Graun 1482  m 56.960 St. Valentine 1452  m 65,500 Burgeis 1288  m 71.780 mud 1165  m 79.680 Times 997  m Vinschgau Railway to Merano

Plan of the project from 1907 with variants from 1918

Rest of the route and north portal of the Landecker Tunnel (2017)

The Reschenscheideckbahn or Reschenbahn was a planned standard-gauge railway line in Tyrol that was to lead from Landeck over the Reschenpass ( 1508  m ) to Mals . It was supposed to connect the Arlbergbahn with the Vinschgau Railway and also establish a connection to Switzerland . Numerous plans have been drawn up for the route since the mid-19th century. During the First and Second World War, smaller sections were built but never put into operation.

Planning

As early as the middle of the 19th century, the first plans for a railway connection across the Reschen appeared, which would connect Tyrol and Vorarlberg with the northern Italian lowlands and subsequently with the port in Genoa . The Reschenbahn would have represented the link between a planned long-distance railway from southern Germany via Reutte and the Fernpass to Landeck and the planned Ortler railway from Mals via Tirano to Milan . These plans met with little approval from the authorities in Vienna, as the Austrian ports were in the southeast ( Venice , Trieste , Fiume ) and they did not want to compete with the Brenner Railway , which was opened in 1867 and was underutilized .

With the opening of the Arlbergbahn in 1884, the idea of ​​a Reschenbahn received renewed impetus and several specific plans were presented. A project presented by Franz Xaver Kreuter from Munich in 1890/91 envisaged a steam operation with numerous spiral tunnels , engineering structures and gradients of up to 50 ‰, which should be overcome with racks . In 1905, Karl Albert Gollwitzer from Augsburg proposed the expansion to the main line with a maximum gradient of 12.5 ‰ and a line speed of 100 km / h.

In 1907 the government in Vienna finally approved funds for a study of the route and the elaboration of a detailed project planned by Konstantin Ritter von Chabert . A year later, the "Routing Commission" completed the detailed planning from Landeck to Pfunds and carried out basic replacements. The construction of the Mittenwaldbahn from 1910 to 1912, however, tied up strength and financial resources, so that the Reschenbahn was put on hold.

In 1912 Rudolf Gomperz presented an economic study on the Reschenbahn. He doubted the ability to compete with existing transalpine rail connections and thus the benefits for long-distance freight transport, but he spoke out in favor of a more affordable narrow-gauge railway, especially for tourist development.

Routing

The Reschenbahn should branch off from the Arlbergbahn west of the Landeck train station and initially run parallel to it, then follow the Inn on the right bank. The castle rock, on which Landeck Castle is located, reaching up to the Inn , was undercut with the Landeck tunnel. The route should continue through the Upper Court and climb from Pfunds in loops and spiral tunnels to the Reschenpass, which is around 500 m higher. The descent on the south ramp should take place in several large loops to Mals, where the Merano Vinschgau Railway, completed in 1906, ended.

Connections to Switzerland were to be built at two points: A meter-gauge railway was to lead from Pfunds into the Engadin , which was to connect to the Rhaetian Railway in Schuls . Another route should branch off in Taufers and run as the Ofenbergbahn over the Ofenpass to Zernez .

While the basic route was the same for all projects, the details varied, particularly with regard to the inclines on the ramps and thus the location and number of loops and spiral tunnels.

construction

Towards the end of the First World War , due to supply problems on the southern front, a railway over the Reschen gained strategic importance as a "front line" . On the basis of Chabert's plans from 1907, the k. u. k. Military construction management under the direction of Julius Khu and Leopold Oerley started a new project. Its mountain route began in Tösens and not just in Pfunds, which shortened the ramp by 9 km and made do with fewer buildings. Construction began on April 1, 1918 and progressed rapidly.

With the armistice between Austria-Hungary and the Entente on November 3, 1918, the construction of the Reschenscheideckbahn was stopped. By then, around a fifth of the route from Landeck to Tösens had been completed, including a tunnel and a temporary bridge over the Inn near Fliess . Over 4,000 workers, including many Russian prisoners of war, were involved in the construction. With the entry into force of the Treaty of Saint-Germain , South Tyrol fell to Italy in 1920 and the Reschen became the state border. From the Italian side there was no interest in further building the Reschenbahn, and there were no financial resources in Austria. Construction management in Landeck continued until 1923, but only had individual security and maintenance work carried out.

After Austria was annexed to the German Reich in 1938, the Reschenbahn came back into focus as an additional connection between Germany and the axis power Italy, but no concrete steps were taken. Towards the end of the Second World War problems arose similar to those in the First: The Brenner route was subjected to massive bombing and supplies to the south were often interrupted. Under Gauleiter Franz Hofer , the Reschenscheideckbahn was to be built according to the standards of the Deutsche Reichsbahn . In December 1944, work was resumed and tracks were laid in the urban area of ​​Landeck. The ascent from the Inntal to Reschen was to be overcome this time with a funicular from the Kajetansbrücke to Nauders , which made appropriate reloading points necessary. Again with the end of the war, work was stopped in May 1945.

Further development

With the construction of the power plants on the upper Inn from 1953, there were renewed considerations to expand a section of the route, but these were never implemented. In 1954 the tracks in the urban area of ​​Landeck were dismantled, later the Landeck tunnel was walled up on both sides.

The plans were finally shelved in favor of the expansion of Reschenstrasse , which was at times planned as an expressway. The route can still be seen in some places today, the portal of the Landecker Tunnel was placed under monument protection in 1999 .

Even after the end of the Reschenscheideckbahn, new plans kept coming up. A Fernpass-Reschen railway was brought into play as an alternative to the construction of the new Brenner axis.

With the completion of the Vereina tunnel in 1999 and the reopening of the Vinschgau Railway, which was closed in 1990, in 2005, plans for a connection between Graubünden and South Tyrol via the Ofen Pass and the connection along the Inn from Scuol to Landeck were given new impetus.

In 2015, the South Tyrolean state parliament unanimously called on the state government to "get in touch with the state of Tyrol and the canton of Graubünden in order to explore the possibilities of implementing the rail connection from Mals to Landeck."

literature

• Helmut K. Missbach: Railways in Tyrol. Prehistory - railway construction - operation . Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1979, ISBN 3-87943-640-1 , p. 222-229 .
• Georg Zobl: The Reschenscheideckbahn. The path that began twice and was never completed. In: Tiroler Chronicler 2010/2, pp. 20–23
• Monika Feierabend: “Now the war will soon be over because she's building d'Bah” - a railway for war. In: Der Vinschger, 5/04 ( online )
• Joachim Rothkegel: The Reschenscheideckbahn and its planned connection projects to the north and south . Rösler + Zimmer Verlag, Augsburg 1976, ISBN 3-87987-143-4 .
• Manfred Jenewein: A railway over the Reschenpass & railway projects over the Fernpass . Self-published, Landeck 2018.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Rudolf Gomperz: The train from Landeck to Mals (Vinschgaubahn) . Landeck 1912, urn : nbn: at: at-ubi: 2-2481 .
2. ↑ Fernpass-Reschen-Bahn as an alternative to the new construction of the Brenner axis , Vieregg-Rössler GmbH
3. ↑ Grosse Bündner Bahn-Träume , Neue Zürcher Zeitung of April 8, 2010
4. ↑ Reschenbahn entered the South Tyrolean parliament. Tiroler Tageszeitung , September 25, 2015, accessed on February 13, 2018 .