Ring line (Vienna)

Ring-quay-ring

Line 1 train in front of the parliament on the outer ring,
shortly before reaching the Dr.-Karl-Renner-Ring stop

Route length:

Inner ring (clockwise) : 5.287 km
Outer ring (counter-clockwise) : 5.412 km

Gauge :

1435 mm ( standard gauge )

Power system :

600 volts =

Legend


		Room gate
		Weihburggasse
		Schwarzenbergplatz
		Rennweg 71 , Prinz-Eugen-Straße D ; Lothringerstraße loop
		Wiedner Hauptstrasse 1 ; Bösendorferstrasse loop
		Kärntner Ring , Opera
		Castle ring
		Siebensterngasse, Lerchenfelder Strasse, Reichsratsstrasse; Bellaria bow
		Dr. Karl Renner Ring
		to Siebensterngasse, Lerchenfelder Strasse, Reichsratsstrasse; Bellaria bow
		Stadiongasse / Parliament
		Josefstädter Strasse 2
		Rathausplatz / Burgtheater
		from Alser Straße; upper Schottentorschleife
		Schottentor
		to Alser Strasse; upper Schottentorschleife
		from stock exchange loop 71
		Börsegasse / Wipplingerstraße
		Porzellangasse D ; to the stock exchange loop 71
		from Augartenbrücke
		Augarten Bridge
		Schottenring
		Loop line 31
		Salt Gate Bridge
		Taborstrasse 2 ; from Gredlerschleife
		Schwedenplatz
		to Taborstrasse; to the Gredlerschleife
		Radetzkystraße 1 ; Loop in Matthäusgasse
		Julius-Raab-Platz

The ring line is - depending on the direction of travel - 5.287 ( clockwise ) or 5.412 kilometers (counterclockwise) long tram route in the 1st district in Vienna . It forms the core of the Vienna tram network and runs in a ring along the Vienna Ringstrasse and Franz-Josefs-Kai , which makes up around 1.2 kilometers of the route, around the historic old town of Vienna. It is used by the through lines D, 1, 2 and 71 as well as the Vienna Ring Tram . Within the ring line - in the center of Vienna - there are no longer any trams. The ring line consists of an inner and an outer track, with the lanes for individual traffic in between .

history

Horse tram on Franz-Josefs-Kai, around 1876

After the razing of the Vienna city wall from 1857 to 1865, the Vienna Ringstrasse was laid out. The first horse tram operated by the Vienna Tramway Company from Schottentor to Dornbach , which opened on November 4, 1865, touched the Ringstrasse. The ring line opened on June 30, 1868, making it the second tram route in Vienna. It led from Schottentor over the opera to Aspernplatz, today's Julius-Raab-Platz. The still open gap in the west was closed a year later when the line from Schottentor via Schottenring and Franz-Josefs-Kai to Aspernplatz went into operation on June 8, 1869.

Attempts with steam locomotives were not very successful. In 1876, test drives were carried out on the route from the Ring via Bellaria to Mariahilfer Straße with a 3.5 tonne, two-axle locomotive from Merryweather & Sons with a horizontal boiler and noiseless steam output. However, they could hardly cope with the gradients of 1:25. Other locomotives also failed, such as a Grantham's Steam Car (August 1876), a fireless hot water locomotive from Francq & Lamm, and a steam tramway locomotive from Krauss & Comp. and a Serpollet steam powered rail car (1895). Until the introduction of electric traction, the horse tramway remained irreplaceable.

The first attempt at electrification in the inner city took place in May 1896, when a battery car drove the Burggasse – Bellaria route; however, the accumulator technology did not prove itself. After the first tram line in Vienna, today's line 5, was electrified in 1897, the electrification of the ring line was completed a year later. The last horse tramway was decommissioned in 1903.

The tram on the scale from the outset as ceremonial road ring road, was at the request of Emperor Franz Joseph I. with Headed operated. The tracks immediately outside of the Ringstrasse - up to about Loadsstrasse - as well as the entire inner Mariahilfer Strasse, through which the Emperor drove on the way from the Hofburg to Schönbrunn Palace , were also provided with subways. A specially developed slot system based on a patent from Siemens & Halske was used. A similar system had already been installed in Budapest from 1887 . These systems suffered from the high maintenance costs, the necessary complicated switch constructions and the problems with winter conditions. During the First World War , the underground line in Vienna was therefore dismantled and converted to a conventional overhead line by December 20, 1915 .

Stadiongasse stop , 1921. The route is only driven by letter lines and open sidecars from the steam tramway era are in use.

Ring line A _K at the Burgring, 1970.

Line D on the Kärntner Ring, 1976.

The line signals were originally designed as colored, graphic symbols. From 1907 line designations were introduced, which consisted of letters or numbers. Outside the inner city, numbers were used, while lines that traveled part of the ring road were identified by letters. Over time, all letters except "I", "Q", "X" and "Y" were used. (Today only the letter lines “D” and “O” exist, the latter without driving on the ring.) Trains which, coming from their terminus, first traveled on the ring, were given the index “R” (e.g. A _R , B _R ); those who first crossed the quay had the index "K" (e.g. A _K , B _K ). Lines reversed parallel to the ring over the double line under the index "2" (e.g. E ₂ , G ₂ , H ₂ ).

In the course of history, there was only one tram route within the ring line, apart from the turning loops of the radial routes. This led from the Opernring over the Operngasse – Tegetthoffstraße to the Neuer Markt . Between April 16, 1907 and April 15, 1911, the through line “Z” ran there in the direction of Hietzing and Lainz . From November 16, 1914 to October 11, 1942, line 58 ran to Unter St. Veit , then its terminal was moved to the Ring. In 1948 the line was closed.

Reform of the ring lines in 2008

Situation at Schwedenplatz 1992: Line 2 continues on the entire ring line, line 21 ends here, and line N turns from the ring line onto Marienbrücke.

From June 30, 1986 to October 25, 2008, lines 1 (clockwise) and 2 (counterclockwise) ran in a circle on the ring line.

Phase 1

Situation at Schwedenplatz 2010: Line 1 runs as a through line in both directions, Line 2 turns onto Marienbrücke, and the former 21er track is used by the Vienna Ring Tram.

On October 26, 2008, the reform of the ring lines was implemented. Lines 1 and 2 were linked with the through lines J and N as well as the radial line 65, creating two new through lines from five tram lines. Line 1 “new” now runs from Stefan-Fadinger-Platz via the former line 65, the ring line and the southern part of the former line N to Prater Hauptallee. Line 2 "new" runs from Friedrich-Engels-Platz via the northern part of the former line N, the ring line and the former line J to Ottakring.

Phase 2

In a second step, line D should be renamed line 3 and line 71 coming from Kaiserebersdorf via the western ring to Börsegasse and renamed line 4. After protests against these plans in the outskirts, this phase has meanwhile been put on hold. In addition to the resistance to renaming the lines, which represent an identity for the districts, residents along line 71 feared, above all, interval extensions and that traffic obstructions on the ring could also affect the outer route in the 11th district (Simmering).

On December 9, 2012, line 71 was extended from its central terminus at Schwarzenbergplatz via the Ring to Börsegasse, while maintaining its line signal, and shortened out of town to the central cemetery. (The following section to Kaiserebersdorf was taken over by line 6.) On this day, line D was extended to the new central station, also while maintaining its line name.

Vienna Ring Tram

Since the reform of the ring lines is no longer possible to completely circumnavigate the ring with one line, the Vienna Ring Tram (VRT) was set up on April 1, 2009 . This is a special sightseeing tram for tourists with multilingual announcements and monitors with information about sights along the way. During the day it runs every half hour on the inner ring track, i.e. clockwise, and originally served all intermediate stops on the hop-on-hop-off principle. However, it has been running non-stop since April 1, 2014, and boarding and alighting has only been possible at the previous terminus at Schwedenplatz, where the standing time has been observed since 2009. For this purpose, there are two specially painted railcars available at the Favoriten station, which are no longer used in regular passenger service. Two E ₁ multiple units served as donor cars for the Vienna Ring Tram . A special price has to be paid for the use of the offer, the VRT is also accompanied by a conductor .

"Demo loop"

There are frequent demonstrations and events on the ring road in front of Parliament , with the ring being closed to traffic. Until it was converted into the U2 subway line in 1980, the so-called two -way line over the freight road was available as a diversion route. After that, the tram lines from Josefstädter Straße (formerly J, now 2) had to turn around at the belt due to the lack of an alternative route at such rallies . In December 2009, the so-called “demo loop”, a tram route behind Parliament through Reichsratsstrasse to Schmerlingplatz , was completed. During demonstrations, line 2 can now be shortened via the new track connection to the turning loop of lines 46 and 49 at Dr.-Karl-Renner-Ring, without having to use the closed section of the ring.