Narrow gauge network Berehove
Narrow gauge network Berehove | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Route length: | 107 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gauge : | 750 mm ( narrow gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Berehove Narrow Gauge Network is a network of narrow-gauge railways in the Ukraine in the Transcarpathian Oblast .
history
The Borzsatalbahn as a private railway (1908 to 1923)
On December 23, 1908, the Borzsavölgyi Gazdasági Vasút (" Borzsatal-Wirtschaftseisenbahn "; BGV) put the first sections of a rail network to improve the development of the Hungarian Carpathian Ukraine into operation. The railway was designed as a narrow-gauge railway in the Bosnian gauge of 760 mm. The track largely followed the course of the Borzsawa (now Borschawa ) and made the connection from the train stations Beregszász (now Berehove ) and Nagyszőlős (now Vynohradiv ) on the railway line Bátyú-Aknaszlatina (now Batiovo-Solotvyno) with the forest areas on the edge of the Carpathian ago . The railway was also abbreviated as Borzsatalbahn (or Germanized "Borschatalbahn").
The sections opened at the beginning already represented the largest part of the later overall network. They comprised the 67-kilometer main route Beregszász – Zárnya (Berehowe– Pryborschawske ) and the branch line Komlós – Nagyszőllős ( Chmilnyk –Wynohradiw). As early as May 22, 1909, the main line to Kovácsrét (today Kuschnyzja ) was extended and thus reached its maximum extent.
On December 23, 1910, another branch line was opened from Ilosva (today Irschawa ) to Szajkófalva (today Ossij ), which was extended on June 10, 1911 to Gyllalja (today Kamjanka). The construction of the Borzsa Valley Railway was thus completed. In 1914 four pairs of trains ran daily on the main line, three on the branch to Nagyszőllős and three mixed pairs of trains on the branch to Gyllalja.
In 1912, the forest areas in the Carpathian Mountains that were touched by the Borzsatalbahn began to be developed by forest railways. The state forestry companies built and operated a stretch from Dolha (now Dowhe ) via Szuhabaranka (now Bronka ) into the Bronka Valley . The route south of Szuhabaranka used the Borzsa Valley Railway for a length of about two kilometers and reached an extent of about 23 km.
On September 10, 1919, in the Treaty of Saint-Germain for the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, Carpathian Ukraine was added to the newly emerging Czechoslovakia .
Nationalization and takeover by the ČSD (1923 to 1938)
In Czechoslovakia, too, the Borzsa Valley Railway initially remained a private railway. It was officially given the Czech name Boržavská hospodářská dráha .
On January 1, 1923, the Borzsatalbahn was nationalized and its routes and vehicles were assigned to the Czechoslovak State Railways (ČSD). Three course book tables were created:
- 326: Berehove – Komluš – Iršava – Kušnica (Beregszász – Komlós – Ilosva – Kovácsrét), 2 to 4 pairs of passenger trains
- 327: Iršava – Kamjanka (Ilosva – Gyllalja), 2 to 3 pairs of trains for mixed traffic
- 328: Sevľuš – Komluš (Nagyszőllős – Komlós), 3 to 5 pairs of passenger trains
In 1931, another forest railway was built following the Borzsatalbahn. It led from Zadné (Zárnya or Kuschnyzja) via Lisičevo (Rókamező or Lysytschowo ) into the valley of the Kuschnyzja and several side valleys.
Takeover by MÁV (1938 to 1945)
On November 2, 1938, in the course of the division of Czechoslovakia with the First Vienna Arbitration, the southwestern part of Carpathian Ukraine was separated and returned to Hungary. This resulted in a division of the Borzsa Valley Railway , the sections Beregszász – Kígyós (Berehowe – Kidjosch ) and Salánk – Kenézpatak ( Schalanky - Tschorny Potik ) came to the Hungarian State Railways (MÁV), the rest initially remained with the ČSD. After Slovakia declared independence , the remaining part of Carpathian Ukraine was annexed by Hungary on March 15, 1939. The entire Borzsatalbahn belonged to the MÁV.
The transport offer between Ilosva and Gyllalja was expanded to four pairs of trains per day, on the main line the traffic on the rearmost section between Dolha and Kovácsrét was increased by additional journeys.
The Borschawatalbahn in the Soviet Union (1945 to 1991)
In 1945, Transcarpathia was formally added to Czechoslovakia, but from this it was ceded to the Soviet Union . The Borschawatalbahn was subordinated to the Ministry of Transport ( Ministerstwo putej soobschtschenija , MPS) and assigned to the Lvivska Salisnyzja . From 1948 to 1949, the entire network was changed from 760 mm to the Soviet standard gauge for narrow-gauge railways of 750 mm.
From 1955 to 1956, the Kidjosch , Berehujfalu , Werchni Remety , Kuwjadsch , Silze and Dowhe train stations were dismantled into stops, and Berehy followed in 1985.
At the end of the 1960s, passenger traffic on the Irschawa – Kamjanka branch was discontinued. Freight traffic continued, but was later limited to serving Ilnytsia , the remaining route was dismantled.
At the beginning of the 1980s, passenger traffic on the main Berehove – Kuschnyzja line was discontinued due to competition from road traffic, only the Chmilnyk – Vynohradiv branch continued to be operated, at times with up to eight pairs of trains, as there is no parallel road and a crossing of the Borschawa on the road is only possible at a distance of about 7 km in both directions. The main route from Berehove to Pryborschawske continued to be served by freight. In 1985 the Pryborschawske – Kuschnyzja section was transferred to the forest management and assigned to the Dowhe forest railway.
In operation of the Ukrainian Railways from 1991
With the independence of Ukraine in 1991, the new Ukrainian Railway (UZ) took over operations. There were plans to resume passenger traffic on the Berehove – Irschawa section of the main line. First, in 1992, the Chmilnyk – Irschawa line was reconditioned. On December 1, 1992, passenger traffic began with three pairs of trains per day. In February 1994, the Berehove – Chmilnyk line was also reconditioned and passenger traffic started there, but it was discontinued in the same year.
In freight transport, the operation of the lime kiln in Pryborschawske dominated recently, all freight transport was discontinued around 2000, the Irschawa – Pryborschawske section has been closed since then. The Berehove – Chmilnyk line is still needed to replace the vehicles for passenger traffic between the Vynohradiv – Chmilnyk – Irschawa line and the Berehove railway depot. In March 2007, passenger traffic between Khmilnyk and Irschawa was restricted to one pair of trains a day. Most of the disused routes have not yet been dismantled.
Vehicle use
Track width 760 mm (1908 to 1949)
Nine steam railcars with numbers 1 to 5 and 11 to 14 were available for the Borzsa Valley Railway to start operating . The ČSD gave them the series designations M 13.0 and M 25.0 and were retired from 1926 to 1932. Furthermore, two steam locomotives 19 to 20 were available for the opening , which were taken over by the ČSD as the U 35.0 series . In 1909, two more locomotives followed, later designated by the ČSD as the U 34.0 series. In 1913 the number of steam locomotives was expanded to include two more steam locomotives (later classified under the names U 44.001 and U 45.001).
The ČSD procured three new class M 11.0 railcars for the Borzsatalbahn in 1928 , another followed in 1932. In 1936 two diesel railcars of the M 21.0 class were procured.
Track width 750 mm (since 1948)
With the re-gauging, the entire previous fleet of locomotives was eliminated. First steam locomotives from UNRRA stocks were used, but they were soon replaced by eleven locomotives of the ГР (GR) series .
From 1971 were diesel locomotives of the series ТУ2 (TU2) are used, which in large part by the vice sprint narrow-gauge railway from Marguzek ( Charanor - Priargunsk , Oblast Chita , Siberia ) came. The regular use of steam locomotives ended in 1972. From 1988 a locomotive of the ТУ7А (TU7A) was used. For the planned expansion of passenger traffic from 1992, five more ТУ7A were procured. However, due to their susceptibility to failure, they were rarely used. In 2007 there were still three ТУ2 in stock, all in different versions of blue paint.
literature
- Helmuth Lampeitl: Narrow Gauge Railways in Ukraine. Verlag Peter Pospischil, Vienna 2000 ( Bahn im Bild. Vol. 113, ZDB -ID 52827-4 ).
- Karel Beneš: Železnice na Podkarpatské Rusi. Nakladatelství dopravy a turistiky spol. s ro, Prague 1995, ISBN 80-85884-32-1 .
Web links
- Route description with gallery . Archived from the original on January 31, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2013. (Russian)
- Description of the story with route maps (Russian)
- Brief summary of the story and a few photos from 2003 (German, Hungarian)
- Facebook page for the Borschawatalbahn (Ukrainian)