Dresden funicular railway

Dresden funicular railway, around 1900

Route number :

96502

Route length:

0.547 km

Gauge :

1000 mm ( meter gauge )

Maximum slope :

298 ‰

Top speed:

18 km / h

Legend

0.0	Loschwitz	18 m
	Burgberg tunnel (96 m)
	Scaffolding viaduct (128 m)
	Princess Louisa Tunnel (54 m)
0.5	White deer	114 m

The Dresden funicular railway is a driverless funicular railway operating in Dresden , which was opened with steam operation on October 26, 1895 and converted to electrical operation in 1909. It connects Loschwitz in the statistical district of Loschwitz / Wachwitz with Loschwitz-Nordost in the statistical district of Bühlau / Weißer Hirsch in the vicinity of the “ Blue Wonder ” and is operated by Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe AG . In 2014, 350,000 passengers used the funicular. In addition to the neighboring Dresden suspension railway , it is one of the two Dresden mountain railways .

story

Historic funicular from 1934 in the Dresden Transport Museum

In 1985 the Dresden funicular (here: the Abt switch on the viaduct) still had overhead lines

In 1873 the entrepreneur Ludwig Küntzelmann had the first project of a funicular between the Körnerplatz in Loschwitz and the Weißer Hirsch developed, on which he owned many properties. Since only a low demand was expected, Küntzelmann was not granted a license . 15 years later Heinrich Lahmann opened his sanatorium , and the White Deer developed into an internationally known health resort. Renewed demands for better transport connections to the White Deer resulted in a renewed application for a license by Ferdinand Dörfinger and Alfred Stössel in 1890. Initially, these efforts also seemed to be unsuccessful, as a meter- gauge narrow - gauge railway from Dresden-Neustadt via the Weißen Hirsch, Bühlau and Weißig to Dürrröhrsdorf was planned and the Saxon government did not want to create unnecessary competition for the Royal Saxon State Railways . However, this project failed in 1893, and the Saxon state government asked Dörfinger and Stössel to resubmit their application. Then the building permit was granted on September 4, 1893.

However, the entrepreneurs Dörfinger and Stössel were ultimately unable to afford the construction costs. Therefore, the United Railway Construction and Operating Company took over the concession and built the funicular in a construction period of eleven months, it was opened on October 26, 1895 with steam operation . The construction costs amounted to 800,000 marks . In the first five years of operation, the railway also carried out freight traffic. It transported coal and building materials uphill and feces downhill, although the latter was only allowed at night due to the unpleasant smell. It was also possible to transport horses and oxen; The freight wagons had a curved roof for this purpose.

In the first decades of operation, the owner of the mountain railway changed several times. First, the United Railway Construction and Operating Company founded on March 18, 1897 as a subsidiary, the AG Drahtseilbahn Loschwitz – Weißer Hirsch to operate the railway. In 1906, Elektra AG in Dresden, founded in 1898 - the owner of the Loschwitz cable car - took over the majority of the shares in the funicular company and in 1912 it became the property of the City of Dresden. Since then, Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe AG or its predecessor company has operated the funicular.

In 1909 it was switched to electrical operation. In 1932 an overhead line was installed on the route, which enabled electrical lighting and heating in the vehicles. The funicular survived the Second World War without major damage. In the event of a bomb alarm, the staff drove the vehicles into the tunnels. Therefore, they remained unscathed during the great air raid on Dresden on February 13, 1945. The route was also passable again after a few days.

Valley station of the Dresden funicular with the portal of the Burgberg tunnel (2009)

A general renovation was necessary in 1978/79 . The carrier machine, the Priness Louisa tunnel and the scaffolding viaduct were repaired. The funicular has been a listed building since 1984 . After the fall of the Wall , the entire railway system was modernized under the leadership of the general contractor Waagner-Biro . The mountain and valley stations as well as both tunnels and the scaffolding viaduct were renovated and the route equipment replaced. The mountain station received an operator's stand on the platform, which relocated the machine operator's workplace from the basement to daylight, and the valley station received a new, translucent roof structure. Since the new generation of wagons no longer required an overhead line, it was dismantled. On October 22, 1994, the funicular reopened after the reconstruction.

Route description

The scaffolding viaduct is roughly in the middle of the route (1960)

The single-track line is 547 m long and has a track width of 1,000 mm. In the middle of the viaduct there is a passing point with an Abt switch where the uphill and downhill wagons pass. With a maximum incline of 29.8%, the track overcomes a height difference of around 95 m. The 96 m long Burgberg tunnel connects directly to the valley station. Approximately in the middle of the route is the 102 m long scaffolding viaduct and shortly before the mountain station the 54 m long Princess Louisa tunnel.

vehicles

The two cars are connected by a 578 m long and 38 mm thick rope that is driven and diverted in the mountain station. The wagons are accelerated and braked via the rope. To adapt to the slope of the route, the compartments of the carriages are laid out in steps. Four generations of cars have been in use since operations began.

The first generation of cars was in service from 1895 to 1934. If necessary, the two main wagons could be supplemented with two attachment wagons for passenger transport and two freight wagons with a rotating loading area.

In 1934 the company Christoph & Unmack in Niesky renewed the vehicles. One vehicle came to the Dresden Transport Museum after being replaced by new vehicles

The third generation of cars was built by the Trachenberge tram workshop in 1962/63. A closed luggage compartment and the electric door operation were the most important innovations.

The railroad cars Bautzen GmbH presented in 1994 her fourth car generation. The two cars have two wide luggage compartments for prams, wheelchairs and bicycles. In contrast to the previous generations, they have an electro-hydraulic brake control with pre-tensioned spring assemblies and a newly designed drive .

Drive technology

The machine factory and shipyard Übigau supplied the drive technology and used a chain tow drive, as it had already been tried and tested on chain tow ships on the Elbe . However, this drive technology is a specialty for a funicular railway. Initially, two steam engines, each with a traction sheave four meters in diameter, were used as power machines , and later a direct current shunt motor with 240 V and 44.2 kW output. A rectifier substation in the mountain station supplied the funicular and the neighboring Dresden suspension railway with electricity. Two large batteries ensured continued operation for several hours, depending on the state of charge, or at least the drive to the stations. In 1964, the first electric motors were replaced by new models with 250 V and 80 kW output, manufactured in the Elbe valley plant. While the drive with steam engines only allowed a driving speed of 2.5 m / s, with electric drive 5 m / s are possible today.

Two drive stages with gear ratios 1: 8.833 (stage 1) and 1: 4.5 (stage 2) transmit the power from the motor to the two traction sheaves. This drive concept has remained unchanged since commissioning.

In normal operation, the train is accelerated and braked electrically. In an emergency, the funicular can also be brought to a standstill using disc brakes . For this purpose, both traction sheaves are equipped with a brake rim, on which a service brake and a safety brake act when used.

Web links

Commons : Standseilbahn Dresden - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

sources

literature

Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe AG (Ed.): Uphill, downhill with the Dresdner Bergbahnen. Dresden, 2005.

Individual evidence

↑ 650,000 passengers on the mountain railways . In: Saxon newspaper . January 7, 2015 ( paid online [accessed January 7, 2015]).
↑ ^a ^b ^c Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe AG (Ed.): Uphill, downhill with the Dresden mountain railways. Dresden 2005.
^ Klaus Gertoberens: Saxon inventions . Edition Sächsische Zeitung, Dresden 2006, ISBN 3-938325-31-3 .

51.055277777778 13.816111111111Coordinates: 51 ° 3 ′ 19 ″ N , 13 ° 48 ′ 58 ″ E

[1] 650,000 passengers on the mountain railways . In: Saxon newspaper . January 7, 2015 ( paid online [accessed January 7, 2015]).

[broschüreDVB-2] Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe AG (Ed.): Uphill, downhill with the Dresden mountain railways. Dresden 2005.

[3] Klaus Gertoberens: Saxon inventions . Edition Sächsische Zeitung, Dresden 2006, ISBN 3-938325-31-3 .