Tram Ústí nad Labem
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The Ústí nad Labem tram was a meter-gauge tram company in today's Czech Republic . The network opened up the town of Ústí nad Labem ( Aussig ) and the suburbs of Chabařovice ( Karbitz ), Trmice ( Türmitz ), Krásné Březno ( Schönpriesen ), Neštěmice ( Nestomitz ), Vaňov ( Wannow ), Střekov ( Terror Stone ) and Telnice ( Tellnitz ). The tram network reached its maximum extent in 1953 with a route length of 34 kilometers, making it the third largest in Czechoslovakia after Prague and Brno . In 1970 the tram service was stopped.
history
The electric tram in what was then Aussig goes back to a resolution in the city council of 1897. Together with the Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft (AEG), the city founded an electric tram company in 1898 , which began building tracks and systems that same year. The car shed and workshops were set up on the premises of the municipal power station on Spitalplatz.
The municipality of Aussig received the concession to operate “two narrow-gauge small railroad lines operated with electric power” on April 7, 1899. One line was licensed “from the municipality border towards Prödlitz through Fabriksstrasse and Töplitzerstrasse, across Marktplatz, through Töpfergasse and the Schönpriesenerstraße to the local square in Schönpriesen ” as well as “ from the Töplitzerstraße through the Schulgasse and the Pokauerstraße to the municipal boundary towards Kleischa with a branch to the power station to be built ” . The duration of the concession was set for 90 years until April 6, 1989.
The technical acceptance by the police took place on June 1, 1899, and tram operations began on July 1, 1899 on both lines. The main line with a length of 5.74 km connected the city center with the suburb of Schönpriesen and in the opposite direction with the industrial area in Prödlitz. The 1.50 km long branch line led from the main post office to the city limits at Kleischer Bach, which was extended by another three kilometers to Pokau (later: Bokau) on March 19, 1903. In addition, on October 8, 1909, there was a 680 meter long extension from the main post to the state train station. The municipality of Aussig received the concession for both extensions on December 18, 1905.
In 1909, after the withdrawal of the AEG , the Aussiger tram became the sole property of the municipality.
The first major expansion was the 7.12 kilometer long overland route from Pokau via Schöbritz, Tillisch, Auschine and Arbesau to Tellnitz on January 1, 1912. In order to cope with the considerable excursion traffic, the trains on this line ran from then on with sidecars. In Tillisch there was a siding to the Hermannzeche lignite works , which was served by its own freight tram trains. The concession for this line was subsequently granted on October 10, 1912.
In 1914, the first section between the main post office and Pokau was expanded to two tracks, and on July 17, 1914, the new depot in Pokau was opened. The main line was extended on May 1, 1915 from Prödlitz to Türmitz and on September 6, 1915 from Schönpriesen to Nestomitz. The concession for these extensions was granted on May 22, 1915.
In 1921 the main post office - Prödlitz line was expanded to two tracks, and in 1924/1925 the wagon hall in Pokau was significantly enlarged after the purchase of neighboring properties. A new line operated to Wannow from December 15, 1925. The route led from the main post office through Bielagasse and further on Elbstraße to the suburb. In Aussig, the wagons turned on a new loop around the main post office building. In 1928 the line in Wannow was extended again by 600 meters to the Hotel Paradies at the foot of the excursion destination Workotsch.
In 1926, the line from the city center to Schönpriesen was expanded to two tracks. In this context, there was also a short connection from the train station through Gerbergasse to Töpfergasse in order to create a turning area as a block bypass for the lines to Tellnitz and Pokau. From then on there was clockwise operation in the center. Trains to Schönpriesen ran from then on via the market and Töpfergasse and in the opposite direction always via the station.
Line network 1926
| line | course |
|---|---|
| 1 | State train station - main post office - Pokau - Schöbritz - Arbesau - Tellnitz |
| 2 | Pokau - Main Post Office - Prödlitz |
| 3 | Türmitz - Main Post Office - Schönpriesen |
| 4th | Pokau - Main Post Office - State Railway Station |
| 5 | Pokau - Main Post Office - Schönpriesen - Nestomitz |
| 6th | Main Post Office - Wannow |
On November 9, 1928, the new line from Prödlitz to Karbitz was put into operation. From then on, this route was served by line 7 (Stadtbahnhof − Karbitz). From November 29, 1929, the new line 11 ran to Kleische. The new route had no actual end point there, but a single-track loop had been built through the district from Spitalplatz to Beethovenstrasse, which was traveled clockwise. When the Dr. Edvard Beneš Bridge over the Elbe was completed in 1936, the tram ran from August 9 to the shift works in the then still independent community of Schreckenstein.
Line network 1936
| line | course |
|---|---|
| 1 | Town station - main post office - Bokau - Schöbritz - Arbesau - Tellnitz Nádraží město - Hlavní pošta - Bukov - Všebořice - Varvažov - Telnice |
| 2 | Bokau - Main Post Office - Türmitz (deployment line) Bukov - Hlavní pošta - Trmice |
| 3 | City railway station - Main Post Office - Prödlitz Nádraží město - Hlavní pošta - Předlice |
| 4th | Bokau - Main Post Office - Schönpriesen Bukov - Hlavní pošta - Krasné Březno |
| 5 | Bokau - Main Post Office - Schönpriesen - Nestomitz Bukov - Hlavní pošta - Krasné Březno - Neštěmice |
| 6th | Main post office - Wannow Hlavní pošta - Vaňov |
| 7th | City railway station - Main Post Office - Prödlitz - Karbitz Nádraží město - Hlavní pošta - Předlice - Chabařovice |
| 8th | Terror Stone - Main Post Office - Kleische Střekov - Hlavní pošta - Klíše |
As of October 1, 1938, the Sudetenland and thus also Aussig were on German territory as a result of the Munich Agreement . On the day of the occupation of the city by the Wehrmacht on October 9, 1938, the right-hand drive law common in the German Reich was introduced in road traffic and thus also in the tram. This was accompanied by a change of direction on the single-track lines in the city center, they were now driven in an anti-clockwise direction. Tram trains to Schönpriesen now drove through the station, in the opposite direction via Töpfergasse and Markt. Line 11 through Kleische also ran in the opposite direction to the original direction and now had to drive down the steep Beethovenstrasse downhill. Only after the junction in Bokauer Strasse had been rebuilt did it take its original route again.
On February 1, 1939, the last extension before the Second World War was the extension of the route by 600 meters to the Gasthaus Anker in Wannow.
During the Second World War, the heavy air raids on the city center on April 17, 1945 damaged the tracks across the main square and between the main post office and the train station in such a way that operations there had to be suspended by July 1945.
In May 1945 Aussig fell back to Czechoslovakia and the majority of the German-Bohemian residents of the city were expelled from the country until 1946. From then on only the Czech names were valid. The urban transport operation firmierte now exclusively Czech as Dopravní podnik města Usti n / L .
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On July 13, 1947, a serious accident occurred in the Ústí nad Labem tram network, in which 30 people were killed and another 76 were injured, some seriously. The brakes failed on a carriage on line 1 from Telnice, the former Tellnitz, to the train station. At the siding in Bukov, the former Bokau, the train consisting of motor coaches and sidecars derailed and collided with a train of line 5 waiting there. The accident is still the most serious incident of this kind that has occurred in what was then Czechoslovakia and the what happened today in the Czech Republic.
In 1951, the tram line between Krasné Březno and Neštěmice was re-routed to a length of 2,348 meters north of the railway line and at the same time extended to the center of Neštěmice. The siding to the port, which was used for coal transports, was also omitted. The new route went into operation on October 1, 1951. On May 1, 1953, the last extension of the line was the double-track line to the Střekov station, where a turning loop was built as a block bypass. On December 30, 1953, a new depot was opened in Předlice.
Line network 1953
| line | course |
|---|---|
| 1 | Nádraží - Hlavní pošta - Bukov - Všebořice - Varvažov - Telnice |
| 2 | Bukov - Hlavní pošta - Předlice |
| 3 | Trmice - Hlavní pošta - Krasné Březno - Neštěmice |
| 4th | Bukov - Hlavní pošta - Střekov |
| 5 | Bukov - Hlavní pošta - Krasné Březno |
| 6th | Hlavní pošta - Vaňov |
| 7th | Nádraží - Hlavní pošta - Předlice - Chabařovice |
| 8th | Střekov - Hlavní pošta - Klíše |
| 9 | Předlice - Hlavní pošta - Krasné Březno - Neštěmice (reinforcement line in rush hour) |
The network was first reduced on December 31, 1954, when the line between Všebořice and Telnice had to be abandoned due to the opening of an open-cast brown coal mine. On December 31, 1958, the little-used route to Vaňov was discontinued and replaced by a city bus route. Nonetheless, trams were still operating at the time. The tracks were renewed and prepared for operation with Tatra T2 one-way wagons with a box width of 2.50 meters, which were used from 1960. On September 12, 1957, new turning loops were put into operation in Neštěmice and on May 2, 1963 in Všebořice.
From 1964, however, the medium-term replacement of tram operations with a modern trolleybus network was envisaged . The first thing that fell victim to the planned reduction in the route network was the route to Chabařovice, damaged by underground lignite mining, on March 31, 1964, and the loop in Klíše on April 4, 1966. On June 30, 1968, the line to Střekov station was set, followed by the line to Všebořice. On November 30, 1968 the tram service between Bukov and Všebořice and on December 31, 1968 between the main post office and Bukov was given up.
In the summer of 1968, shortly before the line to Střekov was closed, another serious accident occurred. A train with a sidecar coming from the Elbe bridge drove into the flank of a railcar turning in the direction of Neštěmice at the junction in front of the railway bridge, which had come to a halt there due to an obstacle in the track. The railcar of the Střekov train derailed and overturned the railcar standing in the curved track in the collision.
The last lines operated in the Ustí nad Labem network from 1969 were only line 3 between Trmice and Neštěmice, which was mainly served with modern one-way wagons, and the reinforcement line 8 between Předlice and Neštěmice. The setting of this remaining line began on January 31, 1970, when the outer lines between Trmice and Předlice and Krasné Březno and Neštěmice were closed. Due to the lack of a turning loop in Krasné Březno, all trains had to be run again with the old two-axle railcars until the final shutdown on June 1, 1970.
The former tram lines were now served by buses. The construction of a trolleybus network began in 1984, the first line of which went into operation in 1988.
Freight transport
A special feature of the Aussiger network was the extensive freight traffic that it had operated for many decades. In particular, coal was transported from the mines near Karbitz, Arbesau and Tillisch to the transshipment points on the Elbe, to industrial companies and for the needs of the municipal gas and electricity works. Typical freight trains consisted of a freight railcar and three tipping lorries each.
vehicles
Initially, the Aussiger electric tram owned 20 single-engine railcars , which had been delivered by the Grazer Waggonfabrik in 1899 and 1900. They had open platforms and offered space for 35 passengers. From 1915 they received two traction motors and from 1920 partly new, completely closed car bodies. All vehicles were gradually converted to sidecars between 1917 and 1944. In this condition, some of them were still in use until they ceased operations in 1970.
In 1909 Ringhoffer supplied four railcars with glazed platforms. They could carry 50 passengers. The Grazer Waggonfabrik supplied further railcars of a similar design between 1913 and 1920. In addition, from 1919 five freight railcars were part of the inventory.
Due to increasing passenger numbers, a further six railcars of the 1912 design were acquired in 1924. Seven used railcars came from the Krefeld tram , which were converted into sidecars, and five four-axle summer sidecars.
With the network expansion to Karbitz, Ringhoffer delivered a total of 19 larger railcars with a capacity of 60 passengers to the Aussiger tram in 1929 and 1930. For the first time, a color scheme in red with ivory-colored ribbon windows based on the Prague model was used, which replaced the dark green color. The total number of vehicles on the Aussiger tram was 46 railcars, 34 sidecars, five railcars and 35 freight cars. In addition to a few other work vehicles, there was a snow plow and a sprinkler truck.
After the Second World War, the vehicle fleet was renewed from 1952 with 20 two-axle Tatra 6MT tram cars , which were supplied by the Česká Lípa wagon factory. Two used cars of this type as well as various old vehicles came from the decommissioned Teplice tram in 1956, which were retired and scrapped after a short time. The last new vehicle purchases were 18 Tatra T2 units between 1959 and 1961 .
With the reduction of the network, the first Tatra T2s were handed over to Liberec as early as 1965, in exchange for another ten 6MT cars from the disused tram Jablonec nad Nisou and one from Liberec .
After the final shutdown of the network in 1970, the remaining modern Tatra T2 were given to various other Czechoslovak tram companies, some of which were also converted to standard gauge. Some 6MT remained on the meter-gauge network in Liberec. The rail grinding wagon, which was created from wagon 78 from the year of construction 1920, also went there in 1969. The remaining cars were scrapped or sold to private buyers.
Only a few cars have been preserved in the museum. Car 78, which today belongs to the vehicle collection of the Boveraclub Association in Liberec, is operational and restored to its original condition . It is occasionally used there on the historic tram line 1. The Boveraclub also owns the box from car no. 9 from 1899. In addition, there is still car 152 of the Tatra T2 type, which was last used in Liberec in a modernized state as the T2R. It has been in its last state of use in the Předlice depot since 2007.
Depots
Špitálské náměstí (Hospital Square)
The first car shed and a workshop were built in 1899 on the site of the municipal power station on Spitalplatz. The carriage hall had a total of eight tracks that could be reached via a transfer table . This was followed by the workshop. For reasons of space, the systems were not significantly expanded later. After the opening of the Pokau depot in 1915, the freight tram cars were based on Spitalplatz. In the early 1920s, new tracks and loading facilities were built to supply the city's power station with coal and to remove the ashes. The depot remained in operation until the tram operation was discontinued in 1970.
Bukov (Pokau / Bokau)
The Bokau wagon hall was put into operation on July 17, 1914 on the route to Tellnitz. In 1924 the depot was significantly expanded by adding another hall. The facilities were closed in 1968 when the Tellnitz line was finally closed. Today the original hall from 1914 is on the site of a car dealership, the wooden extension from 1924 is used as a sports hall.
Předlice
The Předlice depot was put into operation on December 30, 1953 as the main central workshop and storage facility. The expansion of the facilities dragged on until 1955, a total of three kilometers of track were laid in the depot. Today the Předlice depot is the only one still used by the transport companies as the main workshop and storage area for city buses.
literature
- Gerhard Bauer: Trams in the Czech and Slovak Republics. From the horse tram to the Tatra carriage. The history of the tram company in words and pictures . Verlag für Verkehrsliteratur Bauer, Dresden 1995, ISBN 3980430308
- Anton Schlupek: The Aussiger tram . In: Tram magazine No. 18, November 1975, Franckh'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung Stuttgart (reprint in Aussiger Boten 1988/1989; digitized version : August 1988 edition, p. 236–239 and January 1989 edition, p. 3–6 )
Web links
- Tramvaje v Ústí nad Labem. Retrieved January 14, 2017 (Czech).
Individual evidence
- ^ Announcement of the Ministry of Railways of April 7, 1899
- ^ Announcement of the Ministry of Railways of December 18, 1905
- ↑ Tram magazine , issue number 18, November 1975
- ^ Announcement of the Ministry of Railways of October 10, 1912
- ↑ Announcement of the Ministry of Railways of May 22, 2015
- ↑ So Aussiger Bote, January 2012 , p. 7. In the source: Pockauer Straße , what is so incorrect.
- ↑ Článek o havárii na stránkách idnes.cz
- ↑ Železničář No. 20/2017 of October 20, 2017, page 20
- ↑ Boveraclub Liberec - vehicle inventory
- ↑ Vehicle data on seznam-autobusu.cz
- ↑ Areál Špitálské náměstí on tramvajeusti.webnode.cz
- ↑ Vozovna Bukov on tramvajeusti.webnode.cz
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