Subway line 1 (Vienna)

Oberlaa ↔ Leopoldau
U1 train at Kagran station
Route length:	19.2 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	750V  =
Top speed:	80 km / h
Legend Oberlaa Parking area Neulaa Neulaa Alaudagasse Old estate Consolation Street Reumannplatz Keplerplatz Südtiroler Platz main station Taubstummengasse Karlsplatz Vienna River Karlsplatz Stephansplatz Operating track 0: U4- Roßauer Lände , U2- Schottentor Schwedenplatz Danube Canal Nestroyplatz Praterstern Vorgartenstrasse Reichsbrücke , Danube Enclosed Danube Island Reichsbrücke , New Danube Kaisermühlen - VIC Old Danube Old Danube Kagran Parking facility Kagran (until 2006) Kagraner Platz Rennbahnweg Aderklaaer Strasse Großfeldsiedlung Leopoldau enclosed Parking facility Leopoldau

The underground line U1 in the network of the Vienna underground has a route length of 19.2 kilometers, 24 stations. This makes it Vienna's longest underground line. Opened in several stages from 1978 to 2017, it connects the 10th Viennese district of Favoriten in a south-north direction from the Oberlaa station in the southernmost part of the city via four crossings with other underground lines ( Karlsplatz , Stephansplatz , Schwedenplatz , Praterstern ) with the Vienna Leopoldau train station near the northern city limits in Vienna's 21st district ( Floridsdorf ). The average travel time between the two end stations is 34 minutes.

The U1 connects the districts of Favoriten , Wieden , Innere Stadt , Leopoldstadt , Donaustadt and Floridsdorf . It was the first underground line to be built since 1945, and according to popular belief, it is even the very first underground line in Austria. The U1 was also the first line to reach the left bank of the Danube in Vienna. The signal color is red.

course

True-to-scale representation of the course of the line U1

From Oberlaa to Reumannplatz

From the Oberlaa terminus , the section opened in 2017 via the Neulaa station runs above ground parallel to the Donauländebahn to the Alaudagasse station . There is a storage and inspection hall between the Oberlaa and Neulaa stations. The Oberlaa – Alaudagasse section is only used by every second train. From the Alaudagasse station, the U1 follows the Favoritenstraße underground to the north via the Altes Landgut station to the Reumannplatz station , the southern end of the U1 from 1978 to 2017.

From Reumannplatz to Schwedenplatz

The Südtiroler Platz-Hauptbahnhof station from the first construction phase, opened in 1978

The U1 passes under Reumannplatz in Favoriten , Vienna's 10th district, in a shallow, low-lying area, and then runs under Favoritenstrasse north and into town. At the border between the 10th and 4th district of  Vienna, the route crosses under the Südbahn (until the beginning of 2010 also the Steudeltunnel ) and the Wiedner Gürtel and has the station Südtiroler Platz - Hauptbahnhof, which is lower because it runs underground here Underpasses the main line of the Vienna S-Bahn . The station connects the main train station to Vienna's local public transport.

This is followed by the tunnel of the U1 under the inner Favoritenstrasse; after crossing Gusshausstrasse, houses are driven under for the first time. From Frankenberggasse, the tunnel lies under Wiedner Hauptstrasse and then passes under Karlsplatz and the bed of the Wien River . In addition, the U4 and U2 lines will be crossed under the central Karlsplatz traffic junction . In this area the U1 reaches its lowest point at 24.63 m below street level.

Then the U1 route in the old town follows the course of Kärntner Straße , turns in a slight curve to the west at Annagasse and crosses under Neuer Markt and Seilergasse. After the adjacent Stock-im-Eisen-Platz, it meets Stephansplatz , the city center. Here it passes under the two tubes of the U3, which was later opened, and continues west of St. Stephen's Cathedral in the direction of Rotenturmstrasse . It follows the course of Rotenturmstraße to the meat market and then swings to the right under Greeksgasse before it meets Schwedenplatz and thus for the second time the U4 line , which passes under it.

From Schwedenplatz to Kagran

The U1 in front of the UN City

After crossing under Franz-Josefs-Kai , the Danube Canal (under the Schwedenbrücke ) and the Untere Donaustraße, the tunnel under the Praterstraße leads to the Praterstern . At the Praterstern station , the U1 has only been passed under by another underground line, namely since May 2008 by the U2. S-Bahn and regional trains run at high altitude.

To the northeast of the Praterstern, the tunnel follows the course of Lassallestrasse to the southern bridgehead of the Reichsbrücke . In the structure of the Reichsbrücke, under the roadway, it crosses the Danube , Danube Island and New Danube . This is where the above-ground station Donauinsel is located , the only underground station directly on the island.

At the northern bridgehead, the U1 crosses the Donauuferautobahn and after a slight swivel to the northwest leads to daylight. From the next station in Kaisermühlen (Vienna International Center), the U1 has its own elevated railway line and crosses the Alte Donau by dam and bridge parallel to Wagramer Straße. To the northeast of the Old Danube , the U1 elevated railway viaduct follows Anton-Sattler-Gasse to the Kagran station , which is the terminus until 2006.

From Kagran to Leopoldau

After the Kagran station, the U1 runs again in a tunnel after Czernetzplatz, which however continues to follow Anton-Sattler-Gasse and, after crossing under Steigenteschgasse, turns to Wagramer Strasse. North of the Wagramer Strasse / Eipeldauer Strasse intersection, the route emerges from the ground again and follows Wagramer Strasse as an elevated viaduct to the north to the Lieblgasse intersection. Here the U1 swings westwards in a slight curve, crossing the border to the 21st district, Floridsdorf.

After the Aderklaaer Straße station , the U1 leads north again in a tunnel. Between Julius-Ficker-Strasse and Kürschnergasse, it passes under the loosely built-up suburban area with apartment blocks from the Großfeldsiedlung and single-family houses. After the station Großfeldsiedlung it follows the course of the Kürschnergasse to the intersection Oswald-Redlich-road in order to pivot it in a 90 degree arc to the northeast and remain under easy built-up areas, is parallel to the North web lying terminus Leopoldau (S- Train). The Leopoldau stop was built over with a parking garage.

history

Underground construction pits on the corner of Karlsplatz and Kärntner Straße in 1970, line 167 train on stilts

The U1, which opened in 1978 in the Reumannplatz − Karlsplatz section, was the first new underground line to be built in the Second Republic. That is why 1978 is often cited as the starting shot for the history of the Vienna underground, especially since this route was also assigned the lowest line number. However, from 1976 the U4 between Heiligenstadt and Friedensbrücke had been operating above ground on a former route of the Viennese electric light rail .

The missing inner city crossing

The platforms of the U1 at Karlsplatz

Since the beginning of the history of local public transport in Vienna, there has been no efficient means of mass transport for the city, which has grown rapidly at the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century, which crossed the center. Only a few tram lines had their city-side terminus within the ring road , e.g. B. on the Neuer Markt; no line led to Stephansplatz, the center of the city. The dense network of trams had a painful hole in the middle.

After the construction of the Stadtbahn, which opened from 1898–1901, further subway projects were considered - plans from 1910 provided for a city crossing in a north-south direction for the first time, but did not implement any: the state was thinking in terms of rail technology and military strategy , The development of the city center was not a concern of his; the city administration alone did not have enough money to build. The First World War, the dreary post-war period and finally the global economic crisis prevented opportunities for decades.

After the " Anschluss " in 1938, the gigantic plans for redesigning Vienna with deployment axes not only included a central train station at the point where Vienna Central Station has been in operation since 2014 , namely at Südtiroler Platz , but also the north-south crossing of the city by means of a subway. Again the course of history prevented the construction of the Vienna subway. New plans for a north-south crossing were only resumed in the mid-1960s. A 1963 draft for the development of the Ustraba reveals the U1 in its original form. Two years later, in 1965, a full subway was planned.

The construction of the U1 1969–1982

The groundbreaking for the construction of the U1 took place on November 3, 1969 at Karlsplatz. In the years that followed, large excavation pits were built on Karlsplatz, Stephansplatz and later also on Schwedenplatz. The public interest in the work was enormous from the start. In the Arbeiter-Zeitung of November 4, 1969, it is said that " for the interested Viennese at the edge of the excavation (on Karlsplatz, note) a separate viewing platform " should be set up.

A large part of the tunnel between Karlsplatz and Stephansplatz was already completed at the end of August 1972, and in 1973 one of the “Silver Arrows”, as the first generation of the underground vehicles were called by the PR managers of the Vienna public transport company, was opened in the construction shaft sunk in Karlsplatz. In the same year public trips were carried out through the underground construction sites.

Praterstern station, 2nd district

Five years later, on February 25, 1978, the first section of the U1 between Reumannplatz and Karlsplatz was opened in the presence of the leaders of the republic. Seven months later, the second section, Karlsplatz – Stephansplatz, was released, on November 24, 1979 the third section to Nestroyplatz , and on February 28, 1981, the fourth section to Praterstern was put into operation.

U1 station Alte Donau

Station Kaisermühlen - Vienna International Center with the UN City , 22nd district

According to the original plans for the basic network, the U1 was supposed to end here for the time being, but the collapse of the Reichsbrücke in 1976 brought dynamism to the Vienna subway construction: Work on the last construction section Nestroyplatz-Praterstern was scheduled to begin on August 2, 1976 - the day before the bridge collapsed. A subway route was immediately planned for the new Reichsbrücke. Construction work for the first section of the U1 on the northern bank of the Danube began on schedule at the beginning of February 1979. Thus, the fifth section of the U1 was opened on September 3, 1982. This means that the northern bank of the Danube was supplied with a subway connection much earlier than expected.

During the 1960s and 1970s, the planners assumed that the future underground network would branch off, a concept that was abandoned after the failure of the reasonable underground line U2 / U4 . In the case of the U1, in the Praterstern station, provisions were made for the planned later fork of the U1 into a branch over the Danube and one to the Prater Stadium . This preliminary construction work was dismantled again after 2000 during work on the crossing station with the U2. In the Stephansplatz station, the preliminary work made for the intersection with the U3 came into effect as planned.

Northern extension to Leopoldau

The Kagraner Platz station opened in 2006

The extension of the U1 towards the north through the 22nd and 21st districts of Vienna almost to the Vienna city limits took place as part of the 3rd expansion stage of the Vienna underground in the years 2002–2006. Five new stations were created, partly underground and partly as elevated railway stations. This section leads past important residential buildings from the period since 1945, such as the Trabrenngrund (Rennbahnweg) and the Großfeldsiedlung as well as open development with single-family houses and allotment gardens. Since a planned new district next to the Aderklaaer Straße station has only been realized since the beginning of 2013, this station is still underutilized. That is why Wiener Linien thought of temporarily closing this station soon after it opened, but this was not carried out.

Construction work 2012

From July 7th to August 26th 2012 the U1 was closed due to renovation work and preparatory work for the southern extension between Reumannplatz and Schwedenplatz.

The oldest section of the U1 required general renovation after around 35 years. A new track bed with new rails and new sound insulation mats was installed, which should make the journey quieter. In addition, the switchgear was renewed and the iron busbars were replaced with energy-saving aluminum busbars. Thanks to the creation of two new switch connections between Reumannplatz and Keplerplatz and between Taubstummengasse and Südtiroler Platz, continuous track switching operations on the U1 are now possible.

Line 68 as U1 replacement service

As a replacement for the discontinued U1 and for the normally operating line 67, two special tram lines were set up:

• Line 66 ran from Oberlaa, Therme Wien along the route of line 67 to Quellenplatz, then continued along line 6 to Matzleinsdorfer Platz and from there like lines 1 and 62 to the Kärntner Ring , Oper station .
• Line 68 drove from Otto-Probst-Platz along the route of line 67 to Quellenplatz, then on along line O to the former Südbahnhof , from there like the D-Wagen to Schwarzenbergplatz and then via the eastern ring and quay to Schwedenplatz . In order to make it possible to turn over the replacement line 68 at Schwedenplatz, new track connections were installed there, creating a turning option over the Schweden and Marienbrücke .

On the weekends and in the night of August 14th to 15th, line 68 ran between Schwedenplatz and Reumannplatz continuously and thus took on the function of the night underground . In addition, the night bus routes N66 and N67 drove to the opera.

2017: From Oberlaa to Reumannplatz

Construction site in the Alaudagasse area (September 2012)

Oberlaa terminus under construction (April 2016)

The southern extension of the U1, information board

In 2010, construction work began to extend the U1 to the south, originally planned from the previous terminus at Reumannplatz to Rothneusiedl . According to the plans, this should be completed by 2015. The 4.6-kilometer section would cost 860 million euros. The route was to lead largely underground along Favoritenstrasse to the city limits.

This extension was proposed before the opening of the first U1 section in 1978 and was considered to be feasible in the foreseeable future, but was postponed  for a long time due to the sometimes difficult construction of the U3 .

On March 21, 2012 it was announced that the U1 line would not be built to Rothneusiedl, but to Oberlaa ( Therme Wien ), where tram 67 had its terminus since 1974. The route opened on September 2, 2017. This made the U1 again the longest underground line in Vienna with a total length of 19.2 kilometers; this line now holds the record with the most stations together with the U6 (24 stations). The tram line 67, which ran parallel to the new underground line for long distances, was discontinued with the start of operations on the U1 to Oberlaa on the morning of September 2, 2017 in the Alaudagasse - Reumannplatz section. In the area of ​​the Alaudagasse underground station , preparations were made for a future junction of the U1 lines, should the further development of Rothneusiedl justify the routing of an underground branch there.

Cable fire 2019

On December 16, 2019 at 2 a.m., a cable fire took place during grinding work in the Karlsplatz station. Operation was only possible between Oberlaa and Südtiroler Platz main station, between Schwedenplatz and Leopoldau. The affected section was then interrupted for around a week. This was the longest unplanned downtime of the U1.

Operating times and cycle

time	Mon-Fri (school)	Mon-Fri (holidays)	Saturday	Sunday and holiday
12:00 AM to 4:30 AM	No operation	No operation	15 minutes	15 minutes
4:30 a.m. to 7:00 a.m.	3-5 minutes	4-5 minutes	7 minutes	7 minutes
7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.	3-5 minutes	4-5 minutes	5 minutes	5 minutes
8:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.	8 minutes	8 minutes	8 minutes	8 minutes

Every second train only runs between Leopoldau and Alaudagasse , with the exception of night operations on weekends.

meaning

With the construction of the UN City and the Danube Island, the U1 is one of the major projects that changed Vienna the most in the late 1970s and early 1980s. After the underground construction work was finished, Vienna's first pedestrian zones were opened above the tunnels in Favoriten and above Kärntner Straße in the 1st district. In the area of ​​Schwedenplatz, a nightlife district developed immediately after the opening of the U1, which soon became known under the popular name " Bermuda Triangle ". For the Tichy ice cream parlor on Reumannplatz in the 10th district, advertising throughout Vienna now made sense; the Danube Island with the New Danube , which was completed in the mid-1980s , could be reached from the city center in a few minutes.

footnote

1. ↑ Originally at the Ringturm ( Esslinggasse ), at the stock exchange ( Börseplatz ), at the Schottentor (Mölker Bastei), on the Neuer Markt and at Schwarzenbergplatz (Hegelgasse)

Web links

Commons : U-Bahn-Linie U1 (Vienna)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Line U1 - information in the city traffic wiki
• Video of Wiener Linien: U1 expansion to the south

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} U1 timetable valid from September 3, 2017. Wiener Linien, accessed on February 2, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Vienna U-Bahn - numbers, data, facts. Retrieved February 2, 2020 . 
3. ↑ Tram Center 1900  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )
4. ^ Project 1900. Accessed February 2, 2020 . 
5. ↑ Concept 1963  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )
6. ^ Vienna subway construction celebrates its 40th birthday. ORF Vienna, April 11, 2012, accessed on February 2, 2020 . 
7. ^ Karlsplatz: the excavators are at work . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna November 4th 1969, p. 5 ( Arbeiter-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
8. ↑ U-Bahn: The station tubes are ready . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna August 31, 1972, p. 7 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
9. ↑ The Danube city is getting a "stilt underground" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 27, 1979, p. 32 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
10. ^ U-Bahn work on the Praterstern . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna July 29, 1976, p. 6 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
11. ↑ U1 on the entire route again from Monday morning. Wiener Linien (OTS), August 26, 2012, accessed on February 2, 2020 . 
12. ↑ U1 modernization in summer: Bim lines bring passengers to the center. Wiener Linien (OTS), March 28, 2012, accessed on February 2, 2020 . 
13. ^ U1: Replacement Bim 66 and 68 in summer. ORF Vienna, March 28, 2012, accessed on February 2, 2020 . 
14. ↑ U-Bahn: Route decided for U1 to Rothneusiedl. Der Standard, May 27, 2008, accessed February 2, 2020 . 
15. ^ U1 south extension from Reumannplatz to Rothneusiedl. (No longer available online.) City of Vienna, archived from the original ; accessed on February 2, 2020 . 
16. ^ Premiere of the U1 on February 25, 1978. Next step, extension to the south . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna 23 November 1977, p. 3 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
17. ↑ Construction of the U1 route is progressing. ORF Vienna, January 5, 2015, accessed on January 5, 2015 . 
18. ↑ 40 Vienna public transport stations are given new names. Der Standard, July 11, 2017, accessed July 17, 2017 . 
19. ^ U1 extension to Oberlaa instead of Rothneusiedl. ORF Vienna, March 21, 2012, accessed on January 5, 2015 . 
20. ↑ U1 remains interrupted for days. ORF Vienna, December 16, 2019, accessed on January 14, 2020 .