Subway line 6 (Vienna)
The underground line U6 belongs to the network of the Vienna underground and connects the southern 23rd district of Liesing with the northern 21st district of Floridsdorf . Most of the route runs along the Vienna Belt . With 24 stations and a total route length of 17.4 kilometers, it is the second longest underground line in Vienna. Since 1996, it has been the second underground line to reach the northern bank of the Danube. The average travel time between the two end stations Siebenhirten and Floridsdorf is 34 minutes. Its core route with the stations along the western belt, which was extensively renovated in the 1980s, was built towards the end of the 19th century and is therefore one of the oldest parts of the Vienna underground network, while the northern and southern external routes were only built in the 1990s were.
Other special features of the U6 are that it has significantly more aboveground than underground sections, that it is operated not with power rails but with overhead lines, and the optical signaling system instead of the usual line control . In addition, the platforms are lower (35 instead of 95 centimeters) and the cars are narrower (2.65 instead of 2.80 or 2.85 meters) than in the rest of the subway network. With almost 130 million passengers annually (as of 2011), the U6 is the most heavily frequented underground line in the city. Their color code is ocher brown.
course
From Siebenhirten to Längenfeldgasse
The U6 starts at the Siebenhirten station in the 23rd district , Liesing . From there it runs parallel to Triester Straße or Altmannsdorfer Straße to the north. This is followed by the stations Perfektastraße and Erlaaer Straße before you reach the Alterlaa station . There is a storage and inspection hall here. Every second train starts here during rush hour. After the Alterlaa station, the route swings north-east and crosses Altmannsdorfer Straße and the Altmannsdorfer branch of the southeast bypass . This is followed by the Am Schöpfwerk and Tscherttegasse stations. After the latter there is a track connection from the U6 to the Badner Bahn , before the route disappears in a tunnel. The first underground station Meidling station follows . From here the route runs parallel to Meidlinger Hauptstraße to the Niederhofstraße station. The route then swivels to the east and reaches the Längenfeldgasse station , which extends parallel to the Wien River. Here you can change to the U4 line .
From Längenfeldgasse to Spittelau
After the Längenfeldgasse station, the route goes back to an elevated position and swings north again, crosses the Wienzeile and the Wien River on the bridge over the line and finally reaches the Gumpendorfer Strasse station in an elevated position. The route then runs at the bottom of the belt . This is followed by the underground station Westbahnhof and the station Burggasse-Stadthalle in a lower position, before the route rises slightly again. The next station, Thaliastraße, is roughly at street level; it was only set up in 1980 and does not have the classic light rail design. The stations Josefstädter Straße and Alser Straße are on the tram arches . Before the next station, Michelbeuern, the route sinks back to street level. This access point is also a new building built in the 1980s. The depot of the U6 line is also located here. The route then rises again on the tram arches and follows the belt further to the stations Währinger Straße-Volksoper and Nußdorfer Straße. The route then swings to the east and reaches the Spittelau station , where you can change to S-Bahn , regional trains and the U4 line .
From Spittelau to Floridsdorf
After the Spittelau station, the U6 crosses the Danube Canal and disappears into a tunnel. This is followed by the underground stations Jägerstrasse and Dresdner Strasse. Then the route rises out of the tunnel and reaches the next station, Handelskai . Here you can change to the lines of the S-Bahn main line or to the suburban line S45 . The U6 then crosses the Danube and the New Danube on its own bridge, parallel to the northern railway bridge . This is followed by the Neue Donau station , directly in the Donauinsel recreation area , before the route disappears again in a tunnel and reaches the terminus in Floridsdorf .
history
Trunk line
In the middle part of the line, also known as the main line or belt trunk line , the U6 runs on the route of the former belt line of the Viennese steam light rail, which opened in 1898 and which eventually became the Vienna Electric Light Rail in 1925 . She led from the station Meidling main road to the train station Heiligenstadt . Later, the connecting arch to the Danube Canal line was built, which began at the Nussdorfer Strasse junction and led to the Friedensbrücke station . In 1925, the line was taken over by the City of Vienna and electrified. In the same year, the mixed tram and light rail line 18G was introduced, which switched back and forth between the two systems on Gumpendorfer Straße until 1945.
In the course of the subway construction in the 1970s, the belt line was initially not included and remained as a light rail. In 1980 the new Thaliastraße station was built. In the end it was decided to incorporate the belt line into the subway network. From 1985, the trains on the belt line to the south only ran to the Gumpendorfer Strasse station .
South of the Wiental crossing, the old junction from the Wiental line was demolished and rebuilt. At this point, the Längenfeldgasse station was built as a new junction between the U4 and U6. From this a new tunnel was built to the Meidling station. The ground under the Meidling telecommunications office between Niederhofstrasse and Arndtstrasse was iced over with cold calcium chloride brine in order to minimize settling, and above all uneven sinking of the foundations.
In 1987 the new Michelbeuern ward at the General Hospital was opened. On October 7, 1989, the extended line went into operation for the first time as the U6 and ran from Meidling station to Nussdorfer Strasse and from there alternately to Heiligenstadt or the Friedensbrücke. The Viennese light rail system was finally history. In 1990, as part of the construction of the U3 line, the route of the U6 in the area of the Westbahnhof was swiveled further to the east and a new underground station Westbahnhof was built between the belt lanes. Construction work on the extension of the U6 to Floridsdorf began as early as 1991 and the branch to the Friedensbrücke was discontinued.
Outer branches
In the 1970s, the new line 64 was built as an express tram , which has led from Westbahnhof to Siebenhirten since 1979 . Until Meidling she used the existing tram network . From there, she briefly used the Badner Bahn route and branched off after Wienerbergstrasse onto today's U6 route. It continued on its own elevated route to Alterlaa and from there at ground level to Siebenhirten. In 1983, construction of the tunnel at the Wien-Meidling train station began. In addition to the two side tunnels, the southern part includes an additional tunnel tube for a sweeping track. All three were built using the NET construction method. The Wien-Meidling station was crossed under the open construction method. Numerous steel auxiliary bridges had to be installed to maintain the heavy rail traffic. With the commissioning of the newly built tunnel route as part of the opening of the U6 line, the express tram line 64 was shortened to Meidling on the city side, but it was to remain independent and part of the tram network. After only a short operating time, however, the decision was made to include the express tram line in the U6. In addition to considerable renovations between Meidling or Philadelphiabrücke and Tscherttegasse, the just over ten-year-old end section Alterlaa-Siebenhirten had to be raised for the level-free tour and thus completely rebuilt. On April 8, 1995, line 64 was stopped. In the following week, the final connections between the tunnel route and the elevated route to Siebenhirten were made. U6 trains to Siebenhirten have been running since April 15, 1995.
A year later, the new north branch from the Nußdorfer Straße station to Floridsdorf was opened and the old route to Heiligenstadt was discontinued at the same time. In the course of this extension, the Spittelau stations along the Franz-Josefs-Bahn and the U4 as well as the Handelskai station on the main S-Bahn line were built.
In the 1980s, plans also included a variant that would have led the U6 to Floridsdorf via the Friedensbrücke U4 station and the Traisengasse S-Bahn station . However, this idea was discarded over time.
No further expansion of the U6 is currently planned. In the foreseeable future, it would be realistic to extend it from Floridsdorf to the Floridsdorf Clinic that is currently in operation or further to Stammersdorf or to Rendezvousberg.
present
The stations Gumpendorfer Straße , Burggasse , Josefstädter Straße , Alser Straße , Währinger Straße and Nussdorfer Straße are still almost in the original state of Otto Wagner's architecture . Only the platforms were lengthened and elevators were installed.
In the summer of 2011, for the first time in the history of the Vienna underground, a line was suspended over a longer period of time. The U6 line Westbahnhof - Alser Straße was closed from mid-July to the end of August . The reason for this was the renovation of the Josefstädter Straße underground station , which also made it impossible to drive through the station. As a replacement, the special tram line "E" was set up, which ran between Westbahnhof and Nussdorfer Straße . The U6 line has been running the entire route again since August 29, 2011, the Josefstädter Strasse station remained closed until November 25, 2011, and the renovation work continued until 2013.
On October 5, 2013, the Philadelphiabrücke station was renamed Meidling Station. This brought it into line with the name of the ÖBB train station.
In contrast to other subway lines in Vienna, the U6 runs above ground for long stretches. As a result, high internal temperatures are reached in the car through tanning in the heat. For the first time within Vienna's subway, a ban on strongly smelling food should be introduced in the U6 carriages in December 2018, and citizens should be able to decide on the content of the list of prohibited foods via an app. As part of the campaign, Wiener Linien came under fire when a black sheep eating kebab appeared on an advertising poster. Accusations of racism were raised, whereupon the posters were removed and others added. The Internet online voting of Wiener Linien, in which it was asked whether food should be banned from the U6 in the future, ended on August 12, 2018. The result was presented by the responsible city councilor Ulli Sima ( SPÖ ). Accordingly, all dishes are to be banned from the U6 from September 1, 2018, and from all other Vienna underground lines from January 15, 2019. As announced, the ban on eating in the U6 came into force on September 1, 2018. This is to be monitored by the security team of Wiener Linien, for which the staff will be increased. There should be no penalties for now. In addition, the older sets were also equipped with air conditioning by July 2020.
During the rush hours in the morning and in the afternoon, every second train on weekdays was only run from / only to Alterlaa until May 2020. The reason for this was, on the one hand, the low capacity utilization of the southern U6, and on the other hand, the storage hall located in Alterlaa. Since May 11, 2020, the U6 has generally been running to Siebenhirten.
architecture
While the main aim of the Vienna subway network is to have as consistent a line design as possible, the U6 stations are the only ones that are distinguished by their mix of styles. Today's U6 was built over a period of several decades, some of its stations are significant for their time and also have architectural value.
Historic buildings based on designs by Otto Wagner
Burggasse-Stadthalle underground station
Währinger Straße high station with ...
Entrance hall and ...
... platforms
The belt line of the U6 is part of the old light rail, as planned by Otto Wagner . At times up to seventy employees were involved in this project under the direction of Joseph Maria Olbrich . The plans included the substructure, high structures (retaining walls, bridges, tunnel portals, viaducts, stations) and details ( railings , gates, furniture, lighting, etc.) of all light rail lines. After six years of construction, in addition to viaducts, bridges and galleries, six stations (on today's U6) were built, which are in a transition style between late historicism and art nouveau. These stations are now all under monument protection. The stations on the belt stand in place of gates of the line wall . With the exception of the Burggasse and Westbahnhof stations , they are designed as elevated railway stations . They are massive, classifying structures with corner pylons or pylon-like corner projections. The entrances are in the middle of the building and are usually marked with Doric columns. The underground stations (of which there is only the Burggasse station on the U6, the original Westbahnhof station is no longer preserved) are simple gate structures, the main emphasis of which is a grid construction over the entrances. It is broken through by metal pillars. The latter elements, like the window frames and roofing, are painted in Reseda green .
- Rehabilitation of the historical buildings
Josefstädter Straße : Exterior view and ...
... platforms before the renovation, ...
... during the renovation and ...
... exterior view and ...
… Platforms after the renovation
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The historical reception buildings, which Otto Wagner designed as “white palaces”, naturally require more maintenance than the new construction stations. The plastered wall surfaces in particular suffer from today's enormous traffic load. In addition, the use of dirt-repellent paint was forbidden by the Federal Monuments Office, as this airtight paint prevents moisture from draining away from the old masonry.
As part of the conversion of the light rail to the underground, significant renovation work was carried out on the structures for the first time. Tile coverings were newly laid, the display areas of the stations were repaired and elevators were installed. As part of a multi-year renovation program, the surfaces in the historical buildings were renewed again from 2000; but not in the Burggasse-Stadthalle and Josefstädter Straße stations . The latter was extensively refurbished between 2011 and 2013. In the course of the work, however, unexpected substantial damage to the structure came to light, which made the construction process more complicated and ultimately resulted in an examination of the cause by the city audit office. Apparently the massive moisture damage under the platforms was caused by poorly carried out monitoring and maintenance work. The walls under the platforms were therefore no longer statically capable of absorbing loads. In addition, the report criticized the “unsatisfactory to poor state of construction and maintenance” of the stations renovated in the 2000s and the condition of the Josefstädter Strasse station only one year after the construction work was completed. Due to this more complex work, a section of the line between Westbahnhof - Alser Straße was closed in summer 2011. The tram line "E" between Westbahnhof and Nußdorfer Straße, which mostly ran parallel to tram line 5, was set up as a replacement.
The general renovation of the other stations, which are carried out in coordination with the Federal Monuments Office, now affects the substance of the objects much more deeply than that of the last few decades. Since then, work has been carried out at the Burggasse-Stadthalle (2013) and Alser Straße ( 2014-15 ) stations; Work is planned or ongoing in the stations Währinger Straße-Volksoper (2016-17) and Nussdorfer Straße (2018-19). The outer facade on Gumpendorfer Straße is to be renewed by 2020 .
New buildings on the Gürtel and the route to Meidling station
Admission building of the Niederhofstraße underground station ...
... and their platforms
Platforms in Thaliastraße
Admission building in Längenfeldgasse
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Completely new buildings along the core route are the Thaliastraße station built in 1980 (architects: R. Keimel and W. Höfer), which was mainly designed using exposed concrete and brown-tinted glass elements, and the Michelbeuern station, which went into operation in 1987 . The latter, like the Längenfeldgasse , Niederhofstraße and Meidling train station (all opened in 1989) in the southern section, was designed by Kurt Schlauss . The floor tiles and the green inventory of their station design are to be understood as an allusion to the architecture of Otto Wagner.
Stations of the south branch
Siebenhirten station with typical roof structures ...
... and platforms in the classic AGU design
Alterlaa underground station with a unique design
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The other stations of the south branch, which was completed in 1995, are also architecturally remarkable. It is true that only one tram line was adapted, with the exception of the Alterlaa station (architects: Friedrich Winkler, Harry Glück , Kurt Hlaweniczka , Requat & Reinthaller), but completely new station buildings were built. These are the stations (from south to north): Siebenhirten , Perfektastraße , Erlaaer Straße , Am Schöpfwerk and Tscherttegasse . The Rößlergasse depot should also be included here. The planning was started by Johann Georg Gsteu in 1990 - at this time the technical planning was essentially completed. Gsteu made use of a new technique of deforming trapezoidal aluminum sheet (the so-called drawing -in process ), which allowed the construction of variously shaped arches. The combination with blue glazed concrete and glass creates a striking signal effect. The elevator towers rounded at the top are a particularly eye-catching element. Since Gsteu only revised the facades of the buildings that were already planned, their interior is designed in the familiar panel design of the U-Bahn (AGU) architectural group.
Stations of the north branch
Underground stations in Spittelau , ...
... the Jägerstrasse and ...
... the New Danube
On the other hand, the northern branch ( Spittelau - Floridsdorf ) bears the AGU's signature much more extensively . The high stations are all large-volume, light-flooded buildings and were given an eye-catching primary structure made of space lattice girders, which were positioned in front of the facades and above the platform roofs. The underground stations and their reception buildings are designed in the appearance familiar from the U3 line.
vehicles
Different vehicles operate on the U6 line than on the U1 to U4 lines. The reason for this is that with the conversion from light rail to underground in 1989, only the name changed, but no adaptation of the route to operation with power rails or line train control was carried out. The system with tram-like vehicles, optical signals and operation with overhead lines was taken over by the Stadtbahn. The E 6 and C 6 light rail vehicles now ran on the U6. In the vernacular, this line is therefore often referred to as the Stadtbahn to this day .
From December 5, 1993, new low-floor vehicles of the type T , which were slightly wider at 2.65 meters, were used, for which the tracks in the stations had to be moved 17 centimeters away from the platforms beforehand. In return, the existing vehicles, which are only 2.305 meters wide, were given solid running boards with a conspicuous yellow warning coating on the night of January 5th to 6th, 1993 to compensate for the gaps that had arisen. From February 6, 1994, the low-floor wagons also operated in conjunction with the older high-floor vehicles, with at least one new wagon in the middle of each train as a rule. For this mixed operation, the type T wagons received the multiple control of the existing wagons transmitted by fiber optics, recognizable by laser warning symbols on the cover flaps of the contact attachments of the couplings. In the low-floor wagons, bicycles were also possible for the first time on the U6 , which was standard on the other subway lines from the start. Later pure T-trains were also used. Since 2008, a further development of this has been used as Type T 1 . A train is made up of four T or T 1 cars. The type T 1 cars were again equipped with an electrically transmitted multiple control.
On December 23, 2008, the old E 6 and c 6 light rail vehicles were in regular passenger service in Vienna for the last time . Since then, only type T and T 1 low-floor cars have been running on the U6 . This also ended the use of sidecars and the maximum speed of the U6 could be increased from 60 km / h to the 80 km / h usual for the other underground lines. After the E 6 and c 6 were retired, the multiple control of the type T wagons was adapted to that of the type T 1 , and since then both types can also be used in a mixed manner.
Right next to the station Michelbeuern is the same depot U6. This was built in 1927 and was already used by the city railways. The Rößlergasse parking facility was built south of the Alterlaa station in 1994.
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 |
Due to lower capacity utilization between the Alterlaa and Siebenhirten stations, every second train in Alterlaa ended during peak times by mid-May 2020 in order to enable closer intervals on the more frequented Floridsdorf - Alterlaa section through additional vehicle capacities . Since May 11, 2020 every train has been going to Siebenhirten .
literature
- Ferdinand Klasz, U6 - Vienna's longest subway. Documentation on the planning, construction and operation of the U6 as well as general information about the Vienna subway. Vienna 1996.
Web links
- Stadtverkehr-Austria-Wiki - U6 line
- Express tram 64
- Who wants too much at once ; Article on nextroom about the north branch of the U6, which opened in 1996
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wiener Linien and Bombardier are making U6 fit for the future. Wiener Linien (OTS), December 15, 2011, accessed on February 22, 2020 .
- ↑ a b 40 years of underground construction in Vienna, construction of the U6 from the Stadtbahn to the underground (video), 1989, media Vienna (or MA13, regional image office Vienna)
- ^ U-Bahn interval adjustment for peak times in the morning and afternoon was in effect until October 5th. October 2, 2013, accessed February 22, 2020 .
- ↑ List of prohibited foods planned for U6. ORF Vienna, July 12, 2018, accessed on February 22, 2020 .
- ^ "Black Sheep": Criticism of Wiener Linien. ORF Vienna, August 3, 2018, accessed on February 22, 2020 .
- ^ Wiener Linien: "Döner-Schaf" disappears. ORF Vienna, August 10, 2018, accessed on September 1, 2018 .
- ↑ Food ban in U6: voting starts. ORF Vienna, July 25, 2018, accessed on February 22, 2020 .
- ↑ Ban on eating in subways: voting ends. ORF Vienna, August 12, 2018, accessed on February 22, 2020 .
- ↑ First prohibitions on eating in U6. ORF Vienna, August 13, 2018, accessed on February 22, 2020 .
- ↑ Eating in the subway is completely banned. ORF Vienna, August 16, 2018, accessed on February 22, 2020 .
- ↑ Information campaign on the ban on eating in U6. ORF Vienna, August 31, 2018, accessed on February 22, 2020 .
- ↑ Underground security monitors ban on eating. ORF Vienna, August 27, 2018, accessed on February 22, 2020 .
- ↑ U6 100 percent air-conditioned when the holiday starts. Wiener Linien, July 6, 2020, accessed on July 11, 2020 .
- ↑ Every U6 goes to Siebenhirten. In: mein district.at. May 6, 2020, accessed July 11, 2020 .
- ↑ Listed objects in Vienna 2019. Federal Monuments Office, accessed on February 22, 2020 .
- ^ Dehio Vienna II – IX & XX, Vienna, Anton Schroll Verlag, 1993, pp. 98/99.
- ↑ Alser Straße: Notice board is supposed to deter vandals. Archived from the original today, December 15, 2015 ; accessed on February 22, 2020 .
- ^ Wiener Linien GmbH & Co KG, renovation of the Josefstädter Strasse subway station. Vienna City Audit Office, accessed on February 22, 2020 .
- ↑ U6 station: damage overlooked for years. Courier, December 5, 2014, accessed February 22, 2020 .
- ↑ A new look for the Alser Straße station. Wiener Linien, archived from the original ; accessed on February 22, 2020 .
- ^ August Sarnitz: Architecture in Vienna. 700 buildings. Vienna 2008, Springer Verlag, p. 528.
- ^ U6 section Spittelau - Floridsdorf. In: nextroom. Retrieved February 22, 2020 .
- ↑ Thomas Stadler: Chronicle 1990-2000. In: wiener-untergrund.at. Retrieved February 22, 2020 .
- ^ "Wiener Tramwaymuseum" collection - with corrections (?). In: tram.at. Retrieved March 18, 2019 .
- ↑ Taking bicycles on public transport. City of Vienna, accessed on February 22, 2020 .
- ↑ Every U6 goes to Siebenhirten. meinviertel.at, May 6, 2020, accessed on May 15, 2020 .
