Passau – Freyung railway line

Passau Hbf – Freyung
A train on the Ilz Valley Railway near Neuhausmühle
Route number (DB) :	5840
Course book section (DB) :	12888 (formerly 877)
Route length:	49.5 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Route class :	C2
Maximum slope :	25  ‰
Minimum radius :	180 m
Top speed:	50 km / h
Legend from Wels from Hauzenberg 0.000 Passau Hbf 295 m to Neumarkt-Sankt Veit 2.200 Passau-Auerbach to Regensburg 3.074 Infrastructure border DB Netz / Ilztalbahn Kachlet Danube Bridge (240 m) 4,200 Stelzlhof (reopening planned) 8.040 First ZF Patriching 8.000 Tiefenbach tunnel (46 m) 9,050 Tiefenbach (b Passau) (planned) 9.200 Tiefenbach (b Passau) 394 m 15,600 Fish house 324 m 17.000 Ilz Bridge (70 m) 20,300 Kalteneck 334 m formerly to Deggendorf Fürsteneck 1 tunnel (130 m) Fürsteneck 2 tunnel (94 m) 24,200 Fürsteneck 24,300 Fürsteneck 356 m 28.000 Neuhausmühle (demand stop) 379 m Osterbach Bridge (70 m) 30,600 Röhrnbach 398 m 38,000 Waldkirchen (Niederbay) 516 m formerly after Haidmühle 39.700 Mayersaw 43.800 Karlsbach (planned) 44.000 Karlsbach (Niederbay) 551 m Grillaberg 49,500 Freyung 636 m

The Passau – Freyung line (also known as the Ilztalbahn or Untere Waldbahn ) is a 49.5-kilometer, non-electrified branch line in Bavaria .

Route description

The Ilz Valley Railway begins at Passau Central Station . From there it leads west over the main line Passau – Regensburg , branches off from it after about two kilometers northwards and crosses the Danube on the Kachletbrücke, not far from the Kachlet power station . Then it climbs up into the Bavarian Forest and after Tiefenbach reaches the Ilz Valley , which it follows to the north.

In the past, the Deggendorf – Kalteneck railway branched off at the Kalteneck train station and has now largely been dismantled and converted into a cycle path . Shortly before Fürsteneck , the railway line leaves the Ilztal and crosses two small tunnels, before switching east to the Osterbach valley . She follows this to the Waldkirchen train station , where the Waldkirchen – Haidmühle railway once branched off. This has now also been converted into a cycle path.

From the largest town in the Freyung-Grafenau district , the route leads north again to Freyung , where it reaches its terminus after a 180 ° curve.

history

1881 to 1945

Ilz bridge north of Fischhaus

In the 1880s, calls for a railway line into the southern Bavarian Forest grew louder. A first related meeting on October 26, 1881 called in a resolution on the state government to build a railway from Zwiesel via Freyung to Passau. On February 6, 1883, the Royal Bavarian State Ministry of the Royal House and the Foreign Office published an investigation according to which the Zwiesel – Grafenau – Hohenau – Freyung – Waldkirchen – Fürsteneck – Schalding – Passau route was to be examined more closely. This was preferred over a variant Grafenau – Fürsteneck – Schalding – Passau and a branch line Fürsteneck – Waldkirchen. In particular, the Bavarian State Forestry Administration wanted to connect Fürsteneck to create a large wood storage area here. The railway was to be built as a vicinal railway . For this purpose, those interested in railway construction had to provide the reason free of charge and to assume the earthwork costs. These costs of around one million marks would have to be raised by the state forest administration, large landowners and glass factories.

The ministry reported on July 2, 1883 that the train station in Grafenau was being built close to the city and that the Grafenau – Freyung line was being dispensed with. Engineer Slesinger received the planning order for the lower part of the "Waldbahn" line from Passau to Freyung on January 10th. He examined a variant west of Auerbach from the main line Regensburg – Passau branching via Stelzlhof, Hacklberg towards Mausmühle, where the route should follow the course of the earlier Schalding – Freyunger plans, and a second variant that followed from Passau to Fischhaus der Ilz to then follow the Lärmbachtal to Hutthurm and Büchlberg. From there it was to run through the Erlautal via Ausserbrünst to Waldkirchen and Edelmühle, where it would flow into the old route plans. With this variant, Tittling should be connected to the route via a tram.

Although private interested parties and the communities of Hutthurm and Büchlberg advocated the second route, technical and financial difficulties were the decisive factors in favor of the first option, which the state government advocated.

Although the first land acquisitions for the route via Fürsteneck had already been made in autumn 1884, the Passau Railway Committee tried to convince the government of the Hutthurmer route by writing a letter to Minister von Crailsheim on February 6, 1885 . Likewise, the municipality of Jandelsbrunn and 15 other signed municipalities proposed on February 15, 1885, to build the line at Waldkirchen branching off to the state border with a connection to a railway line in Bohemia that was already licensed at the time. On March 13, 1885, the Passau Railway Committee issued a memorandum, which again spoke out in favor of the Hutthurm route.

On March 21, 1885, an estimate of the costs to be borne by the state was drawn up. These should amount to 5.15 million marks. On April 8, 1885, the Wolfstein District Council as well as the Forestry Office, municipalities and large landowners declared their willingness to cede the land for the construction of the railway. In the subsequent negotiations on April 10, 1885, the city of Passau demanded the route via Hutthurm, but did not veto the Fürsteneck route. With the resignation of MP Franz Xaver Rosenberger from the railway committee in May 1885, the latter lost an important advocate of the Hutthurm route, so that the resistance against the Fürstenecker route was finally given up. On June 25, 1885, the land acquisition for this route was finally completed and on September 19, 1885 the Passau Railway Committee finally disbanded.

The concession for this route was finally granted on January 13, 1886 by law No. 231 / II and construction began in mid-1887. The first section Passau – Kalteneck – Röhrnbach was officially opened on December 6, 1890. Almost two more years passed before the construction reached the Freyung terminus. The first train between Passau and Freyung finally reached the district office on October 15, 1892 . A total of 5.94 million marks were built on this route. Of these, the state contributed 5.58 million marks and private interested parties 0.36 million marks for the provision of the land. In addition to passenger traffic, this route was also used to transport granite and wood from the Bavarian Forest to Passau and beyond. For this purpose, in the early years up to 1906, the passenger trains often operated as freight trains with passenger transport (GmP). Due to maneuvering at the stations on the way, the travel time was extended to up to three hours.

The station in Freyung was laid out in such a way that it would have been possible to continue towards Grafenau. These plans for a cross connection through the Bavarian Forest were prevented by a route of the Zwiesel – Grafenau railway line implemented by Grafenau citizens . Later plans to build a railway line from Grafenau via Schönberg to Fürstenstein were never realized. There would have been a connection to the Ilz Valley Railway via the Deggendorf – Kalteneck railway line. The hopes expressed in the course of the construction of the Spiegelauer Waldbahn narrow-gauge railway from Klingenbrunn via Spiegelau to Mauth in 1908 to establish a standard-gauge connection between Mauth and Freyung were also not fulfilled. So this railway line has remained a branch line to this day .

Since its opening in Passau, the railway line had a connection to the Regensburg – Passau and Passau – Wels railway lines . Shortly after the opening, on October 6, 1888, a connection from Passau to Mühldorf was completed. Another six years later, on November 25, 1904, the Passau – Hauzenberg railway was opened . Thus five railway lines met at the Passau railway junction . Two more railway lines were then built starting from the Ilz Valley Railway. First, on November 15, 1910, the Waldkirchen – Haidmühle line was connected to the railway network in the Bohemian Forest . A few years later, the so-called Vorwaldbahn was built to the left of the Danube between Deggendorf and Kalteneck. This was opened in two stages on November 26, 1913 and August 1, 1914.

Since the route was laid out according to the criteria of a branch line , only Bavarian local railway locomotives with a low axle load could run on it at the beginning . The Bavarian BB II Mallet locomotives , class 98.7 (formerly Bavarian BB II ) were used by the Passau depot for freight transport in particular . From the beginning of the 1930s until the beginning of the Second World War, two-axle diesel multiple units of the 135 and 137 series and the matching sidecars also drove to Freyung. There is also a report on the use of class 70.0 steam locomotives (formerly Bayerische Pt 2/3 ).

After the line was renovated and the superstructure was strengthened , locomotives of the 64 series (for passenger transport) and 86 (for freight transport), and later diesel engines, took over the train operation. In passenger were railcars used.

1945 to 1979

As a result of the Second World War , there was also damage to the Ilz Valley Railway. The Kachlet Bridge was blown up on April 30, 1945, and the tunnel at Tiefenbach collapsed. It took until February 3, 1947 before it was usable again. The repair of the bridge was completed on April 29, 1948, making the entire route passable again. In 1947, Grillaberg received a breakpoint that was built on the initiative of the local residents.

With the widespread use of rail buses , the picture of passenger traffic on the route also changed. As on many branch lines in Germany, these trains gradually took over traffic from the 1960s onwards. In 1979, with the introduction of the so-called Alpine-Sea express trains, long-distance traffic was offered on this route. The former Trans-Europ-Express trains of the VT 11.5 series ran from Dortmund to Freyung during the summer schedule. However, these trains only ran this one season and were run to Zwiesel, Bodenmais and Grafenau the following year.

1980 to 2002 shutdown and decay

From 1980 the traffic on the Ilz Valley Railway was reduced bit by bit by the Bundesbahn . So Sunday traffic was stopped and the traffic on weekdays on four pairs of trains reduced. Even before the start of the 1982 summer timetable , on April 30, passenger traffic was discontinued. The dilapidated condition of the Kachlet Bridge over the Danube did not allow any train traffic from May 1st. Local public transport was then taken over by rail buses . The remaining freight traffic was diverted over the Deggendorf – Kalteneck railway line . Since the route was important for the barracks on Goldenen Steig in Freyung, the bridge was renovated for a total of 3.6 million DM. In order to save costs, parts of the bridge from the strategic steel reserve of the German armed forces were used. Another million DM went into the renovation of the superstructure as far as Kalteneck. This enabled the entire line to be reopened in November 1982. The gear factory in Patriching near Passau, the Bundeswehr in Freyung and the caravan manufacturer Knaus in Jandelsbrunn continued to ensure a high volume of goods traffic .

The first decline in this traffic began with the cessation of public wagonload traffic north of the Zahnradfabrik junction on October 1, 1994 and the closure of the connecting railway to Jandelsbrunn on October 1, 1995. With this, the railway line lost the major freight customer Knaus. In 1998 the Bavarian Railway Company had Transcare and Regio-Rail carry out an investigation of the two lines Passau – Freyung and Waldkirchen – Jandelsbrunn. While the branch to Jandelsbrunn only had a passenger potential of 760 passengers from Monday to Friday, 1,700 passengers were forecast for the section from Freyung to Waldkirchen. Despite this positive decision, no passenger traffic was ordered on this section. A few years later, in April 2001, the German Armed Forces gave up their freight transport because the prices for maintaining the railway line had increased significantly. Only ZF Passau GmbH and a few special trips by the Passau Railway Friends , most recently on August 5, 2001, remained on the route as traffic. The August flood in 2002 preceded a foreseeable closure of the route . The water masses destroyed the railway embankment in several places. A relatively simple restoration seemed uneconomical to DB Netz AG. After negotiations failed with potential buyers for the railway, she applied on 11 March 2005 the Federal Railway Authority , the closure of the route . This was approved with effect from April 1, 2005.

2005 to 2008 reactivation efforts

After the closure, several decisions were made by the neighboring communities to buy the route in order to convert it into a cycle path . Among other things, it was supposed to connect the Adalbert-Stifter-Radweg and the Donau-Ilz-Radweg . Two development associations with opposing interests were then founded. The Association for the Promotion of the Lower Bavarian Forest Cycle Paths spoke out in favor of the construction of the cycle path. Under the leadership of the then Passau cathedral master builder Michael Hauck , he was committed to a bicycle network in the lower Bavarian Forest with a connection to the Danube Cycle Path . The Friends of the Ilztalbahn , on the other hand, campaigned for rail traffic to be resumed. On October 8, 2006, he filed a petition for citizens in Freyung and Waldkirchen to prevent the municipalities from buying the railway line (and thus from using the line for non-rail purposes). Both failed because of the necessary approval quorum of 20%. The DB Netz AG subsequently submitted a request for exemption from railway operations purposes , to sell by the distance to the municipalities. Thereupon the Ilztalbahn GmbH was founded on November 14th, 2006 with the former board member of the Bavarian VCD Thomas Schempf and Helmut Streit as managing directors. This filed an objection against the application for exemption. The Federal Railway Authority recognized the objection on July 16, 2007, which was the first time that an application for exemption was rejected. The counter objections of the municipalities of Ruderting and Röhrnbach were rejected and the decision became final on August 16, 2007.

The Ilztalbahn GmbH then negotiated in order to conclude a lease agreement with DB Netz AG and obtain an operating license from the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs . In September 2007, the Freyung City Council and the Passau District Council gave up their plans to build a cycle path. The cities of Freyung and Waldkirchen as well as the district of South Bohemia and the city of Vimperk decided in November 2007 to become cooperation partners for an application for funding from the EU within the framework of the Interreg IV program. The town of Volary and the municipality of Horní Planá (Oberplan) followed in January 2008. An international public transport network was proposed as an application concept. A connecting bus service is to be set up between the Ilz Valley Railway and the Czech Nové Údolí station . The Czech network operator SŽDC then announced that it wanted to rehabilitate the three railway lines in Okres Prachatice (Prachatitz district) in the next few years.

In the first half of 2008, the parties involved negotiated the transport concept and the lease. A petition submitted to the Bavarian State Parliament by the cycling network in the Lower Bavarian Forest in the summer of 2008, which was skeptical about reactivating the railway and which was in favor of a cycle path on the route, was rejected.

2008 to 2010 preparatory work for reactivation

Railroading of the Klv 53 in Waldkirchen station

In the late summer of 2008, members of the Ilztalbahn eV association began to clear the line. Appraisers examined the state of construction of the route and put the financial requirements for the restoration of pure drivability at 770,000 euros and 100,000 euros for inspection and inspection fees. With this sum, the reactivation of the Ilz Valley Railway was included in the application for Interreg IV funding as part of the Danube-Ilz-Moldau local transport concept in autumn 2009.

The funding application totaled 7.5 million euros, which was supported by Czech and Bavarian government representatives, the Euregio Bavarian Forest - Bohemian Forest , the Ilztalbahn Association, Ilztalbahn GmbH, the Freyung-Grafenau district and the cities of Waldkirchen and Freyung. In addition to reactivating the Ilz Valley Railway, the application included the renovation of the area around the station in Waldkirchen (around 305,000 euros) and Freyung (around 250,000 euros), the establishment of three bus routes with a connection to the Ilz Valley Railway and a connection to the Bavarian Forest and Bohemian Forest National Parks and the Czech railway network in Nové Údolí (approx. 58,000 euros), as well as the improvement of the cycle path network and marketing measures.

As a cooperation partner of Ilztalbahn GmbH, Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn GmbH received a 50-year operating permit from the responsible Ministry of Economics on March 13, 2009, and Ilztalbahn GmbH signed a DB Netz AG lease agreement with DB Netz AG on June 2, 2009, also for 50 years .

As a result, the Passauer Eisenbahnfreunde - Schwerkleinwagen (Skl) of the Klv 53 series was brought to Waldkirchen by truck on August 6, 2009 to help with route work. From that day on, the Ilz Valley Railway was used as a construction track . On August 9th, 2009 the Friends of the Ilztalbahn organized the 1st Waldkirchner Bahnhofsfest. On the occasion, short trips with a trolley between the train station and the Schiefweg level crossing were also offered.

After the level crossing on Bahnhofsstraße in Röhrnbach had been made passable for rail vehicles again by the Freyung-Grafenau district and the Ilztalbahn GmbH repaired the smaller damaged area at Fürstenecker Bahnhof at the end of 2009, the Ilztalbahn was able to travel from km 49.5 to km 5.7 are driven on. Here, a dam slide about 30 meters long made the route impassable. After the Interreg Monitoring Committee had unanimously approved the funding application of 1.67 million euros at the end of June 2010 , the removal of the dam slide began. The construction project, which cost a total of 134,000 euros, was completed at the beginning of September. The railway line was again fully accessible as a construction track. The already completed northern section from Freyung to Waldkirchen was released for public rail traffic on September 3, 2010 by the responsible railway supervisory authority, the government of Upper Bavaria and under the leadership of the state representative for railway supervision (LfB).

2010 Partial opening of Waldkirchen - Freyung

With station festivals in Freyung and Waldkirchen and shuttle trips with a forest railway - Regio-Shuttle , the section was opened on September 12, 2010. On this day alone, 3,488 passengers took the trains. The bus system of the Danube-Ilz-Moldau leisure concept was also started. In October 2010, trains ran on the route for two more days. According to the association, more than 4,000 hours of work were done in 2010 alone and 300 new signs were erected.

2011 Total opening of the route

The entire route was approved on July 4th and 5th, 2011 by the Bavarian State Railway Authority. The first passenger train manned by representatives of the press drove from Passau to Waldkirchen on July 15, 2011.

The Ilz Valley Railway north of Kalteneck

The official opening took place on 16./17. July 2011. Over 2,500 people were transported. The two Ilztalbahn bus routes were also started on that day. These were ordered by the Ilztalbahn GmbH, as a vote by the Freyung-Grafenau district council did not take effect until September 2011.

On the following weekends and public holidays until October 31, 2011, 34 more days of travel were carried out. In the main season, there were an average of around 1,000 passengers per day. During the entire season, 28,000 passengers could be counted. This ended the season with a financial gain. With the help of regional banks, Ilztalbahn GmbH was finally able to raise the guarantee for the funding amount of around 1.7 million euros in autumn 2011. This ensures the operation and expansion of the railway line for the years to come.

2012 Extension of the driving season

The 2012 driving season lasted from April 28th to October 28th. As in the previous year, it was driven on weekends and public holidays. A total of over 50,000 passengers rode the Ilztalbahn trains on 27 weekends. It was on 15./16. September set a record for a regular driving weekend with 3,600 passengers.

2013 impairment by the August flood

Agilis regional shuttle at Fischhaus

The 2013 driving season started on April 27, 2013 and ended on October 27, 2013. As in the previous year, driving was carried out on all weekends and public holidays. A week before the season opened, the annual special train of the Freyung-Grafenau district was running with almost 200 passengers from the tourism industry. As Waldkirchen joined the GUTi system , a significant increase in the number of passengers with this ticket was recorded during the Whitsun holidays. The flood at the beginning of June 2013 caused a landslide next to the route on June 2, 2013 near the railroad overpass of the federal highway 85 . For safety reasons, this section was closed and from June 8 to June 30, 2013, rail replacement traffic was operated between Passau Hauptbahnhof and Fischhaus. From July 6, 2013, the trains ran again over the entire route. During this time, instead of the usual 1,000 passengers per day, according to the Ilztalbahn GmbH, only 300 to 400 passengers drove on the railway line. As in the previous year, the last summer holiday weekend in mid-September was the most popular with 1,700 passengers on Saturdays and Sundays. With 38,000 passengers, due to the weather, the company closed with fewer passengers than in the previous year, but again achieved a small financial profit.

2014 Start of two-train operations

A Vogtlandbahn Desiro in action on the Ilztalbahn at the renovated Fürsteneck stop

During the winter break, the Ilztalbahn GmbH upgraded the railway line for a two-train operation with the crossing points Kalteneck and Waldkirchen. This enabled a condensed timetable with six pairs of trains per day. In the season, which lasted from May 1 to October 26, 2014, as in previous years, rides were held on weekends and on six week holidays. The trains were no longer operated with Regio-Shuttle, as in previous years, but with larger Desiro Classic , which were rented from Vogtlandbahn . As in previous years, the holiday trips were carried out with historic vehicles from the Passau Railway Friends. After a successful run on July 17, there have been isolated locomotive-wagon trains on the route since then. In the future, this will enable wood from the Bohemian Forest to be loaded at Waldkirchen station and thus to carry out rail freight transport on the route again after more than ten years. On individual days, an evening train on Saturdays and a morning train on Sundays had to be carried out in the rail replacement service , as there were problems with the transfer of the train log between the train conductors staying at different locations . On September 20, there was a collision between a train and a car at the technically secured level crossing in Kalteneck. A total of 42,000 passengers took the Ilz Valley Railway in the 2014 season.

2015 Discussions about a trial run

Train crossing in Kalteneck station (2015)

Rail bus of the Passau Railway Friends in Röhrnbach (2015)

In order to be able to offer daily passenger transport in the future, efforts are also being made to obtain special funds from the Free State for a trial run. This should be decided by the Bavarian State Parliament in the course of the negotiations on the supplementary budget in March 2014 . Agriculture Minister Helmut Brunner spoke out in favor of this trial run . However, the applications for trial operations on this route were rejected. This led to criticism from the region, which was rejected by the minister with reference to further investigations into the passenger potential, traffic safety and the suitability of the infrastructure for daily regular traffic . At the end of June, critics of a trial run also reported on site. The Passau SPD district parliamentary group warned that the trial operation should not lead to any deterioration in school traffic. In a district committee meeting for the reactivation of the Ilz Valley Railway at the end of June, the district administrator of Freyung-Grafenau reported that the Bavarian Railway Company wanted to finance the potential analysis, which cost around € 80,000. According to him, this brings a new dynamic to the discussion about the decision between a high-speed bus or resumption of passenger transport by rail.

The fourth driving season started on May 1, 2015 with a timetable that has hardly changed compared to the previous year. Waldbahn regional shuttles are usually used. These became available on their main network due to a construction-related route closure.

On June 13, 2015, the friends' association organized a celebration of the opening of the Passau – Röhrnbach section 125 years earlier at the train station in Röhrnbach.

The season ended with a result of 36,000–37,000 passengers.

2016 refusal of trial operation

The 2016 season had to be operated with replacement rail services for 6 weeks in June and July after a landslide near Passau Stelzlhof.

After the district of Passau refused to support a trial run, the Bavarian Railway Company turned it down. The district saw the effects on bus and school traffic as too negative.

2017 mudslides and timber transport

After the start of the season with a frequent hourly frequency and steam train trips were planned for the first time, it had to be postponed by several weeks to July 29th due to a mudslide at the Patrichinger Tunnel. The season was then carried out with a similar operating program. As in previous years, there are regional shuttles borrowed from the Länderbahn and agilis, as well as the Passau Railway Friends' rail bus on public holidays.

Another storm at the end of August 2017 interrupted the route for another week.

In parallel to the Ilz Valley Railway, the Freyung-Grafenau district introduced an express bus line from September 1, 2017.

After several major storm events, large quantities of wood were produced in the Freyung-Grafenau district. The Ilztalbahn GmbH was able to achieve that up to 100,000 solid cubic meters were transported from the Waldkirchen station by freight train from October 9, 2017 . The transport was carried out by the railway companies Staudenbahn and SETG .

2019 closures

On August 13, 2019, a truck got stuck in a narrow street above the railway line near Hutthurm . There was a risk that it could fall onto the tracks. A precautionary lockdown lasted several days as it was difficult to recover the truck.

On September 7, 2019, a car collided at a level crossing in Kalteneck with the scheduled train of the Ilztalbahn to Passau. As a result of the collision, a switch was actuated during the passage so that the train with the front bogie derailed. Despite the emergency braking, nobody on the train was slightly injured, but the driver of the car. The switch was so badly damaged in the accident that operations had to be temporarily stopped. The repair and a final survey were completed on September 19, so that operation was resumed on the next day of operation.

Route expansion

In the area of ​​the level crossings , the Ilztalbahn has five technically secured level crossings, which are secured by flashing light systems with monitoring signals for the train driver (Üs systems) . By September 2011, the Ilztalbahn GmbH had equipped the heavily trafficked level crossing in Fischhaus with a semi- barrier system monitored by a train driver (LoH). This plant has been in operation since October 1st, 2011.

The following parts of this section seem since 2013 is out of date to be : projects sleeper renewal, implemented or not?
Please help to research and insert the missing information .

To enable higher axle loads , the wooden sleepers on some bridges were renewed in 2013 .

Relocation and construction of stops

Due to local residents' complaints, the Tiefenbach stop in the Unterjacking district is being relocated. The implementation of this measure costs 20,000 euros. The municipal council of Tiefenbach rejected a requested financial contribution of 6,000 euros. The stop is to be built about 200 meters south of the old stop directly at the level crossing there. According to the Ilztalbahn GmbH, 800 passengers used this stop in the 2011 season. This made it the least used stop on the route. The first plan approval procedure , which was initiated in 2012, was withdrawn because no agreement could be reached with the residents there for the two planned relocation variants to the north and south. At the beginning of February 2013, the municipal council of Tiefenbach asked Ilztalbahn GmbH not to use the stop until the new platform was built. The company refused, pointing out that the documents for a plan approval procedure are expected to be submitted to the government of Upper Bavaria as the supervisory authority at the end of February 2013 .

It was planned around 2011 to set up an additional breakpoint in Stelzlhof in the urban area of ​​Passau, but this has failed.

The provisional platform in Fürsteneck was expanded into a permanent platform in 2014. A new demand breakpoint in Karlsbach is also to be built.

financing

Rates

As a leisure train , the Ilztalbahn is not integrated into the Germany-wide local transport tariff association . It raises its own house tariff, the amount of which is based on the normal prices of the local transport tariff of Deutsche Bahn. A single trip on the Ilz Valley Railway costs between 2 and 10 euros, depending on the distance covered. Round-trip tickets are available for 2 to 19 euros. In addition to these tickets, there are other discounted tickets for families and young people.

The Danube-Moldau-Ticket is a cross-border day ticket that can be used on trains in southern Bohemia on the Ilz Valley Railway and in the Freyung-Grafenau district in the connecting buses to the railway. The only season ticket in the ticket offer is a season ticket at a price of 100 to 140 euros.

The Bayerwald ticket , the GUTi guest ticket and the Bayern ticket on the Freyung – Röhrnbach section have been valid on the Ilztalbahn trains since the start of the 2012 season . Since the 2014 season, a connecting ticket Röhrnbach – Passau has also been offered for 12 euros.

Unrecognized tickets

The bus line of the Regionalbus Ostbayern (RBO), which runs parallel to the railway line, is integrated into the tariff system of Deutsche Bahn, since it was set up in 1982 as a rail replacement service . For this reason, train-bus tickets are available for all bus stops at the Ilztalbahn stops. However, these do not apply on the trains of the Ilztalbahn. The tickets of the Verkehrsgemeinschaft Landkreis Passau are also not valid on the Ilztalbahn .

Grants

In the spring and early summer of 2011, the Ilztalbahn GmbH sought guarantors for 1.67 million euros from the ERDF funding pot. This is necessary for funding in order to secure a business for 15 years. These were ultimately found in the regional savings banks and cooperative banks.

On July 25, 2011, the Freyung-Grafenau district council decided to order the connecting bus service for a period of 15 years. The district will also order a special train per year for the next 15 years. The district council declined any further financial support.

At the beginning of 2013, the budget committee of the district of Passau approved funding of 15,000 euros for infrastructure measures in its area to Ilztalbahn GmbH.

Friends of the Ilztalbahn

In recognition of the successful, voluntary work, the Friends of the Ilztalbahn was awarded the "Citizen Culture Prize 2011" of the Bavarian State Parliament with a prize money of 10,000 euros at the end of 2011.

Municipalities that have introduced the GUTi (green) or the VLC guest card (yellow). (As of January 1, 2015)

At the general meeting of the Friends' Association on November 29, 2011, it became known that DB Netz AG wanted to sell the route. In addition, it was discussed at this meeting whether special train services and a winter timetable should be implemented and whether the GUTi-Ticket should be introduced in the southern district of Freyung-Grafenau. Waldkirchen was the first community to introduce the ticket on January 1, 2013. The city of Freyung refused to join at the end of March 2013.

In the fall of 2013, the Friends' Association received the Baumsteftenlenz Home Prize from the Heimatverein d'Ohetaler Riedlhütte for its services to infrastructure and tourism.

Reception in the media

In addition to several television reports, such as the program Eisenbahn-Romantik or Bayerischer Rundfunk , the route served as a location for the film Hell in 2010 . In 2014, the Waldkirchen train station served as the location for an episode of the television series Um Himmels Willen .

Picture gallery

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  The Kachlet Bridge

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  Fish House (2007)

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  Kalteneck station (2007)

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  Fürsteneck station (2007)

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  Waldkirchen station (2006)

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  Agilis Regioshuttle in summer 2012

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  Waldbahn regional shuttle in Fürsteneck

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  The Ilztalbahn passes the Leopiermühle on the Osterbach

literature

• Zeitler, Walther, Railways in Lower Bavaria and Upper Palatinate, 2nd edition Amberg, 1997.
• Zeitler, Walther, From the Iron Dog to the Trans-Europ-Express. Railways in the Bay. Forest - yesterday and today, Morsak Verlag, Grafenau, 2nd edition 1974.
• Kundmann, Hans, Haidmühle, Railway history under the Dreisesselberg, in: Eisenbahn-Journal 11/1991, Merker-Verlag, Munich, 1991.
• Eisenbahn Journal, 12/2008, pp. 36-41.
• Ilztalbahn reopened. 50 km Bavarian Forest . In: railway magazine . No. 9/2011 . Alba publication, September 2011, ISSN  0342-1902 , p. 30 .
• The Ilztalbahn - Mobility into the future: 125 years of the Passau - Waldkirchen - Freyung regional train, 2017, Edition Lichtland, ISBN 9783942509633

Web links

Commons : Passau – Freyung railway line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Wikivoyage: Ilztalbahn  - travel guide

• Ilztalbahn GmbH
• Förderverein Ilztalbahn e. V.
• Donau-Ilz-Radweg with map download on the homepage
• Route on OpenRailwayMap

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Railway Atlas Germany . 9th edition. Schweers + Wall, Aachen 2014, ISBN 978-3-89494-145-1 .
2. ↑ Information and pictures about the tunnels on route 5840 on eisenbahn-tunnelportale.de by Lothar Brill
3. ^ Course book of the DB AG
4. ↑ Rail network usage conditions special section (SNB-BT) of Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn GmbH Annex B. Rhein-Sieg-Eisenbahn , 2010, accessed on July 16, 2020 . 
5. ↑ ^{a b c d} Walther Zeitler: The Railway in the Bavarian Forest, 1970, Morsak Verlag, Grafenau, ISBN 3-924484-38-4
6. ^ ^{A b} Railway Journal Railways in the Bavarian Forest 2/96
7. ↑ Jens Schörnich: A village with “so much back and forth”. Passauer Neue Presse, March 20, 2012, accessed on November 25, 2018.
8. ↑ Passauer Neue Presse: "Reactivation of the Passau-Freyung railway line is" to be considered "and" worth considering "" ( Memento from September 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 584 KiB)
9. ↑ List of the disused lines in Bavaria (since January 1, 1994). (Excel; 16 KiB) In: eba.bund.de. Federal Railway Authority, accessed on June 4, 2018 . 
10. ↑ Operating license issued for the Ilz Valley Railway. In: WAIDLER.COM. BWmedien GmbH, March 13, 2009, accessed on June 4, 2018 . 
11. ↑ "The signals are green - Ilztalbahn GmbH and DB agree on a lease agreement", press release from Ilztalbahn GmbH, 2009
12. ↑ The train is coming back, but on the road
13. ↑ Impressions from the 1st station festival in Waldkirchen
14. ↑ ITB funding application approved. (No longer available online.) In: Passauer Neue Presse. June 22, 2010, formerly in the original ; Retrieved June 22, 2010 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  
15. ↑ Strong Hauruck in Hacklberg. In: buergerblick.de. August 12, 2010, accessed February 1, 2019 . 
16. ↑ Bahn Report 6/10 Tobias Leuchtner: Hello here is the Ilztalbahn!
17. ↑ ^{a b} Passauer Neue Presse local section Freyung, March 18, 2011: "Ilztalbahn is progressing according to plan"
18. ↑ Passauer Neue Presse local section Freyung September 13, 2010: "After ten years: The Ilztalbahn is running again"
19. ^ Passauer Neue Presse of September 3, 2010: "Next week operation on the Ilz Valley Railway?"
20. ^ Passauer Neue Presse-Freyung October 6, 2010: "ITB helpers are happy about a successful station party"
21. ↑ Passauer Neue Presse edition Freyung November 3rd 2010: "Ilztalbahn GmbH is happy about 600 passengers"
22. ↑ Passauer Neue Presse Issue A July 8, 2011: "Acceptance run of the Ilztalbahn almost ends in a catastrophe"
23. ↑ Passauer Neue Presse Issue Passau Land July 16, 2011 “The first ride of the Ilztalbahn”
24. ↑ Buergerblick Passau: Riding the Ilztalbahn is a great feeling
25. ↑ Passauer Neue Presse July 16, 2011: "Ilztalbahn: The start was successful"
26. ↑ Ilztalbahn.eu: Timetables ( Memento from July 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
27. ↑ Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, 25 August 2011: Ilztalbahn is on track for success
28. ↑ Passauer Neue Presse November 4, 2011: "It works"
29. ↑ Passauer Neue Presse April 25, 2012 "There will be another train here from Saturday - Ilz Valley Railway opens season"
30. ↑ ^{a b} Passauer Neue Presse December 5, 2011: "Ilztalbahn: Plans for 2012 are already underway"
31. ↑ SP1 news: "More than 50,000 passengers" ( Memento from February 12, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
32. ↑ Passauer Neue Presse - local section Freyung: “The interest has not decreased”, October 30, 2012
33. ↑ Passauer Neue Presse - local section Freyung: "3600 passengers on the weekend: record on the Ilztalbahn" , September 18, 2012
34. ^ Passauer Neue Presse - Freyung: "The Ilztalbahn is rolling again", April 22, 2013
35. ↑ Passauer Neue Presse - Local Freyung: "Bibbern before the next weekend", May 29, 2013
36. ↑ B85 closed after landslide. UnserRadio, June 2, 2013, accessed on June 3, 2013 . 
37. ^ Passauer Neue Presse Lokales Freyung: "Because of flood damage: Ilz Valley Railway uses buses", advance notification, June 5, 2013
38. ↑ Passauer Neue Presse - Local section of the Passau district: “Ilztalbahn runs again”, July 5, 2013
39. ↑ ^{a b} Passauer Neue Presse local section Passau / Freyung: “Trial operation required: Will the Ilz Valley Railway soon run daily?”, Advance notification December 2, 2013
40. ↑ ^{a b} Passauer Neue Presse Lokales Freyung: "Ilztalbahn had to struggle with floods: landslide spoils balance", October 24, 2013
41. ↑ Jennifer Jahns: Ilztalbahn: It drives and drives - for three years . In: Passauer Neue Presse . July 17, 2014 ( pnp.de ).
42. ↑ Ilztalbahn: 99 percent of passengers take the train . In: Passauer Neue Presse . June 6, 2014 ( pnp.de ).
43. ^ Passauer Neue Presse: Overlooked the train: the car collides with the Ilz Valley Railway, September 22, 2014
44. ^ Passauer Neue Presse: Bad weather tarnishes ITB balance sheet, October 31, 2014
45. ↑ Viechtacher Anzeiger: "Minister of the Interior Herrmann confirms yes to the rail test run", November 14, 2013
46. ^ Passauer Neue Presse - Grafenau local section: "Advent visit with Minister Brunner", December 19, 2013
47. ^ Passauer Neue Presse: Application rejected: No trial operation for Ilztalbahn , May 21, 2014, accessed on July 7, 2014.
48. ^ BR.de: Ilztalbahn trial operation, Transport Minister Herrmann rejects allegations ( memento from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), July 2, 2014, accessed on July 7, 2014.
49. ↑ pnp.de: "Ilztalbahn: Minister calls for current passenger forecasts" , July 13, 2014, accessed on July 13, 2014
50. ↑ Wochenblatt Passau: "SPD warns of rush-shooting at Ilztalbahn" , June 22, 2015, accessed on June 22, 2015
51. ↑ Passauer Neue Presse - Freyung: "BEG is interested in regular rail operations", July 2, 2015
52. ↑ Ilztalbahn back in operation , accessed on April 23, 2017
53. ↑ Renate Rossberger: Ilztalbahn starts running again , Bayerischer Rundfunk on July 24, 2017
54. ↑ The truck is stuck on the railroad track: Third rescue attempt , Bayerischer Rundfunk on August 16, 2019
55. ↑ Ilz Valley Railway blocked after an accident at the level crossing , Bayerischer Rundfunk on September 8, 2019
56. ↑ Friedrich Papke: Points repaired after a level crossing accident: The Ilz Valley Railway is running again! In: Ilztalbahn. September 19, 2019, accessed April 13, 2020 . 
57. ^ Passauer Neue Presse: "Ilztalbahn: A" Gift "for Passengers", April 10, 2013
58. ^ Passauer Neue Presse December 9, 2011: "Tiefenbach: Ilztalbahn receives new stop"
59. ↑ Passauer Neue Presse 23 January 2012: "New stop:" Problem just relocated ""
60. ↑ Passauer Neue Presse - Local section Passau Land: “Ilz Valley Railway should no longer stop in Tiefenbach”, February 6, 2013
61. ^ Passauer Neue Presse - District of Passau: "Ilztalbahn still stops in Tiefenbach", February 9, 2013
62. ↑ 5,000 euros now, maybe more later. (No longer available online.) In: FDP Passau. December 21, 2011, formerly in the original ; accessed on January 1, 2014 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  
63. ↑ Timetable 2012. (No longer available online.) In: ilztalbahn.eu. ITB ILZTALBAHN GmbH, March 2012, archived from the original on October 18, 2013 ; Retrieved October 17, 2013 . 
64. ↑ Standard fares for the Ilztalbahn. In: ilztalbahn.eu. ITB ILZTALBAHN GmbH, archived from the original on October 17, 2013 ; Retrieved October 17, 2013 . 
65. ^ Passauer Neue Presse issue F June 11, 2011: "Ilztalbahner in search of guarantors"
66. ↑ Passauer Neue Presse issue F July 28, 2011: "30 to 22: Support for railways rejected"
67. ↑ Passauer Neue Presse - Passau: "ITB: District goes into funding", January 30, 2013
68. ↑ "Ilztalbahn-Verein wins Citizens' Culture Prize" , Bürgerblick Passau
69. ^ Passauer Neue Presse - Local Waldkirchen: "From January GUTi for Waldkirchen's vacationers", September 6, 2012
70. ↑ Passauer Neue Presse - Local Freyung: “No GUTI, but free bus trip to the Leite”, March 26, 2013
71. ↑ Passauer Neue Presse Lokales Freyung: "Made a great contribution to Heimat", October 25, 2013
72. ^ Railway Romanticism: Episode 773 Railway Fairy Tales in Bavarian Canada , first broadcast: September 2, 2012
73. ↑ Bayerischer Rundfunk: Traumpfade, episode “Along the Ilz”, first broadcast: August 28, 2013
74. ^ Passauer Neue Presse , September 16, 2011: "East Bavaria as an end-time hell in the cinema"
75. ^ Passauer Neue Presse local section Waldkirchen: "Ready for a film: Waldkirchen becomes Kaltenthal", June 10, 2014