Vizinalbahn (Bavaria)
As Vizinalbahn were in Bavaria Railways called for the development of rural areas. The name was formed from the Latin word vicinus ( German : "neighboring, near"). In order to be able to connect as many places as possible that were previously far away from the railroad to this very new means of transport, the Vizinalbahngesetz was passed in Bavaria on April 29, 1869 . It regulated the construction of the "rail links of local importance".
Endowment Act of 1869
In the 1860s it became increasingly clear that railways of local importance could not be built and operated profitably with the standard prescribed for main railways . To promote the construction of railways of local importance, the Bavarian State Parliament passed a doping law (“Law on the construction and operation of railway lines of minor importance”) on April 29, 1869, which reorganized the construction of railways of local importance.
Technical standards
For vicinal railways, larger gradients (1:25) and narrower arc radii (100 m), lighter rails and a narrower subgrade were permitted compared to the main railways . This enabled the routes to be better adapted to the shape of the terrain and costly engineering structures to be avoided. The operational management was less labor-intensive compared to the main railways. After the initial experience with the new railways, further construction simplifications were approved.
The standard components were based on recommendations of the German Railway Association from 1869 (“Basic features for the design of secondary railways”), which - although not binding - were adopted by many railways in Germany. The possibility of narrow-gauge construction was not made use of in Bavaria at the time of the Vizinalbahngesetz. In practice, the radii remained over 180 m and the inclines less than 1:40.
Financing and operation
The neighboring communities had to pay for the land purchase and the earthworks; they should be part of the revenue surpluses. Half of the remaining construction costs were covered by allocations of funds from the endowment laws. To finance the other half, a special vicinal railway fund was created, which was fed from the surplus of the state railway. The municipalities were used on the grounds that road construction was also their responsibility. The Royal Bavarian State Railways were responsible for carrying out the construction and later operation .
Construction of the Vizinalbahnen
The line from Siegelsdorf to Langenzenn was built as the first railway under the new law in 1872 . It was followed by 14 more railways by 1879, the Weilheim – Murnau line was opened on May 15, 1879 as the last vicinal railway. A total of 168 km of railway were built according to the Vizinalbahngesetz.
In the years up to 1880, the Vizinalbahnen developed well, with only one railway exceeding the expenses. However, the interest rate was low at 1.5% and the neighboring communities, with a few exceptions, were left with nothing when it came to distributing the income.
List of the Bavarian Vizinalbahnen
| route |
Track -wide in mm |
Length in km |
opening |
State of the route |
comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Siegeldorf – Langenzenn | 1435 | 5.56 | 05/25/1872 | in operation | |
| Georgensgmünd – gap | 1435 | 6.92 | October 16, 1872 | reduced | Passenger traffic ceased in 1969, freight traffic in 1995 |
| Wiesau-Tirschenreuth | 1435 | 11.02 | 11/10/1872 | reduced | (Adjustment Pv 1989, Gv 2000), construction by the Bayerische Ostbahn |
| Schwaben-Erding | 1435 | 13.63 | 11/16/1872 | in operation; | Part of the Munich S-Bahn , Schwaben is now called Markt Schwaben |
| Steinach – Rothenburg | 1435 | 11.09 | 11/01/1873 | in operation | |
| Immenstadt – Sonthofen | 1435 | 8.34 | 11/16/1873 | in operation | |
| Holzkirchen – Tölz | 1435 | 21.43 | 06/01/1874 | in operation | Tölz is now called Bad Tölz |
| Sinzing-Alling | 1435 | 4.14 | December 20, 1875 | reduced | Setting Pv 1967, Gv 1985 |
| Dombühl – Feuchtwangen | 1435 | 11.10 | 04/15/1876 | in operation | without regular traffic |
| Biessenhofen – Oberdorf bB | 1435 | 6.51 | 06/01/1876 | in operation | Today Oberdorf bB is called Marktoberdorf |
| Neustadt (Aisch) –Windsheim | 1435 | 15.32 | 08/06/1876 | in operation | |
| Prien-Aschau | 1435 | 9.62 | 08/18/1878 | in operation | |
| Senden – Weißenhorn | 1435 | 9.62 | 09/15/1878 | in operation | from 1966 to 2013 only freight traffic |
| Feucht-Altdorf | 1435 | 11.70 | 10/15/1878 | in operation | |
| Weilheim – Murnau | 1435 | 21.40 | 05/15/1879 | in operation |
Endowment Act of 1882
In the Endowment Act of April 28, 1882 (“Act on the Treatment of Existing Vizinal Railways and the Construction of Secondary Railways”), the end of the Vizinalbahn construction was resolved. The Vizinalbahn fund was dissolved. The neighboring communities received half of the construction costs actually borne by them from the funds of this fund. In exchange for future participation in the income, the municipalities should also be reimbursed the second half of the construction costs. With the exception of the municipality of Sonthofen , all municipalities made use of this option. The rest of the fund was transferred to the Staatsbahnbaukasse.
Further development of the railways
The Vizinalbahnen also produced income in the following years. Two lines were classified as main lines due to demand and network development and were expanded accordingly. The Weilheim – Murnau line became the main line in 1898, and two years later the first through express trains ran here, which took the local line to Garmisch-Partenkirchen . The Holzkirchen – Tölz section was also upgraded to the main line before the First World War.
Other routes were extended or connected with other railways to improve economic efficiency. Passenger traffic has now been stopped on five of the former Vizinalbahnen. Freight traffic was also stopped on three of these lines, they were shut down and dismantled.
Two Vizinalbahnen, Feucht-Altdorf and Markt Schwaben-Erding , have been integrated into the S-Bahn networks of the major cities of Nuremberg and Munich .
literature
- Hugo Marggraf: The Kgl. Bavarian railways in historical and statistical relation . Munich 1894.
- Robert Zintl: Bavarian branch lines . Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-87943-531-6 .
- Horst Weigelt: Bavarian Railways: From the mule track to the intercity . Motorbuch Stuttgart, 1A 182 ISBN 3-87943-899-4 , p. 215 ff.
Web links
- The Vicinal Railway . Archived from the original on November 26, 2015. - Definition
Individual evidence
- ↑ Large school dictionary Latin-German . Langenscheidt, Berlin / Munich 2001, ISBN 3-468-07204-X .