Wiener Alwegbahn plans
The Viennese Alwegbahn plans were discussed as an alternative to the construction of the Vienna subway between autumn 1957 and the end of 1962. The Alwegbahn did not come to fruition.
background
Towards the end of the 1950s, the Vienna ÖVP in particular promoted underground construction. Regardless of the existence of the Viennese electric light rail and multiple subway plans since the end of the Danube Monarchy , Vienna did not have an efficient second-level means of mass transport at the time of the beginning of mass motorization . In parallel to the establishment of the Vienna Schnellbahn by the Austrian Federal Railways , the city administration was looking for one. The Viennese SPÖ, which was at the time intensely hostile to the leadership of the Vienna ÖVP, was looking for an alternative to what it described as a “propaganda trick” and “eye-wiping” subway project. As such, the Alwegbahn offered itself.
presentation
The fact that Felix Slavik, who was appointed to the Vienna City Councilor for Finance on September 27, 1957, had great sympathy for the Alwegbahn system, became known to the public as early as November 1957 (a corresponding article in the party newspaper Arbeiter-Zeitung of November 5, 1957, however, still calls the means of transport "Allwegbahn" ). In the Arbeiter-Zeitung of January 22, 1958, the competition for the ÖVP's underground project was presented with a large article on page 1. The political background was admitted relatively openly. In addition, it was said that the time to build subways had been missed “by the Christian social city administration” (in other words, before 1914), the construction of a subway network was currently far too expensive, would take decades and will continue the excavation work seriously disrupts city traffic.
As a way out, the Alwegbahn was presented, a monorail system whose Cologne test route had apparently been visited shortly before by a high-ranking Viennese delegation led by Finance Councilor Felix Slavik and City Councilor Thaller. Concerns about the effect of Alweg buildings on the cityscape were pushed aside or appeased that there was "no Alweg railway on the Ringstrasse" and none above Mariahilfer Strasse, but "a tall, slender, architecturally beautiful Alweg viaduct, for example the new buildings on the Danube Canal or the Margaretengürtel above the Wiental would give Vienna a truly cosmopolitan, almost utopian character ”.
Planned route network
In the article mentioned and in a follow-up article from February 15, 1958, the Alweg route network planned for Vienna emerged. The conversion of the (extended) belt light rail system to the new system “from Matzleinsdorf to Floridsdorf ” was the priority, and ultimately that of the entire light rail network “to Purkersdorf ”. The new development areas on the other side of the Danube were also considered to be ideal areas for the new means of mass transport with a "hypermodern appearance and technical beauty". According to media reports, the town hall planned an Alweg experiment in 1960 in the area of the southern belt between Gumpendorfer Straße and Philadelphiabrücke. In addition, the Alweg Society had propagated a two-story high-rise city motorway on the western belt. Another project envisaged the replacement or revitalization of the tram-light rail combination line 18G , which was discontinued in 1945 due to the war , with an Alwegbahn from Gumpendorf to the Südbahnhof.
Internal resistance
Regardless of the enthusiasm of individual top politicians, there was internal resistance to the Vienna Alwegbahn project. The basically friendly reporting in its own party paper also made it clear that the Alwegbahn was primarily a favorite project of the Slavik City Councilor for Finance, who welcomed the system as "ten times cheaper" than an underground train. Technical counter-arguments (the wheel arches make up 25 percent of the vehicle volume, lack of clarity about the wear and tear of the wheels) were openly mentioned from the start. The decision, it was said at the end, was made by the technicians.
According to press reports, a delegation of Viennese traffic experts sent to Cologne in January 1958 came to the conclusion that the curve radii of the Alweg system were too large for the densely built-up urban area, but that this form of monorail could be used well on the outskirts. But after it became clear that no larger German city would use the new mass transport system either , the decision to move towards the Vienna underground was gradually made with the intermediate stage of the underground tram .
literature
- Ernst Kurz: The urban development of the City of Vienna in relation to traffic . Vienna MA 18, 1981.
- Robert Schediwy: City images - reflections on the change in architecture and urbanism . Vienna 2005, especially p. 303 (ill.).
Individual evidence
- ^ Hans Peter Pawlik, Josef Otto Slezak: Wagner's work for Vienna. Total work of art Stadtbahn (= International Archive for Locomotive History. Volume 44). Slezak, Vienna 1999, ISBN 3-85416-185-9 , p. 13
- ↑ Discussions about the all-way monorail . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna November 5, 1957, p. 1 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
- ↑ Alwegbahnen through the federal capital? In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 22, 1958, p. 1 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
- ↑ a b Alweg press article 1958 - Viennese experts judge Alweg
- ↑ City Councilor Slavik: Vienna needs a rapid transit train . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 15, 1958, p. 2 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
- ^ New Austria newspaper on March 13, 1960
- ^ New Austria newspaper on March 16, 1960
- ^ Energy policy in Austria after World War II , diploma thesis by Dipl.-Ing. Klaus Albrecht