Lower Inn Valley Railway Explained

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Lower Inn Valley Railway
Other Name:Bahnstrecke Kufstein–Innsbruck
Native Name:Unterinntalbahn
Native Name Lang:de
Type:Heavy rail, Passenger/Freight rail
Intercity rail, Regional rail, Commuter rail
Status:Operational
Locale:Tyrol
Start:Border of Germany–Austria
End:Innsbruck
Stations:21
Open:24 November 1858
Owner:Austrian Federal Railways
Operator:Austrian Federal Railways
Linelength Km:75.130
Tracks:Double track
Routenumber:300 Salzburg Hbf - Brennero/Brenner
301 Jenbach - Telfs-Pfaffenhofen / Steinach in Tirol
Linenumber:302 01 Border near Kufstein–Wörgl Hbf
101 04 Wörgl Hbf–Innsbruck
101 15 Beschleunigungsgleis Wörgl Hbf – Wörgl Kundl
Electrification:15 kV/16.7 Hz AC Overhead line
Speed Km/H:160
Map State:collapsed

The Lower Inn Valley Railway (German: Unterinntalbahn) is a two-track, electrified railway line that is one of the major lines of the Austrian railways. It was originally opened as the k.k. Nordtiroler Staatsbahn (Imperial and Royal North Tyrolean State Railway). It begins at the German border near the Austrian city of Kufstein as a continuation of the Rosenheim–Kufstein line and runs in a generally south-westerly direction through Tyrol along the Inn valley to Innsbruck. The line is part of the Line 1 of Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T). The line is owned and operated by Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB).

History

Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria had ordered its construction in 1853. The line was the first railway in western Austria, opened on 24 November 1858.

New line

See main article: New Lower Inn Valley railway. In order to increase the capacity of the track and in preparation for the construction of the Brenner Base Tunnel a new high-capacity line has been built between Kundl1 junction and Fritzen-Wattens 1 junction (at Baumkirchen). It was opened on 9 December 2012 for scheduled traffic. The great majority of this line has been built in tunnel in order not to increase noise pollution in the Inn valley. The new route is designed for mixed traffic up to 250km/h and is fitted with ETCS Level 2 signalling system.[1] [2] An extension of the new line from Kundl/Radfeld to Brannenburg is in the planning phase.

References

47.2633°N 11.401°W

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Newsletter . Brenner Eisenbahn GmbH . German . PDF . 11 February 2010.
  2. Web site: Die Neue Unterinntalbahn (the new Lower Inn railway) . Brenner Eisenbahn GmbH . German . PDF . 11 February 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130927173104/http://www.beg.co.at/fileadmin/downloads/Beg_AMA.pdf . 27 September 2013 .