Thörl Explained

Thörl
Settlement Type:Municipality
Pushpin Map:Austria
Pushpin Mapsize:270
Pushpin Map Caption:Location within Austria
Mapsize:260x260px
Coordinates:47.5169°N 15.2192°W
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:Austria
Subdivision Type1:State
Subdivision Name1:Styria
Subdivision Type2:District
Subdivision Name2:Bruck-Mürzzuschlag
Parts Style:para
Leader Title:Mayor
Leader Name:Günther Wagner
Elevation M:638
Population Density Km2:auto
Timezone:CET
Timezone Dst:CEST
Utc Offset:+1
Utc Offset Dst:+2
Registration Plate:BM
Postal Code Type:Postal code
Postal Code:8621
Area Code Type:Area code
Area Code:03861
Website:www.thoerl.gv.at

Thörl is a market town at the foot of the Hochschwab in the Styrian district of Bruck-Mürzzuschlag.

Geography

Boroughs

Thörl has eight boroughs: Etmißl, Fölz, Hinterberg, Lonschitz, Oisching, Palbersdorf, St. Ilgen, and Thörl.

Neighboring Communes

History

As of 1 January 2015 the formerly independent municipalities Sankt Ilgen and Etmißl were incorporated into Thörl. Already in 1955 the municipality Fölz bei Thörl had become part of the municipality.

Politics

Thörl's mayor is Günther Wagner of the SPÖ. In its municipal council (15 seats) the party seats are distributed as follows: 9 SPÖ,3 ÖVP, 2 Freie Unabhängige Liste - Lebenswert, 1 FPÖ.[1]

Twin towns and sister cities

Thörl is twinned with:

Traffic

Streets

The Mariazeller Straße is the most important road link between Kapfenberg and Mariazell, the most popular pilgrimage site in Austria. In its further course it leads to Sankt Pölten, the capital of the neighbouring state of Lower Austria.

Railway (History)

In 1893, the Thörlerbahn, a narrow gauge railway with a track gauge of 760 mm, which linked the area with Kapfenberg and the Austrian Southern Railway (Südbahn), was opened. In particular, the local iron industry benefited from this. A connection to the Austrian Western Railway was planned, but never realized.

In 1959, the passenger traffic was terminated. However, in 1991, the Verein Thörlerbahn (Thörlerbahn Association) took out a trial run with a nostalgic train. But when a bank failure bankrupted the local iron industry, the operator of the railway, Steiermärkische Landesbahnen, lost their largest (and actually the only) freight customer. As a consequence of that, they had to close the track.

In 2003 and 2004, the train tracks were removed and replaced by a cycle track.

References

  1. http://www.thoerl.gv.at/index.php/gemeinde/gemeindemandatare Municipal council mandates