InTramCities with Gordon Stewart

Linz, Austria : 28th, 31st August and 1st September, 2003

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Linz is now taking delivery of a fleet of low-floor "Cityrunner" trams from Bombardier. 001 is seen here at Hauptplatz.

The most recent extension to Ebelsberg terminates at Hillerstrasse - but will be further extended to the outlying "Solar City" development shortly.

The Postlingbergbahn runs some of the oldest trams in regular service on one of the world's steepest adhesion railway lines.

Linz Tramways are operated by Linz AG, the city-owned holding company responsible for many of the Upper Austrian capital's public services and marketed as "Linz Linien". Linz has a population of around 250,000 in the city itself and surrounding areas, of which around 100,000 are within the areas served by the tramway. Not enough for Linz to be considering expensive Stadtbahn-type developments, but sufficient for the city to be committed to developing a highly efficient and modern street tramway system.

The network is built to the unusual narrow gauge of 900 mm, but there are no plans to re-gauge and a recent investigation concluded that the benefits of such a change would be minimal in comparison with the costs. Instead, LinzLinien have now taken delivery of the first batch of 40 metre-long seven-sectioned "Cityrunner" low floor trams built by Bombardier, have extended the line south through Ebelsberg, introduced computer monitoring of the entire network with real-time passenger information systems, and have now embarked on a major redevelopment of the transport interchange at the main railway station.

The main service runs north-south, from Universitat, through the northern suburbs, across the River Danube on the Nibelungenbrucke, through Hauptplatz and along the main commercial street, Landstrasse. Lines 1 and 2 continue south from Blumauerplatz along Wiener Strasse to Simonystrasse, from where line 1 branches westwards to terminate at Auwiesen. Line 2 is the new extension to Ebelsberg, with a provisional terminus at Hillerstrasse in 2002. This line not only restores trams to the southern part of Linz, where an independent "Lokalbahn" ran until 1974, but gives hope that trams may eventually meet up with what still remains of that tramway - the 4.6 km stretch from St Florian to Pichlingsee which is operated by a museum society.

Line 3 runs from the terminus of the Postlingbergbahn, close to the northern bank of the Danube at Urfahr, through the city centre and at Blumauerplatz branches off to the main railway station (Hauptbahnhof). The staion is, therefore, only directly accessible by tram from the city centre and this means that most city residents are required change trams to reach it. A major redevelopment at the station, in progress in 2003, will remedy the situation by diverting the main north-south line, in tunnel, via Hauptbahnhof. Ramps are under contruction alongside the Volksgarten at Blumauerplatz and to the north of Bulgariplatz. Along Wienerstrasse, the new tramstop at Herz-Jesu-Kirche will be below street level, but open to free light. and the new station at Unionkreuzung will be underground. At Hauptbahnhof, two underground turning loops will be provided to assist in service flexibility. The new aligned is planned to be in service from December 2004.

Linz's fleet, until the arrival of the first Cityrunners in 2001, consisted of traditional German Duewag-type trams, built under licence in Austria - in 8-axle form dating from 1970-71 and 10-axle form dating from 1977. Between 1984 and 1988, 16 "Stadtbahn-M" type trams were purchased in 10-axle format (one bogie set longer than normally bought by German tram operators of this widely used type).

In addition to the 18.9 km of street tramway, Linz is also the home of the Postlingbergbahn and the terminus for the Linzer Lokalbahn, a privately operated light railway linking the city with villages in the outlying region to the west. The Lokalbahn operators, Stern & Hafferl run a number of other light railways in Austria, including the Gmunden tramway. The Linzer Lokalbahn is 56% owned by the city.

The city's own Postlingbergbahn is one of the steepest tramways in the world using purely wheel on rail adhesion. The Postlingberg towers over Linz on the northern bank of the Danube giving magnificent views of the city and is a popular destination for tourists and trippers. The line is 2.9 km long, climbing 255 metres, with a gradient of 10.5% and was opened in 1898. A special fare is charged for the journey up the hillside and through pleasant woodlands to the 18th century pilgrimage church, restaurants and the Grottenbahn themed attraction. Two out of the 13-strong fleet of trams are normally in service on the 20-minute run and the heritage two-axle trams themselves are all part of the tourist experience.

The new underground link via Hauptbahnhof was opened on 1st September, 2004.
The line to Ebelsberg and Hillerstrasse was extended in to Solar City in September 2005.
The Postlingbergbahn was converted from metre to 900mm gauge, extended to Hauptplatz and re-equipped with three modern articulated trams from Bombardier in May 2009.
Postlingberg trams VIII, X and XI were retained, modernised, re-gauged and fitted with pantographs to allow "heritage" services to be operated
In 2011 a branch was built from the Hautbahnhof subway to Doblerholz and later extended to Schloss Traun (with a loop for short workings at Trauner Kreuzung Park & Ride)

 
Date Film No No Location View Dir Tram Notes
28/08/2003 203112 1 Landstrasse Out In 41 At Scharitzerstrasse. Construction of ramp at Volksgarten
28/08/2003 203112 2 Landstrasse In Out 61 At Volksgarten
28/08/2003 203112 3 Landstrasse Out In 62 At Goethestrasse
28/08/2003 203112 4 Landstrasse In Out 001 At Burgerstrasse
28/08/2003 203112 5 Landstrasse In Out 66 At Burgerstrasse
28/08/2003 203112 6 Burgerstrasse Out In 44
28/08/2003 203112 7 Mozartkreuzung In Out 002
28/08/2003 203112 8 Mozartkreuzung In Out 61
28/08/2003 203112 9 Mozartkreuzung Out In 62
28/08/2003 203112 10 Mozartkreuzung Out In 004
28/08/2003 203112 11 Taubenmarkt In Out 66
28/08/2003 203112 12 Taubenmarkt Out In 49
28/08/2003 203112 13 Schmidtorstrasse In Out 62
28/08/2003 203112 14 Hauptplatz In Out 63
28/08/2003 203112 15 Schmidtorstrasse Out In 45
28/08/2003 203112 16 Hauptplatz

51
28/08/2003 203112 17 Hauptplatz

66
28/08/2003 203112 18 Hauptplatz

001
28/08/2003 203112 19 Hauptplatz

011
01/09/2003 203142 1 Schmidtorstrasse In Out 51 Sunday 31/8
01/09/2003 203142 2 Hillerstrasse Out
51 At Terminus on Monday 1/9
01/09/2003 203142 3 Kaserne Out In 008
01/09/2003 203142 4 Kaserne In Out 55
01/09/2003 203142 5 Ennsfeld In Out 50
01/09/2003 203142 6 Hartheimer Strasse In Out 49
01/09/2003 203142 7 Hartheimer Strasse Out In 50
01/09/2003 203142 8 Edmund-Aigner-Strasse In Out 42
01/09/2003 203142 9 Hauderweg In Out 007
01/09/2003 203142 10 Wiener Strasse In Out 44
01/09/2003 203142 11 Ebelsberg In Out 54
01/09/2003 203142 12 Ebelsberg Out In

01/09/2003 203142 13 Saporoshje Strasse Out In 44
01/09/2003 203151 1 Durerstrasse Out In 45
01/09/2003 203151 2 Dauphinestrasse Out In 52
01/09/2003 203151 3 Radlerweg In Out 48
01/09/2003 203151 4 Auwiesen In
48 At terminus
01/09/2003 203151 5 Remise Kleinmunchen In Out 49
01/09/2003 203151 6 Wahringer Strasse In Out 78
01/09/2003 203151 7 WIFI In Out 007
01/09/2003 203151 8 WIFI Out In 50
01/09/2003 203151 9 Bulgariplatz In Out 002
01/09/2003 203151 10 Bulgariplatz Out In 004
01/09/2003 203151 11 Herz Jesu Kirche In Out 54
01/09/2003 203151 12 Herz Jesu Kirche In In 78
01/09/2003 203151 13 Herz Jesu Kirche In Out 45
01/09/2003 203151 14 Herz Jesu Kirche Out In 49
01/09/2003 203151 15 Wiener Strasse In Out 52
01/09/2003 203151 16 Unionkreuzung In Out 47
01/09/2003 203151 17 Unionkreuzung Out In 69
01/09/2003 203151 18 Blumauerplatz Out In 51
01/09/2003 203151 19 Blumauerplatz In Out 63
01/09/2003 203151 20 Karntner Strasse / Hbf In Out 62
01/09/2003 203151 21 Rudolfstrasse In Out 50
01/09/2003 203151 22 Ferihumerstrasse Out In 47 View to Wildbergstrasse
01/09/2003 203151 23 Ferihumerstrasse Out In 51 Peuerbachstrasse
01/09/2003 203151 24 Peuerbachstrasse Out In 48
01/09/2003 203151 25 Linke Bruckenstrasse Out In 008
01/09/2003 203151 26 Harbach Out In 73
01/09/2003 203151 27 Grundberg Out In 50
01/09/2003 203151 28 Grundberg Out In 55
01/09/2003 203151 29 St Magdalena Out In 004
01/09/2003 203151 30 St Magdalena In Out 69
01/09/2003 203151 31 Glaser Strasse In Out 42
01/09/2003 203151 32 Dornach Out In 69
01/09/2003 203151 33 Universitat Out In 007
01/09/2003 203151 34 Biegung (Hauptstrasse) Out In 65
01/09/2003 203151 35 Postlingbergbahn Talbahnhof



01/09/2003 203151 36 Postlingberg Out In XIV
01/09/2003 203161 1 Postlingberg In In XIV
01/09/2003 203161 2 Postlingberg In Out XV
01/09/2003 203161 3 Postlingberg Out Out XV
01/09/2003 203161 4 Postlingberg-Oberschableder In In XV
01/09/2003 203161 5 Postlingberg-Oberschableder In Out XVII
01/09/2003 203161 6 Postlingberg In In XVII
01/09/2003 203161 7 Postlingberg-Schableder In In XVII
01/09/2003 203161 8 Postlingberg-Schableder In Out XIV XIV heading to the summit - XVII downbound
01/09/2003 203161 9 Postlingberg-Tiergarten In Out XV

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