Wels–Passau railway

Wels–Passau railway
Overview
Locale	Austria and Germany
Line number	205 01 (Austria) 5831 (Passau border–Passau Hbf)
Technical
Line length	83 km (52 mi)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	15 kV/16.7 Hz AC overhead catenary
Operating speed	160 km/h (99.4 mph) (maximum)
Maximum incline	0.8%
Route number	150, 151
Route map Western Railway from Vienna West station -0.047 Wels Hbf 316 m above sea level (AA) Western Railway to Salzburg Hbf A25 Wels Autobahn 3.583 Wels Puchberg(abandoned 2 July 1996) 7.234 Haiding 320 m to Aschach an der Donau 12.341 Bad Schallerbach-Wallern 309 m 16.675 Schlüßlberg 18.992 Grieskirchen-Gallspach 330 m 24.736 Obertrattnach-Markt Hofkirchen Linz Local Railway from Linz 29.719 Neumarkt-Kallham 387 m 31.250 Neumarkt-Kallham West Innviertel Railway to Simbach am Inn 34.096 Kimpling 39.096 Kumpfmühl 42.261 Riedau 380 m 43.807 Zell an der Pram 47.184 Griesbach(abandoned 2 July 1996) 51.337 Andorf 352 m 57.067 Taufkirchen an der Pram 333 m 60.647 Allerding(abandoned 2 July 1996) 61.000 Schärding Granite in Schärding 63.000 Schärding Süd in Schärding 65.200 Schärding entrance yard in Schärding from Stainach-Irdning 67.140 Schärding 314 m 71.926 Wernstein 76.900 Pyret 309 m 79.636 Austria–Germany border 80.000 Passau-Voglau to Hauzenberg Inn110 m Passau Tunnel (169 m) 81.215 Passau Hbf 1.700 Passau freight yard to Regensburg Source: Austrian railway atlas

Source: Austrian railway atlas

The Wels–Passau railway—also called the Passauer Bahn ("Passau Railway") in German—is a two-track, electrified main line railway mainly in Austria, which was originally owned and operated by the k.k. privilegierte Kaiserin Elisabeth-Bahn ("Imperial and Royal privileged Empress Elisabeth Railway", KEB) company. It runs from Wels in Upper Austria to Passau in Bavaria and is part of the core network of the Austrian Federal Railways (Österreichischen Bundesbahnen, ÖBB).

The so-called Kaiserin Elisabeth-Bahn (Empress Elisabeth Railway) was completed on 1 September 1861. It is an 81.2 km (83 km to the Passau freight yard) long double-track electrified main line. It runs through 79.6 km of Austrian territory and through 1.6 km of German territory, where it becomes the Regensburg–Passau railway in Passau station.

This line has particular significance for international freight traffic between Austria and northern Europe. International long-distance passenger traffic has also always been of great importance on the route from Hamburg and Frankfurt to Vienna and the east. Since about 1894, the Ostend–Vienna Express has operated via this line and in 1971 the Trans Europ Express Prinz Eugen ran between northern Germany and Vienna via this route; the route and the name were later used by a EuroCity service and an Intercity-Express (ICE). This received its name in 2002 and operated as a direct service between Hamburg and Vienna until late 2007, when it was closed. There has been a direct Hamburg-Vienna ICE service again since the timetable of 2011/2012.

A peculiarity of this line was that, until to the opening of the branch line from Passau to Hauzenberg in 1904, the line on German soil was also controlled by an Austrian dispatcher. Until the accession of Austria to the European Union in 1995, there was a station at the end of the line in the Austrian part of Passau, where the necessary border and customs checks were carried out.

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Wikipedia