Mariazellerbahn, narrow-gauge railway in lower austria
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
One of the best ways to get to the so called Oetscherland in Lower Austria ist to take a ride on the 85 km long Mariazellerbahn, a 760mm narrow gauge railway from the capital town of Sankt Poelten to Mariazell, a well-known place of pilgrimage. If you happen to come to this part of austria, you should not miss it.
The track
Beginning in Sankt Poelten the train enters the romantic Pielach valley and passes the small towns of Ober Grafendorf and Rabenstein. When the valley narrows shortly before Schwarzenbach it passes below the ruined castle Weissenburg. After the short tunnel at Schoenau the train tracks meander into Natters valley.
In Laubenbachmuehle the really interesting part of the journey begins. The train winds its way in continuous turns towards the mountains. In the 2368m long Goesingtunnel, at a height of 892 m above sea level the track reaches its most elevated point after climbing up about 358m within only 17km length. After this summit tunnel the wonderful mountainous scenery of Erlauf valley is breathtaking. Viewed from Goesing station the Oetscher peak (1893m) appears incredibly imposing. The railroad runs on towards the valley to Annaberg-Reith, passing over the highest bridge of the track, the Saugrabenviadukt, 116m long and 37m high. It runs along the Wienerbruck and Erlaufklause reservoirs. In Mitterbach the train journey reaches the Styrian border and trains ends in Mariazell today, while the track, now closed for trafic, continues until Gusswerk.
Except for the part from Sankt Poelten to Laubenbachmuehle, which was relatively easy to build, the track passes through high mountains and narrow gorges, where no roads and not even a footpath exists until now. Some parts of the track are only accessible on foot by walking on the tracks, which is not recommended because there is no way to go if a train aproaches. The whole track passes through 21 tunnels with a total length of 4574m and over 75 bridges.
History
Mariazell, some 100 km south-west of Vienna, was founded in 1157 by a monk who built a small shelter or "Zell" in the woods to protect a statuette of saint Mary. Today Mariazell with its baroque church, which war rebuilt several times in different architectural styles but is still housing the old statuette is austrias most important place of pilgrimage. In 1757 about 373,000 pilgrims visited the small town, the average was 90,000 a year.
In 1871 the first plans to build a railway from Sankt Poelten to Mariazell were made, but the project was delayed until 1898. In that days, starting in 1878, the austrian-hungarian monarchy built a network of narrow-gauge railway lines in bosnia, for which they had bougth some 760mm-gauge-locomotives from a serbian steelwork. 760mm are approximately two and a half feet. It is said, that this material was originally used for construction of the Suez channel. To asure compatibility between the different narrow-gauge lines most tracks in austria were also built with 760mm-gauge. The construction took several years, the last part was opened in 1907.
The tunnel was built within one year and 200 days, which was a very short time for more than two kilometers. Constructor Fogowitz was the first to use small 1hp-electric drills powered by steam generators located at both ends of the tunnel.
In 1909 the railway trafic became that strong, that the steam locomotives could not handle it anymore. 190,000 tons had to be moved Therefore the Mariazellerbahn became the first electrified railway line in austria, and the only electric narrow-gauge railway. And, almost unbelieveable: The 16 electric locos built in 1911 are still in service until today except for one that was lost in an accident in 1981!
For this project two hydroelectric power stations were built in Erlaufboden and Wienerbruck by the Niederoesterreichische Landesbahnen (lower austrian provincial railways)
company. The are still in service and suplying the railway with power.
The "Toerlerbahn"
In 1886 the Parliament of the Provice of Styria considered construction of a narrow-gauge local railway from Mariazell to Kapfenberg as the area was not only witnessing the development of a substantial iron industry but was also rich in coal deposits and woodland. After the franchise had been granted, construction work was commissioned in the winter of 1892/93 and work started on the Kapfenberg - Au-Seewiesen local line. After 210 days of work, the 22.9 km-section was completed. The formal inauguration ceremony was held on december 8, 1893. Even though the Sankt Poelten - Mariazell - Gusswerk line was completed in 1907, the link to the Kapfenberg - Au-Seewiesen Landesbahn was never established, for cost reasons. Service on the 3-km section from Seebach-Turnau to the Au-Seeweisen terminal station was discontinued effective december 31, 1964 and the tracks soon dismantled.
While goods transport from and to Thoerl was running close to capacity the line lacked the potential for passenger traffic. While the line provided access to the scenic mountainous landscape of the Hochschwab it was running far from any major settlements and scheduled passenger service was therefore discontinued as early as March 15, 1959. Since then, special outings with steam traction have been organised at regular intervals for railway enthusiasts and tourists until the end of 1999, when the line was finally closed down and will probably be dismantled in the next years.
Tourist attractions
Except for a visit of the church there are lots of other things to do in Mariazellerland. The area is ideal for hiking through the gorges and valleys around the Oetscher mountain. Climbing that mountain is something for experienced climbers only, and you should watch out for the bears still living in this national park area.
