The Koralm Railway (German: Koralmbahn) is an Austrian 127 km-long (79 mi)[1]double-track, electrified, high-speed railway currently under construction. It will connect the cities of Graz and Klagenfurt. Construction started in 2001; the entire railway line is expected to be operational by 2026.
Although construction will not finish until 2025, parts of the railway line are already open, or will be opened earlier, to enhance the quality of local commuter rail services. The railway is primarily built for intermodal freight transport but will also be used by passenger trains travelling at up to 250 km/h. The travel time from Klagenfurt to Graz will be reduced from three hours to 45 minutes. Commissioning of the first new track section began in 2010 and construction is expected to be completed in 2022.[2][3]
The centrepiece of the new railway is the 33 km Koralm Tunnel under the Koralpe mountains that give the railway its name. The project is currently the largest under way to expand the Austrian railway network with a budget of several billion euros, and will connect the federal state capitals of the adjacent states of Styria and Carinthia. The connection is possible via a three-hour train journey via Bruck an der Mur,[2] though ÖBB currently runs Intercitybus services between Graz and Klagenfurt via Wolfsberg at a frequency of approximately two hours with a journey time of two hours. In combination with the projected 27 km-long Semmering Base Tunnel the Koralm Railway will remove bottlenecks in the Austrian freight and passenger railway infrastructure (namely the Semmering Pass and the Neumarkt Sattel). Together with the existing ItalianPontebbana railway line between Tarvisio and Udine they will be part of what is referred to as Baltic-Adriatic Corridor - a traffic axis connecting the Polish port city of Gdańsk and the Italian city of Bologna. In 2013 the Koralm Railway was integrated into the Trans-European Transport Core Network.[4][5]
Currently, the fastest Vienna-Graz and Vienna-Klagenfurt journeys on the Railjet services are 2h35m and 3h55m, respectively. If the Koralm railway enables Graz-Klagenfurt journeys of 0h45m, this will bring Vienna-Klagenfurt journeys down to 3h20m, a saving of 0h20m. In conjunction with the Semmering Base Tunnel (expected to offer journey time savings of approximately 0h30m) and the upgraded Pottendorfer Line (de:Pottendorfer Linie), Vienna-Klagenfurt journeys of 2h40m will be possible. The current railway layout makes it difficult for services to and from Vienna to simultaneously serve both Graz and Klagenfurt (the biggest cities in the Styria and Carinthia Länder respectively). Unless trains backtrack to Bruck an der Mur, the shortest railway route between the two cities runs via Maribor, Slovenia. As a result, ÖBB currently serves Graz and Klagenfurt with separate Railjet services. The Koralm Railway will make it significantly easier for ÖBB to connect both cities to Vienna with the same Railjet services, making increased service frequencies for these two cities possible.
Sections
Graz - Feldkirchen
Between Graz and Feldkirchen the Koralm Railway meets the Southern Railway line (Südbahn) connecting Vienna with Slovenia. This stretch was upgraded in order to meet High-speed rail and S-Bahn standards. Specifically, level crossings were replaced by undercrossings and train stations were upgraded with some of them now serving as interchanges to other transport modes.[6] The urban tram and bus services of Graz were extended to provide direct links from the train stations Graz-Don Bosco and Graz-Puntigam to the city centre. Graz Hauptbahnhof is currently being upgraded to meet the expected increase in railway traffic following the opening of the Koralm Railway and the extension of the Southern Railway between Graz and Slovenia from a single to a two track railway line.
Structures: Several undercrossings (10 new, 2 upgrade)
Construction started: 2002
Progress: Finished (2 tracks; 2005), prepared for a 4 track upgrade
Feldkirchen - Wettmannstätten
Southern portal of the Hengsbergtunnel and Hengsberg station (opened in 2010)
After crossing the Süd Autobahn (A2) the Koralm Railway branches off the existing Southern Railway tracks. Immediately after the junction a 3 km-long subsurface route will be erected which will also include a station serving Graz Airport. Reemerging on the surface the tracks will then cross the Grazer Feld plain and subsequently follow the Pyhrn Autobahn (A9). South of the Container terminal Werndorf two junctions to the existing Southern Railway line will be built - the first to integrate the container terminal, the second (Weitendorf junction) will serve as a connection for local railway services. After undercrossing the Pyhrn Autobahn and going through the 1.7 km-long Hengsberg Tunnel the Koralm Railway will arrive at Wettmannstätten.[7] In December 2010 the 14 km-long section from Weitendorf junction to Wettmannstätten was opened as a single track, non-electrified railway. It is integrated in the Styrian S-Bahn system as S6 , cutting the journey time from Deutschlandsberg to Graz main station by 15 minutes.[8] When the entire Koralm Railway becomes operational this stretch will be upgraded to two tracks and become electrified.
Structures: 2 subsurface routes, 1 tunnel, several bridges
Construction started: 2007
Progress: subsection Weitendorf junction-Wettmannstätten - Finished (1 track; 2010), prepared for a 2 track upgrade
Wettmannstätten - Sankt Andrä
Eastern portal of the Koralm Tunnel (May 2012)
This section includes the 33 km-long Koralm Tunnel undercutting the Koralpe, an up to 2000 m high mountain range separating Southern Styria and Eastern Carinthia. Before reaching the eastern portal of the tunnel the Koralm Railway crosses the Laßnitz valley on a 10 km open land stretch, incorporating the future structures of the train station Weststeiermark. The station will serve as the regional hub connecting existing local railway lines with the Intercity traffic running over the Koralm Railway. It will also harbour the safety and maintenance installations of the Koralm tunnel.[9]
The Koralm Tunnel itself will consist of two single track tubes with cross-passages every 500 m and an emergency station halfway its total length of 33 km. The construction of the tunnel is divided into three sections (from east to west): KAT1, KAT2 and KAT3.
Structures: 23 bridges and undercrossings, 3 railway briges, 1 tunnel
Construction started: 2008
Progress: Construction of exploration tunnels started in 2003 and lasted until 2010, works on section KAT1 began in 2008 and were finished in 2013, works on the section KAT2 began in 2011, and on KAT3 in 2014.
Sankt Andrä - Aich
This 9.7-kilometre-long (6.0 mi) section between the western portal of the Koralm tunnel at Sankt Andrä and Aich includes the future Lavanttal station, which will serve a similar role as the Weststeiermark station on the Styrian side of the Koralm, that is, connecting the Koralm Railway with local train and bus services. After crossing the Lavanttal the Koralm Railway will enter a series of tunnels (collectively called Tunnelkette Granitztal) with a total length of around 6 km (namely the Grutschentunnel, an enclosed section crossing the Granitztal valley and the Langerbergtunnel). Preparatory works started in 2008, which included the construction of bridges, highways and the diversion of a section of the Lavant river and a part of the Lavanttal railway.[10] The construction of the tunnels began in March 2015.[10]
Progress: Preparatory works finished; construction of tunnels started in 2015
Aich - Mittlern - Althofen an der Drau
Construction site at Kühnsdorf (August 2012)
This 28.5-kilometre-long (17.7 mi) section between the Jauntal bridge and Althofen an der Drau, which includes a 600-metre-long (2,000 ft) bridge crossing the river Drau.[11]
Progress: Section Mittlern-Althofen under construction, construction of section Aich-Mittlern expected to start in 2017
Althofen an der Drau - Klagenfurt
Train station Grafenstein
This 14.2-kilometre-long (8.8 mi) section between Althofen an der Drau and Klagenfurt's main station closely follows the existing regional railway line. Construction started in 2001, had to be stopped however after a legal appeal over environmental risk assessments. In 2003 works resumed and could be finished in 2007 as a single track, non-electrified railway (which will be upgraded to a two track, electrified railway when the whole Koralm Railway becomes operational). The route of this section follows entirely a section of the Drava Valley Railway (Drautal Railway), which was built in the 1860s and connected Maribor (Slovenia) to Franzensfeste (Italy).[12]
koralm, railway, german, koralmbahn, austrian, long, double, track, electrified, high, speed, railway, currently, under, construction, will, connect, cities, graz, klagenfurt, construction, started, 2001, entire, railway, line, expected, operational, 2026, kor. The Koralm Railway German Koralmbahn is an Austrian 127 km long 79 mi 1 double track electrified high speed railway currently under construction It will connect the cities of Graz and Klagenfurt Construction started in 2001 the entire railway line is expected to be operational by 2026 Koralm Railway KoralmbahnTrack of the Koralm Railway blue OverviewStatusUnder constructionLocaleAustria Styria Carinthia TerminiGraz Central StationKlagenfurt Central StationStations12WebsiteKoralmbahn in German ServiceTypeHigh speed railCommuter railFreight railTechnicalLine length127 km 79 mi Track gauge1 435 mm 4 ft 8 1 2 in standard gaugeMinimum radius3 000 metres 9 800 ft 1 Operating speed250 km h 160 mph Maximum incline8 1 Route mapto ViennaGraz Hbf to KoflachGraz Don BoscoStyrian Eastern RailwayGraz PuntigamFeldkirchen SeiersbergSud Autobahn A2 Styrian Eastern RailwayGraz Airport Southern RailwayContainer terminal WerndorfWundschuhWeitendorf junctionPyhrn Autobahn A9 Southern RailwayKainach bridgeHengsberg Tunnel 1 7 km to SloveniaHengsbergto Graz via Lieboch WettmannstattenLassnitz bridgeWieser Railway Weststeiermark stationto Wies EibiswaldKoralm Tunnel 32 9 km to WolfsbergLavant bridgeLavanttal station Lavanttal RailwayGrutschentunnel 2 6 km Granitztal 0 4 km Langerbergtunnel 3 1 km Jauntal bridgeAich WiederndorfBleiburg loopBleiburgMittlernKuhnsdorf Tunnel 0 5 km Kuhnsdorf KlopeinerseePeratschitzen Tunnel 0 2 km Srejach Tunnel 0 6 km Untersammelsdorf TunnelStein TunnelDrava bridgeLind Tunnel 0 5 km Junction to Drava Valley RailwayGrafenstein Tunnel 0 6 km GrafensteinGurk bridgeGlan bridgeEbenthalFreight terminal Klagenfurtto Vienna via St Veit GlanKlagenfurt Hbf Junction to Rosen Valley Railwayto ItalyThis diagram viewtalkedit Contents 1 Overview 2 Sections 2 1 Graz Feldkirchen 2 2 Feldkirchen Wettmannstatten 2 3 Wettmannstatten Sankt Andra 2 4 Sankt Andra Aich 2 5 Aich Mittlern Althofen an der Drau 2 6 Althofen an der Drau Klagenfurt 3 References 4 External linksOverview EditAlthough construction will not finish until 2025 parts of the railway line are already open or will be opened earlier to enhance the quality of local commuter rail services The railway is primarily built for intermodal freight transport but will also be used by passenger trains travelling at up to 250 km h The travel time from Klagenfurt to Graz will be reduced from three hours to 45 minutes Commissioning of the first new track section began in 2010 and construction is expected to be completed in 2022 2 3 The centrepiece of the new railway is the 33 km Koralm Tunnel under the Koralpe mountains that give the railway its name The project is currently the largest under way to expand the Austrian railway network with a budget of several billion euros and will connect the federal state capitals of the adjacent states of Styria and Carinthia The connection is possible via a three hour train journey via Bruck an der Mur 2 though OBB currently runs Intercitybus services between Graz and Klagenfurt via Wolfsberg at a frequency of approximately two hours with a journey time of two hours In combination with the projected 27 km long Semmering Base Tunnel the Koralm Railway will remove bottlenecks in the Austrian freight and passenger railway infrastructure namely the Semmering Pass and the Neumarkt Sattel Together with the existing Italian Pontebbana railway line between Tarvisio and Udine they will be part of what is referred to as Baltic Adriatic Corridor a traffic axis connecting the Polish port city of Gdansk and the Italian city of Bologna In 2013 the Koralm Railway was integrated into the Trans European Transport Core Network 4 5 Currently the fastest Vienna Graz and Vienna Klagenfurt journeys on the Railjet services are 2h35m and 3h55m respectively If the Koralm railway enables Graz Klagenfurt journeys of 0h45m this will bring Vienna Klagenfurt journeys down to 3h20m a saving of 0h20m In conjunction with the Semmering Base Tunnel expected to offer journey time savings of approximately 0h30m and the upgraded Pottendorfer Line de Pottendorfer Linie Vienna Klagenfurt journeys of 2h40m will be possible The current railway layout makes it difficult for services to and from Vienna to simultaneously serve both Graz and Klagenfurt the biggest cities in the Styria and Carinthia Lander respectively Unless trains backtrack to Bruck an der Mur the shortest railway route between the two cities runs via Maribor Slovenia As a result OBB currently serves Graz and Klagenfurt with separate Railjet services The Koralm Railway will make it significantly easier for OBB to connect both cities to Vienna with the same Railjet services making increased service frequencies for these two cities possible Sections EditGraz Feldkirchen Edit Between Graz and Feldkirchen the Koralm Railway meets the Southern Railway line Sudbahn connecting Vienna with Slovenia This stretch was upgraded in order to meet High speed rail and S Bahn standards Specifically level crossings were replaced by undercrossings and train stations were upgraded with some of them now serving as interchanges to other transport modes 6 The urban tram and bus services of Graz were extended to provide direct links from the train stations Graz Don Bosco and Graz Puntigam to the city centre Graz Hauptbahnhof is currently being upgraded to meet the expected increase in railway traffic following the opening of the Koralm Railway and the extension of the Southern Railway between Graz and Slovenia from a single to a two track railway line Features 6 Length 7 km Structures Several undercrossings 10 new 2 upgrade Construction started 2002 Progress Finished 2 tracks 2005 prepared for a 4 track upgradeFeldkirchen Wettmannstatten Edit Southern portal of the Hengsbergtunnel and Hengsberg station opened in 2010 After crossing the Sud Autobahn A2 the Koralm Railway branches off the existing Southern Railway tracks Immediately after the junction a 3 km long subsurface route will be erected which will also include a station serving Graz Airport Reemerging on the surface the tracks will then cross the Grazer Feld plain and subsequently follow the Pyhrn Autobahn A9 South of the Container terminal Werndorf two junctions to the existing Southern Railway line will be built the first to integrate the container terminal the second Weitendorf junction will serve as a connection for local railway services After undercrossing the Pyhrn Autobahn and going through the 1 7 km long Hengsberg Tunnel the Koralm Railway will arrive at Wettmannstatten 7 In December 2010 the 14 km long section from Weitendorf junction to Wettmannstatten was opened as a single track non electrified railway It is integrated in the Styrian S Bahn system as S6 cutting the journey time from Deutschlandsberg to Graz main station by 15 minutes 8 When the entire Koralm Railway becomes operational this stretch will be upgraded to two tracks and become electrified Features 7 Length 24 3 km Total length of subsurface sections 5 8 km Structures 2 subsurface routes 1 tunnel several bridges Construction started 2007 Progress subsection Weitendorf junction Wettmannstatten Finished 1 track 2010 prepared for a 2 track upgradeWettmannstatten Sankt Andra Edit Eastern portal of the Koralm Tunnel May 2012 This section includes the 33 km long Koralm Tunnel undercutting the Koralpe an up to 2000 m high mountain range separating Southern Styria and Eastern Carinthia Before reaching the eastern portal of the tunnel the Koralm Railway crosses the Lassnitz valley on a 10 km open land stretch incorporating the future structures of the train station Weststeiermark The station will serve as the regional hub connecting existing local railway lines with the Intercity traffic running over the Koralm Railway It will also harbour the safety and maintenance installations of the Koralm tunnel 9 The Koralm Tunnel itself will consist of two single track tubes with cross passages every 500 m and an emergency station halfway its total length of 33 km The construction of the tunnel is divided into three sections from east to west KAT1 KAT2 and KAT3 Features 9 Length 41 5 km Total length of subsurface sections 32 9 km Structures 23 bridges and undercrossings 3 railway briges 1 tunnel Construction started 2008 Progress Construction of exploration tunnels started in 2003 and lasted until 2010 works on section KAT1 began in 2008 and were finished in 2013 works on the section KAT2 began in 2011 and on KAT3 in 2014 Sankt Andra Aich Edit This 9 7 kilometre long 6 0 mi section between the western portal of the Koralm tunnel at Sankt Andra and Aich includes the future Lavanttal station which will serve a similar role as the Weststeiermark station on the Styrian side of the Koralm that is connecting the Koralm Railway with local train and bus services After crossing the Lavanttal the Koralm Railway will enter a series of tunnels collectively called Tunnelkette Granitztal with a total length of around 6 km namely the Grutschentunnel an enclosed section crossing the Granitztal valley and the Langerbergtunnel Preparatory works started in 2008 which included the construction of bridges highways and the diversion of a section of the Lavant river and a part of the Lavanttal railway 10 The construction of the tunnels began in March 2015 10 Features 10 Length 9 7 km Total length of subsurface sections 6 1 km Structures 2 tunnels 1 enclosed section 1 railway bridge 2 bridges Construction started 2008 Progress Preparatory works finished construction of tunnels started in 2015Aich Mittlern Althofen an der Drau Edit Construction site at Kuhnsdorf August 2012 This 28 5 kilometre long 17 7 mi section between the Jauntal bridge and Althofen an der Drau which includes a 600 metre long 2 000 ft bridge crossing the river Drau 11 Features 11 Length 28 5 km Structures 6 tunnels 15 railway bridges 11 bridges 3 undercrossings 3 wildlife crossings Construction started 2010 Progress Section Mittlern Althofen under construction construction of section Aich Mittlern expected to start in 2017Althofen an der Drau Klagenfurt Edit Train station Grafenstein This 14 2 kilometre long 8 8 mi section between Althofen an der Drau and Klagenfurt s main station closely follows the existing regional railway line Construction started in 2001 had to be stopped however after a legal appeal over environmental risk assessments In 2003 works resumed and could be finished in 2007 as a single track non electrified railway which will be upgraded to a two track electrified railway when the whole Koralm Railway becomes operational The route of this section follows entirely a section of the Drava Valley Railway Drautal Railway which was built in the 1860s and connected Maribor Slovenia to Franzensfeste Italy 12 Features 12 Length 14 2 km Structures 1 tunnel 3 under and overcrossings bridges over rivers Gurk and Glan Construction started 2001 Progress finished 1 track 2007 upgrade for second track started in March 2015 13 References Edit a b c Johannes Fleckl Ernst Geodatische Herausforderungen beim Projekt Koralmtunnel In Felsbau Heft 5 2010 S 315 321 ISSN 1866 0134 a b OBB Infrastruktur AG Information zur Koralmbahn in German OBB Retrieved 2011 06 13 Friedl Bettina 3 April 2017 Koralmbahn 3000 Meter fehlen bis zum Durchbruch Kleinezeitung at Retrieved 24 November 2021 Infrastructure TEN T The new core network key figures European Commission 2013 10 17 Retrieved 2013 10 31 Future EU transport infrastructure policy to focus on TEN T corridors Railway Gazette October 22 2013 Retrieved November 10 2013 a b Koralmbahn Graz Hfb Klagenfurt Graz Puntigam Feldkirchen in German OBB Retrieved 2011 06 07 a b Koralmbahn Graz Hfb Klagenfurt Feldkirchen Werndorf Wettmannstatten in German OBB Retrieved 2011 06 07 Das neue S Bahn System fur die Weststeiermark in German Verbund Linie September 23 2010 Retrieved August 4 2014 a b Koralmbahn Graz Hfb Klagenfurt Wettmanstatten St Andra in German OBB Archived from the original on November 30 2012 Retrieved 2011 06 07 a b c Koralmbahn Graz Hfb Klagenfurt St Andra Aich in German OBB Retrieved 2014 08 03 a b Koralmbahn Graz Hfb Klagenfurt Aich Mittlern Althofen Drau in German OBB Retrieved 2014 08 03 a b Koralmbahn Graz Hfb Klagenfurt Althofen Drau Klagenfurt in German OBB Archived from the original on 2014 11 06 Retrieved 2014 08 03 Bauinfo Koralmbahn Abschnitt Althofen an der Drau Klagenfurt in German OBB February 1 2015 Retrieved March 4 2015 External links EditTrack of the Koralm Railway on Openstreetmap Wikimedia Commons has media related to Koralm railway Coordinates 46 45 34 N 15 00 51 E 46 75944 N 15 01417 E 46 75944 15 01417 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Koralm Railway amp oldid 1138390839, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
