Wiener Lokalbahnen

Infobox Company
company_name =Wiener Lokalbahnen AG
company_
company_type = Government-owned corporation
foundation = 1888
location = Vienna, Austria
key_people = Mag. Dr. Harald Brock
area_served =Austria
industry = Transport
products = Rail Cargo
revenue =
operating_income =
net_income =
num_employees =
homepage = [http://www.wlb.at www.wlb.at]
footnotes =

The Aktiengesellschaft der Wiener Lokalbahnen (also called "WLB") is an Austrian transportation company in Greater Vienna and is, through the Wiener Linien Gesmbh, a subsidiary of the Wiener Stadtwerke Holding AG.

The "Wiener Lokalbahnen"operate a double tracked (except a single tracked segment in Baden) and completely electrified railway from Vienna to Baden, the so-called "Badnerbahn", as well as some bus lines. The whole passenger transportation division is integrated with the "Verkehrsverbund Ostregion" (VOR).The company also offers freight transportation.

The company also holds various other subsidiaries:

* "Wiener Lokalbahnen Verkehrsdienste GmbH" (Rail passenger transportation)
*"Wiener Lokalbahnen Busbetrieb GmbH" (Bus passenger transportation)
* "Wiener Lokalbahnen Cargo GmbH" (Cargo services)

Division: Rail passenger traffic

The 30.4 km long railway operates between the Vienna State Opera and Baden Josefsplatz. WLB handles with around 30.000 people every day, bringing them to work, school, Shopping City Süd or various events along the line. Between the stations "Baden Viadukt" and "Baden Leesdorf" and "Wien Schedifkaplatz" and "Wien Oper", the train operates on tram tracks and therefore must travel slowly. On the remaining route, the train operates as a heavy rail train. All together there are 34 train stations and small stops, at which the station "Karlsplatz" only gets served when the train travels in the direction Vienna Opera.

Division: Bus passenger traffic

The WLB operates the buslines 357, 358, 359, 360 und 361 in the "Verkehrsverbund Ostregion" (VOR). These bus lines only drive in and around Baden. The lines 357, 358 and 359 are the three city bus lines in Baden. The bus line 360, the so-called "Casinobus Baden", operates the round-trip Wien Oper - Baden - Bad Vöslau - Gainfarn and is included in the night bus network of the Wiener Linien. The line 361 operates between Baden, Oeynhausen, Möllersdorf, Bad Vöslau and the "Industriezentrum Niederösterreich Süd".

The WLB is also the operator of the Ikea-bus at the SCS in Vösendorf. For this, one bus of the type MAN NL 263/283 obtained a special foil with the Ikea logo.

Subsidiaries

Wiener Lokalbahnen Cargo GesmbH (WLC)

The Wiener Lokalbahnen Cargo Gesmbh owns the license to travel on tracks in Austria and the EU. The WLC partly uses its own infrastructure (with its own trains), and third party tracks (also with its own trains) for cargo services. The WLC also owns several cargo rail cars.The following trains are used by the WLC:
*1 diesel engine, built by the former "Jenbacher Werke"
*3 diesel engines, ex DR, series V100

The WLC also rented 11 Eurosprinter ES64 U2 engines from Siemens-Dispolok.

Three electric locomotives (1116 series) are described as "Bosporus-sprinters", because they are equipped with railway supervision systems currently used in trains in Hungary (EVM 120), Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey. These trains are currently used in the daily "East Line Shuttle" (Duisburg - Enns/Krems/Wien - Budapest) and in trains going to Hungary.

There are another 8 electric locomotives from the 1116 series, which are mostly used in north-south routes (North sea docks - Austria). These locomotives all wear the colors of the WLC, except the locomotive no. 83, which is red. The WLC colors are blue and creme white.

The cargo division was separated from the main company in late 2007 and is a 100% subsidiary of WLB, run under the name Wiener Lokalbahnen Cargo GmbH (WLC). In 2006 the total revenue was 26,1 Mio. EUR. The goal for 2008 is to increase the cargo volume, especially in the combined freight transport.Peter Wolfgang Berndt, Strong expansion in the cargo division; Wiener Lokalbahnen AG opens better connections abroad by forming a subsidiary specializing in cargo. Found in: Cargo trains, Düsseldorf, 1/2008, p. 47; ISSN 1610-5273]

Wiener Lokalbahnen Verkehrsdienste GmbH (WLV)

The main assignment of this company is to transport severely handicapped people. The travel bus division of the WLB was also reassigned to the WLV, and so all travel buses had to be re-registered to the WLV. The fleet for disabled consists of 98 Mercedes vans, which are all handicapped accessible. The travel bus fleet mostly consists of buses of the companies Setra, Volvo and Neoplan.

Wiener Lokalbahnen Busbetrieb GmbH (WLBB)

The WLBB was established in 2004, and is operative since seit early 2005. The first two bus lines of the WLBB were the 27A (since 2. June 2005) and 37A (since 9. October 2005), which were operated on behalf of the Wiener Linien. On February 1, the bus lines 16A and 60A were transfered from the WLB to the WLBB. Therefore only the bus lines in the region of Baden are operated by the WLB themselves.Since 6 August 2006 the WLBB operate the Viennese bus line 80A instead of the ÖBB-Postbus GmbH on behalf of the Wiener Linien.

References

Further reading

* Sternhart/Pötschner: "100 Jahre Badner Bahn", Slezak Verlag, 1973, ISBN 3-900134-19-7
* Wolfgang Kaiser: "Straßenbahnen in Österreich". GeraMond Verlag, 2004 ISBN 3-7654-7198-4

External links

* [http://www.wlb.at Wiener Lokalbahnen]
* [http://xover.mud.at/~tramway/stvkr-a-wiki/index.php/AG_der_Wiener_Lokalbahnen Wiener Lokalbahnen in the "Stadtverkehr-Austria-Wiki"]