Überetsch Railway

Überetsch Railway
Overview
Type	passenger/freight
Status	abandoned
Termini	Bolzano Mendel Funicular
Stations	6
Operation
Opened	December 16, 1898
Closed	1974
Technical
Line length	15,00 km
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Electrification	since 1911

The Überetsch Railway (German: Überetscher Bahn; Italian: Transatesina) connected Bolzano with the Mendel Funicular. This line was part of a rail sightseeing tour round the Mendelpass. The tour was made up by five railway lines and often used by tourists.

Track

Just after the station of Bolzano the track branched off from the Brennerbahn and ran along the Eisack river. The line crossed the Talfer river and after two small stations (Ponte Roma and Ponte Resia) the line became split: one track proceeded to Meran and further to the Vinschgerbahn and one track branched away leftwards toward the low mountain range plateau of Überetsch. After a long bridge over the Adige river, the line got steeper and after two short tunnels reached the Überetsch plateau. Here the trains only stopped in Eppan, Kaltern and Sankt Anton, near the Mendel Funicular station. The strange thing was, that the track to the Sankt Anton station left the mainline before it arrived to the Kaltern station, so the trains had to run to Kaltern station, drive back to the switch, change driving direction again and then go further to the Sankt Anton station.

History

The railroad had been built to reach the Überetsch plateau more easily. The two biggest villages on the plateau Kaltern and Eppan are to this day important tourist destinations. The railroad made it easier to get tourists to the villages and the wine from the villages to the station of Bolzano, where it was loaded onto international freight trains.

Today

Soon after the passenger service was suspended, the freight service was suspended too. The line was finally abandoned in 1974. At the Eppan station the tracks where replaced by a new street to guide traffic around the village. Today the line is part of a bike trail and very crowded during weekends. Because of the crowded streets between Bolzano and the Überetsch plateau the mayors of Kaltern and Eppan support the idea to reactivate the line as a commuter line.

Gallery

• 

  Eppan station

• 

  Kaltern station

• 

  Detail Eppan station

• 

  Garage at the Kaltern station

Literature

• Josef Dultinger: Vergessene Vergangenheit. Verlag Dr. Rudolf Erhard, Rum 1982
• Josef Dultinger: Auf schmaler Spur durch Südtirol. Verlag Dr. Rudolf Erhard, Rum 1982

Coordinates: 46°25′04″N 11°15′04″E / 46.41778°N 11.25111°E / 46.41778; 11.25111