Positions on Transport, Technology, Innovation
Full steam ahead
into the New Season
I hope you enjoy reading this issue,
Managing Director Laurenz Trunner
and the EBE Solutions team
The nickname “Dirndl Bahnhof” (Dirndl Station) of the Steinschal-Tradigist station on the route of the Mariazell Railway does not refer to a Lower Austrian traditional dress, but to the Dirndl shrubs so typical of the region, of which one hundred were already planted around the station in 2019. Now, in 2023, the station has been extensively renovated. EBE Solutions installed the safety systems and STRAIL level-crossing pedestals, for which we have been the general agent for Austria since the beginning of the year.
With the ceremonial opening of the “Erlebnisquartier”, the new valley station with museum, restaurant and event area, Salzburg AG started the new railway season at the end of April. In the past few years, around 30 million euros have been invested in the Schafbergbahn, two-thirds of which was spent on renovating the tracks. As part of the major project, EBE Solutions installed three new interlockings and a level crossing. Now the station building designed by the Salzburg planning office dunkelschwarz ZT is to welcome guests as a “modern business card” of regional tourism.
Schafberg railway houses a museum, an event area, shop and a restaurant which is open to the public all year round. Photo: © Salzburg AG Tourismus GmbH / Kunstbahr
EBE-TECHTALKS 2: Implementing new Technologies
Operating station for remote monitoring
© Technisches Museum Wien
The Odyssey of the Super-Lok 12.10.
The Steam Locomotive 12.10
It is the largest, heaviest, most powerful and fastest steam locomotive ever built in Austria: The locomotives of the BBÖ 214 series (later series 12) built in the 1930s set new standards on the western line between Vienna and Salzburg. Their 2,700 hp brought them to a maximum speed of 154 km/h, a record at the time.
When the Floridsdorf locomotive factory began developing the 214 series in 1929, it actually meant a step backwards, because shortly before that the board of the Austrian Federal Railways had decided on the highly controversial temporary suspension of electrification. The engineers aimed to move heavy express trains between Vienna and Salzburg in the same journey time as an electric drive would have allowed. However, only 12 of the steel giants were built in Floridsdorf; the Romanian locomotive factory Resita later acquired the licence and built a total of 79 modified models. After the electrification of the Westbahn, some of the steam locomotives were transferred to the Südbahn in 1953, but there too their use soon ended. Since all attempts to sell them failed due to the advanced electrification, most of the locomotives of the series were finally scrapped between 1961 and 1962.But the 12.10 survived, first parked in a boiler house, later in the locomotive park at the Technical Museum in Vienna. When the museum closed its locomotive park, it was transferred to the Strasshof Railway Museum in Lower Austria in 1999. There it was exhibited until 2018 and finally transported to Korneuburg in 2019 for the Lower Austrian Provincial Exhibition in Wiener Neustadt and renovated. In the course of the renovation work, however, it was remembered that the steam locomotive had actually been built in Vienna Floridsdorf and it was decided not to display it at the provincial exhibition. Finally, after some disagreements, it was transferred back to the Technical Museum in October 2019. The Strasshof Railway Museum thus lost one of its attractions, and the Technical Museum has been exhibiting the extensively renovated 12.10 in the West Hall since September 2020.
The BBÖ 214.02 in Vienna West, 1931, © Josef Stögermayer
Side view of steam locomotive 12.10, © Technisches Museum Wien
DieThe interactive installation explains how the locomotive works.© Technisches Museum Wien
Heizhaus Strasshof: The eastern part of the museum with the boiler house, Photo: © C.Stadler/Bwag
Tips for excursions
on the trail of the 12.10
Tip for rainy days:
The 12.10 in the Technical Museum
At the Technical Museum in Vienna, the largest steam locomotive ever built in Austria (see report) is on permanent display. A remarkable interactive video installation on a scale of 1:1, covering an area of 90 square metres, provides an insight into the interior of the train and explains the construction and functioning of individual components. The special exhibition also links the historical object with current issues of sustainability. technischesmuseum.at
Photo: © Technisches Museum Wien
Tip for sunny days: The former home of the 12.10 in Strasshof
The Strasshof Railway Museum is the largest railway museum in Austria. On display are steam, diesel and electric locomotives, some of which have been lovingly restored, with the steam locomotives forming the core of the collection. Over 40 of them, built between 1851 and 1965, can be admired on total of 150,000m². eisenbahnmuseum-heizhaus.com
