In September 2016 the independent
transport videos cameras returned to the beautiful city of Vienna to update
the tram scene, visit the superb tram museum and take a look and ride on the Wiener Lokalbahnen light rail in more
detail. The present tram system is run by the city owned Wiener Linien and is the largest European tramway system outside
the former Soviet Union. Vienna has a
mixture of old and new suburbs most of which are served by the tramway. The system is mostly street running although
there are a number of sections that run underground and connect with the
U-Bahn. There is also the specially
branded Ring Tram that starts from
Schwedenplatz. The current fleet is made
up of ‘E2’ class articulated cars –
mostly with a trailer car, along with just a handful of ‘E1’ cars still in service at the time of our visit. These cars are of the German Düwag design made in Austria under
licence by Lohner, Rotax and SGP.
The latest low-floor cars are the ULF
(Ultra Low Floor) that have been developed for the Vienna network by Siemens.
The first examples have been in service since 1995 and there were over
330 in service at the time of our visit.
Filming in the first part of our visit to Vienna takes place around the
‘Vienna Ring’, with Schubering and Schwarzenbergplatz being the first
locations. We then move along to
Karlsplatz, Wiedner Hauptstraße, Kärntner Ring and Operning where we also see
the cream and blue trams of Wiener
Lokalbahnen at their Vienna terminus.
These high-floor trams are of SGP
manufacture and the low-floor trams are Bombardier
manufacture to the Flexity Classic
design. Our cameras continue around the ‘ring’ filming at Ringstraße and at the
busy ‘double-deck’ interchange at Schottentor. Our ‘ring’ filming concludes at Schottenring
and Schwedenplatz. We then join tram
777, a Siemens ULF B1 tram on line D
to Schwarzenbergplatz and see ‘heritage’ tram 4149 on a private hire duty. We then join ULF tram 741 on Line 18 to Schlachthausgasse, which is the location
of the Vienna Tramway Museum. After our
visit we ride on tram 4079+1470, an SPG ‘E2’
tram on Line 18 to St. Marx and then continue on ULF 643 on Line 71 to Operning.
Another ride on ‘E2’ class
4091+1517 is on Line D to Nußdorf terminus.
We complete our Vienna filming at the two main railway stations of
Hauptbahnhof and Westbahnhof.
The second
part of our programme is on the Wiener
Lokalbahnen light rail system. We
begin in Vienna at the start of the line at Wien Oper when we join tram 410, a Bombardier Flexity Classic and travel
the entire length of the route to Josefsplatz in the pretty town of Baden some
28km from Vienna. On arrival at Baden we
explore the picturesque town centre and film both the trams and the Wiener Lokalbahnen buses that operate a number of feeder services from the
surrounding villages and small towns.
Some new Mercedes Benz Citaro
single-deckers are featured in their smart cream and blue livery. Locations include Kaiser Franz Joseph-Ring
and Conrad von Hötzendorf-Platz. Our
filming concludes at the Wien Wolfganggasse depot of Wiener Lokalbahnen. We hope
you enjoy your visit with us.
