The Innsbruck Mittelgebirgsbahn, colloquially also Mittelgebirgsbahn, Igler, Sechser or WaldstraßenbahnDie Waldstraßenbahn. 2022, archived from the original; accessed on December 28, 2022. and marketed since June 2024 as the Waldbahn (“forest line”) – is the present-day Line 6 of the Innsbruck tramway. The 8.362 km-long metre gauge interurban tramway was originally licensed as a light railway. It serves the Paschberg, a wooded hill south-east of Innsbruck on the Tyrolean Upland (Tiroler Mittelgebirge), which gave the line its name. Opened in 1900, it has since linked the Innsbruck district of Wilten with the villages of Aldrans, Lans, Sistrans and Igls. Formerly an important means of local transport, it today also functions as an excursion line into a popular local recreation area. In earlier years services to and from Igls were repeatedly through-worked to the city centre. In June 2024 urban operation of Line 6 was resumed: it now runs hourly via Bergisel station through Museumsstraße to the Mühlauer Brücke terminus. History Planning and construction At the end of the 19th century the village of Igls in the Innsbruck uplands developed into a popular destination for tourists and a favourite excursion for the people of Innsbruck. However, only a steep country lane led from Innsbruck up to the plateau. As early as 1886 the first ideas emerged to build an electric narrow-gauge railway from Maria-Theresien-Straße via Wilten to Amras and to convey passengers from there to the plateau by cable car. Another plan of 1890 envisaged a rack railway from Innsbruck via Amras, Aldrans and Igls to the Patscherkofel.
In 1893 the Localbahn Innsbruck–Hall i. Tirol (L.B.I.H.i.T.) intended to extend its line from Bergisel station to Ambras Castle. Several variants were discussed for a continuation to Igls. One proposal ran from the castle via Vill and Lanser See to Igls; the other led via Lans and Sistrans to Igls. It soon became clear, however, that the first option would be too long and would not serve the other villages.
In early summer 1896 the city of Innsbruck received from the k.k. Eisenbahnministerium a one-year authorisation to carry out technical preparatory works for a minor narrow-gauge railway, to be worked either by steam or electricity, from Innsbruck via Ambras Castle, Ampass, Aldrans and Lans to Igls.Starkstromanlagen. Oesterreich-Ungarn. a) Oesterreich. (…) Innsbruck. Elektrische Bahn. In: Josef Kareis (ed.): Zeitschrift für Elektrotechnik. Band 14.1896, Heft 10/1896, 15 May 1896, . Lehmann & Wentzel (Kommission), Vienna 1896, p. 229 (Recte: 329). – online text. The final route planning was undertaken by engineer Josef Riehl. It had already been decided that the line would merely pass through the municipal territory of Ampass without a halt there. To maintain the desired hourly timetable, Riehl also suggested that the line should not run through Aldrans but only skirt the village. Construction work on the trackbed began in August.
As the vehicles were to be stabled at the Bergisel station of the L.B.I.H.i.T., the engine shed there had to be extended. At Igls a locomotive shed was built, large enough for either one steam locomotive or two trailer cars. Igls station itself had two tracks, so that the locomotive could run round its train.
In January 1900 the city of Innsbruck was granted the concession,RGBl. 1900/18. In: Reich Law Gazette, 1900 edition, p. 33 ff. (online at ANNO) after which construction work started immediately. The works proceeded smoothly, although the bridge over the River Sill was delivered late because workers at the manufacturing company were on strike. Engineer Riehl therefore had the temporary bridge strengthened so that operations could begin on time. The building work was completed in mid-June 1900.
The Innsbrucker Mittelgebirgsbahn company (I.M.B.) was wholly owned by the city of Innsbruck. Operation was entrusted to the L.B.I.H.i.T. Operation Steam operation (1900–1936) Early years (1900–1914) On 27 June 1900 the line was officially opened with an officiellen Eröffnungsfahrt (“official inaugural run”) from the town hall in Maria-Theresien-Straße to Igls in the afternoon, followed by a return trip from Igls to Innsbruck at 19:30. A major celebration was not planned. From the following day the line was opened to regular traffic. At that time the company had two steam locomotives, twelve trailer cars and four goods wagons. The line only operated in the summer half of the year, from early April to late September. In 1901 the halt of Teutoburgerwald was renamed Tantegert and a third steam locomotive was delivered.
The line quickly became well known. By 1902 it is documented that passengers of the North German Lloyd shipping company received a 30 % discount on tickets, illustrating the railway's wide reputation. Because the sleepers on the Mittelgebirgsbahn were not impregnated, the first sleepers had to be replaced as early as 1903 as they had already become badly rotten. As freight traffic steadily increased, a third covered goods wagon was ordered in 1904. In early July 1906 luggage and freight items up to 100 kg were carried experimentally in a dedicated goods service to Igls. From 1912 winter sports trains to Igls were introduced at weekends and on public holidays. First World War (1914–1918) During the First World War, locomotives 2 and 3 of the Mittelgebirgsbahn were temporarily hired out in 1915 to the Trento–Malè railway because of a shortage of spare parts for the DC multiple units there. When the military high command moved from South Tyrol to Igls in 1916, traffic on the Mittelgebirgsbahn increased so much that even a trailer car had to be released for goods traffic. At the end of 1918 locomotive 3 was again hired to the Trento–Malè railway, where it was scrapped after the war. Post-war years (1918–1930)
After the war operations on the Mittelgebirgsbahn had to be curtailed because of the acute shortage of coal in Austria. Surplus trailer cars were loaned to the L.B.I.H.i.T., which by then was already electrified and suffered from a shortage of cars. In 1920 the section as far as the Sill bridge was electrified so that snow-clearing trains from the city could unload their loads there. In 1921 peat extraction began in the Viller Moor, for which a short branch line was built.
From 1923 winter sports trains again ran at weekends, and in addition the Mittelgebirgsbahn services were extended into Maria-Theresien-Straße. Some trailer cars were fitted with solenoid brakes and electric lighting for this purpose. These trailers were hauled by a city tram motor car from Maria-Theresien-Straße to Bergisel station, where passengers transferred to the waiting steam train to Igls. In March 1927 the L.B.I.H.i.T. purchased the I.M.B. retroactively with effect from 1 January, in order to better withstand growing competition from motor vehicles. Full electrification of the route was also considered. In 1927 the line achieved its greatest logistical feat when it transported the 150-tonne carrying cable of the Patscherkofel cable car to Igls. In mid-1928 the halt at the Mühlsee, a popular bathing lake, was opened.
Preparations for electrification (1930–1936) In mid-1933 a trial run was made on the Stubai Valley Railway with the Haller motor car no. 4, which had been uprated with four traction motors, to test its suitability for steep gradients. Electrification was still postponed, however, because competition from bus operators had become very strong. By 1935 the funds were finally secured, and another L.B.I.H.i.T. motor car (no. 3) was rebuilt for operation on hilly routes. AEG was entrusted with planning the electrification. As on the line to Hall, a system voltage of 1000 V DC was chosen, with power fed in at Innsbruck from the Sill canal. Work on the overhead line began in early 1936. The structure gauge of the Amras tunnel had to be enlarged. Because significant voltage drops were expected, an additional feeder cable was laid through the forest, connecting to the overhead line at Tantegert and at Lans halt. The conversion work was completed by mid-1936. Electric operation (since 1936) End of the steam era (1936–1939)
On 28 June 1936 electric operation could finally begin on the Mittelgebirgsbahn. The line was integrated into the urban network as Line 6, and almost all services now ran through to the city centre. Passengers therefore no longer had to change at Bergisel.
Gradually all remaining trailer cars were converted for electric operation. Journey time dropped to a little over 20 minutes. After the July Agreement of 11 July 1936, the Thousand-mark ban on travel to Austria was lifted and passenger numbers rose sharply. Retired tram drivers had to be re-engaged and another motor car (no. 2) was equipped with four new motors. Because fuel became scarce during the war, the railway soon regained a transport monopoly on the route to Igls. In 1939 the two remaining steam locomotives were sold, as electric operation on the mountain line had proved itself. This marked the final end of steam traction on the metre-gauge lines around Innsbruck.
Despite its formal status as a tramway, the Mittelgebirgsbahn was listed in the Reichs-Kursbuch timetable of 1944/45 as an electrisch betriebene Schmalspurbahn (“electrically operated narrow-gauge railway”),timetable page 449c from 1944/45 whereas the summer timetable of 1939 merely noted Elektrischer Betrieb (“electric operation”).1939 timetable page Second World War and growth in demand (1939–1945)
In July 1939 an uphill train derailed just below Tantegert due to a prank by local youths. In December 1940 a serious collision between two trains in the curve below Tantegert caused many injuries: the downhill train had received orders to cross at Bergisel station, while the uphill train was instructed to cross at Tantegert. Both motor cars were temporarily out of service, so that only a 60-minute interval service was possible. At the same time services from the Igler line to the city centre had to be suspended. A few weeks later there was another accident on the Hall line, leaving the local railway company with only five of its eight interurban motor cars.
To prevent such accidents in future, a staff system was introduced, which remained in use until 1983. It consisted of a blue and a yellow staff. A train could only occupy the section between Bergisel and Tantegert when it carried the yellow staff, and only the section between Tantegert and Igls when it carried the blue staff. At the crossing in Tantegert the staffs were exchanged, so that no train was ever permitted to enter a section still occupied by the opposite working.
By 1941 two further Hall motor cars (nos. 7 and 8) had been equipped with the spare motors from cars 2 and 3, giving them four motors and allowing them to be used on the Igler line in times of car shortage. That year also saw track realignments and the merger of the L.B.I.H.i.T. with several bus companies to form the Innsbrucker Verkehrsbetriebe (IVB). During the Second World War the Mittelgebirgsbahn suffered heavy damage from bomb attacks owing to its proximity to the Brenner Railway. On one occasion the electricity supply to Bergisel station was cut, preventing trams from reaching the terminus. Sections of line near the station were repeatedly damaged, meaning that services often had to terminate at the Sill bridge. After the end of the war repairs began at once and trams again ran through to the city centre. Competition from buses (1945–1977)