Reisseck Railway

The Reisseck Railway (sometimes Reißeck Railway, German: Reißeckbahn) is a mountain railway, that runs from Carinthia's Möll valley into the Reißeck Group, a small mountain range in southern Austria. It comprises the Reisseck Funicular and the Reisseck Mountain Railway (a narrow gauge railway).

The valley station. Left: the water pressure pipe

The Reisseck Funicular (Section 1) at the Schütter waystop

The old railway in 1968 alongside the pipe

General

The Reisseck Railway starts in Kolbnitz in the Möll valley at a height of 719 m (AA) and ends for passenger services at the Berghotel Reisseck at a height of 2,250 m above sea level (AA) Further sections of line end at about 2,400 m. On the opposite side of the valley is another funicular, the Kreuzeck Railway. The lines are operated by Tauern Touristik.

Originally the railway was built to transport materiel to the dam and power station of the Reisseck-Kreuzeck power station. After various modifications and expansions its main function today is to provide passenger services.

Section 1 of the funicular

The railway is closed in 2016 during construction work at Schoberboden.

Reisseck Funicular

The Reisseck Funicular is a metre-gauge line and consists of 3 sections with a total length of around 3,500 metres. It climbs through 1,517 metres in height. The highest station is at 2,236 m by the Schoberboden. Next to the funicular is a pipe, 4,234.5 metres long, that carries water from the lakes of Großer Mühldorfer See, Kleiner Mühldorfer See, Hochalmsee and Radlsee into the Möll valley to the Reisseck-Kreuzeck storage reservoir.

Each section of the line is worked by coaches with 64 seats that are hauled by 40-millimetre-thick cables from their upper stations. The diameter of the electrically driven cable drums is 3.85 metres. The gradient of the line varies between 25 and 82%.

Kilo- metrage	Height m	Station or stop	Remarks	Location
0.0	719	Zandlach	Bottom station	Zandlach 46°52′48.17″N 13°18′58.43″E
1.185	1.270	Schütter	Connection between sections 1 and 2	46°53′18.42″N 13°19′7.42″E
2.475	1.749	Trog	Connection between sections 2 and 3	46°53′49.86″N 13°19′27.85″E
3.650	2.236	Schoberboden	Connection between sections 3 and the Reisseck Mountain Railway	46°54′12.96″N 13°20′0.43″E

Section	Length km	Height difference	Average gradient	Maximum gradient
Zandlach – Schütter	1.185	551 m	55 %	82 %
Schütter – Trog	1.290	479 m	51 %	74 %
Trog – Schoberboden	1.130	487 m	49 %	76 %

External links

• Reisseck railways on the Verbund site
• Reisseck mountain railways
• Informationen auf der Village home page
• Photographs of the railway