Public Transport Experience: Rajoice and Sing at Semmering (3)

Look! Tunnelling At Semmering

Map of E59 road

It might be easier to think of European "E" roads as "E" routes because they often use or even absorb existing trunk roads in various nations. Much of the E59 in Austria, and thus passing close by Semmering, is new build. We have met the E59 already on these blogs running sort-of parallel to the route of bus 343. But on these Michelin maps for Austria, it is shown as S6.

What characterises the S6/E59 on its Semmering trajectory is the preponderance of tunnels. Here is the section in question.

The S6/E59 is to motorway standards through Austria, So we approach from the east on the L1468 ...

... and, passing under a height restrictions warning ...

... we curve round to enter a tunnel.

Now, oddly, the Streetview noddy car cannot really cope with tunnels - its camera just comes up with distorted orange fuzz; but we soon escape ...

... and it is only a short distance before we are warned of the turn-off to the west of Semmering.

We plunge into our next tunnel. Another exit into a bright sunny day ...

... and off we hop to turn back to Semmering. Only we appear to be going in the wrong direction.

We perform a sharp U turn over the top of the S6/E59 and then peel off right ...

... to hang a left for Semmering itself.

Note that several places are tagged "am" (= "on") Semmering just to confuse us.

Clearly this motorway access to the town will have brought more motorists and may well have reduced the rail traffic, which ironically gave the place its focus all those years ago.

But things are happening underground for the rail network.

In the last twenty or so years there has been a real craze for "base" tunnels on the railways of the Alps/ Instead of climbing, wiggling, tunneling, wiggling and descending (all rather slowly but spectacularly) the aim now to blast a line right through the bottom of the mountain!

Such is (more correctly, will be) the Semmering Base Tunnel.

Here it is (dotted) on a map of the existing line.

The Semmering Base Tunnel is a railway tunnel under construction between Gloggnitz and Mürzzuschlag in Austria underneath the Semmering Pass. The existing route is 41 km long and the Semmering Base Tunnel will be 27.3 km long. The new route will offer time savings of up to 30 minutes, partly on account of the shorter route and partly on account of the higher speed limit (maximum 250 km/h).

Construction began on 25 April 2012 and the link is expected to enter operational service in 2030.

For fairly obvious reasons, pictures taken inside the tunnel lack impact, so fbb has used a webcam shot of the entrance to the twin bores at Gloggnitz - a place we have met before as a terminus of bus 343.

The second shot is near the western portal, Mürzzuschlag, where the new lines will join the old.

What fbb cannot quite grasp is why the new tunnel goes round two sides of a right angled triangle ...

... rather than along the hypotenuse.

Most base tunnels are very "direct" with minor perturbations for airflow reasons. The Semmering tunnel has a huge perturbation. Does the sainted Wikipedia explain?

No!

Befuddling At Semmering

fbb did wonder, however, whether there were any fast bus or coach services using the S6/E59 between Wien and Semmering. It seemed a possibility.

A search for "Travel Vienna to Semmering" threw up two possibilities.

One was rail and bus. But it did not involve a change at Gloggnitz on to the 343.

The journey planner in question took you by fast train to Mürzzuschlag where the railway base tunnel will emerge; followed by a local bus back to Semmering.

Here is an appropriate map extract.

Between Wien and Mürzzuschlag you would travel by the fast "intercity" trains.

What is not explained anywhere is why you would travel by fast train t via (and stopping at) emmering to Mürzzuschlag then back to Semmering by bus. But there is one such ...

... waiting for its connecting passengers at Mürzzuschlag station.

Ah, such are the mysteries of Journey Planners!

Then there is BlaBlaCar!

Or is it BlaBlaBus?

Yet another non official web site gave three journeys by BlaBlaCar ...

... with cheap fares and super fast running times.

Sounds great - but fbb doublechecked on the BlaBlaCar web site and this popped up!

Yer what?

Yet more poking and prodding of fbb's laptop reveals this information from Wikipedia.

BlaBlaCar is an online marketplace for carpooling headquartered in Paris. Its website and mobile apps connect drivers and passengers willing to travel together between cities and share the cost of the journey, in exchange for a commission of between 18% and 21%. It also operates BlaBlaBus, an intercity bus service. The platform has 26 million active members and is available Europe and Latin America.

The service is named for its rating scale for drivers' preferred level of chattiness in the car: "Bla" for not very chatty, "BlaBla" for someone who likes to talk, and "BlaBlaBla" for those who can't keep quiet

The journeys between Wien and Semmering were actually sheduled (or estimated) journeys by shared car.

It wasn't clear!

It's Worrying At Semmering

The "rejoicing" of the title of these blogs is as a result of the completion of one bore of the Semmering base railway tunnel.

But fbb perceives a problem for the residents and eager rail-borne skiers from 2030, when the new tunnel is due to open.

Will those fast trains, shown in red, be diverted via the base tunnel, just leaving the all stops two hourly train via he mountain route?

The future joys of the faster route for through passengers are palpable, but the PR people are less open about the consequences of a possible reduction of the the historic, mountainous, twiddly and gorgeous traditional alpine intercity ride to become a slow local all-stops train.