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.

Soon frustrating via Semmering?? Might the line revert to this?

 6 Days to Go 

 Next Variety blog : Saturday 28th Sept 

Rajoice and Sing at Semmering (2)

 Bus Travelling At Semmering

Although Streetview doesn't go to the railway station, the noddy car has been past the bus stop, and there is route 343. It is outside what once in times past would have been the Town Hall ...

...where you will now find the Tourist Information Office. Next door is a supermarket and an unexplained roadside obelisk.

Round the back, someone has parked an old railcar in their back garden complete with a non working signal.

It is all fenced off, surrounded by undergrowth and very tatty. fbb can find no explanation but at least it confirms that it is not only the Brits who do potty things with large railway artifacts!

We can discover that the 343 runs from the delightfully named Gloggnitz, where it terminates at the station and, as we see above, finishes its route in Semmering where it doesn't serve the station.

Minimalist research reveals that the operator is VOR which, being interpreted is ...

That level of German is too much for fbb's grade C at "O" level in 1959. but an English version gives an easier picture.

It calls itself an "association" which might be an operators club or a marketing company but looks more like a franchise; VOR seems to operate a group wide fares scheme for example. fbb would expect there to be oodles of regional or national subsidy as part of its business plan.

fbb did wonder about (sh, say it quietly!) a timetable for the 343. But the VOR web site just sat there with its spinner spinning.

The only mildly useful thing that the interwebnet delivered was a list of stops.

Whether the "Old Man at Maria Schulz Ort" lives in the bus shelter was unclear, but he must be English or he would be Der Alte Mann! [Please note: fbb did remember that translation from 1959!]

The terminus at Hotel Panhaus is nearly 100 metres beyond the municipal offices stop.

See the supermarket and the obelisk and, if you peer very closely, you can see the 343 resting serenely outside the town hall, picture above centre right. Never mind, fbb has enlarged it for you!

But, faced with a timetabular desert, fbb was unwilling to abandon his quest and by dint of some technological good fortune did eventually find a 343 table.

Here is an extract from the hourly Montag to Freitag table.

The whole (feeble) service on Samstag offers just three journeys to Semmering ..

... whilst on Sontag you actually get FOUR journeys!

Now, if you were wondering how this VOR "association" works, all you have to do is to look at the front of VOR liveried buses.

Here is one operated by Austria's Postbus company.

And one in the hands of the high speed Komet (?) company ...

... and our 343 from the stable of Retter's.

There are over 20 operators in the "association".

It would appear that the individual companies do not "do" their own publicity but merely have a link to the VOR journey planner.

Access to timetables is not very good.

Standardised fares throughout the region must be a real boon to passengers!

Apart from a non-working web site, the overall "association" seems to work; but fbb can only look on from afar. He simply does not know what the financial arrangements are. Suffice it to say that VOR has expanded its area over the years by absorbing other groupings and it does local trains as well!

Ski's The Thing at Semmering
Ski lifts are public transport, after all!

You cannot ski downhill without going up, so there are various ski lifts available, usually four seater danglers!

One area has a more substantial gondola ride.

The gondola also provides access to the "bike park", a summer alternative to skiing, a sort of BMX track but down steep hills and over terrifying obstacles.

Details of ski lifts are not easy to find but frequent skiers will have their favourite piste. For fbb, the very idea of sliding uncontrollably down a mountain on two narrow planks has never seemed attractive; but then he kept very clear of slides created by the brave kids in his ice-bound infant school playground, A true wimp!

Here is a list of the facilities at Semmering.

Split Park?

It would appear to be the snowboard equivalent of skateboarding with the bonus of crashing into piles of very cold snow.

And curvy rails as well!

And we would all want to do this, surely?

h yes! Oh no!

And a double bonus; at Semmering you can do it all at night under the best floodlights anywhere in the Alps, apparently.

Looks really cool. No; fbb means really cool!

A ride on the ski lift at night might be fun, however!

 7 Days to Go 

RIP

Yesterday, I heard that my Northampton correspondent, Alan Jones, had died. I have known Alan for nearly 70 years and will greatly miss his friendship. He had spent 3 weeks in John Radcliffe Hospital Oxford earlier in the year but seemed to be pretty much back to normal. But then his regular emails stopped. He lived alone and it was only after an enquiry to the Northampton Transport Heritage Trust that his death came to light. He was 81.

fbb

 

 Next Semmering blog : Friday 27th Sept