130 years of the Gmunden tramway

The charming lakeside town of Gmunden in Austria (population 13 200) was served by the second public railway line in mainland Europe, the horse-drawn line from Budweis and Linz opened in 1827-1836 to facilitate the transport of salt from Upper Austria to Bohemia. 

 

Horse-drawn service ceased at the end of 1872 when steam locomotives hauled the trains. Passenger trains had also run, since 1836, to a station at the top of the hill outside the town. 

 

In 1894 engineers Josef Stern and Franz Hafferl built a 2,3km metre-gauge electric tramway to link the railway station and the town centre lakefront (Rathausplatz), including a 9.6% gradient that made it one the steepest adhesion-only tramways in the world. It opened on 13 August 1894. 

 

The tramway operation was radically upgraded in 2018 when it was linked to the terminus of the Traunseebahn at Klosterplatz and a through tram-train service introduced between Gmunden Bahnhof to Vorchdorf, still operated by the Stern & Hafferl company on behalf of the local authorities, The bogie trams on the town tramway, and the light railway stock on the Vorchdorf line were replaced by seven 32m Vossloh-Kiepe tram-trains. 

 

The 130th anniversary celebrations took place on 16 August with various community events and heritage trips with preserved two-axle trams 100 (1898) and 5 (1911) , with 1894 depot open for presentations and viewing other preserved cars from the tramway era.