Overview

Innsbruck is the capital city of the state of Tyrol in western Austria. It takes its name from the Inn River which flows through the city (bruck meaning bridge). Nestled in the Inn valley, Innsbruck is best known as a winter sports venue, having hosted the Winter Olympics twice (1964 and 1976).

There are four meter-gauge tram lines serving Innsbruck. Lines 1 and 3 are strictly urban transit services. Line 6, the Innsbrucker Mittelgebirgsbahn, heads south up into the mountains to the suburb of Igls. Another suburban tram line, the Stubaitalbahn (STB) runs southwest to the suburb of Fulpmes. Typical headways are every 7 minutes on the 1 and 3 and hourly service on the 6 and STB. There is also a trolleybus system which may soon be abandoned in favor of some tram network enlargements, particularly a line to Hall in Tirol.

Line 1 starts in the north of town at the Hungerburgbahn (Funicular), and passes the Brunecker Strasse Bahnhof, Museumstrasse, Westbahnhof, and ends at Bergisel in the south of town. Line 3 is an outer loop of the center of town, passing the Brunecker Strasse Bahnhof, Hauptbahnhof, and Triumphpforte. Southeast of Brunecker Strasse, it services the Olympic city and the Amras district.

Line 6 starts at the Brunecker Strasse Bahnhof and uses Museumstrasse to the Westbahnhof, Bergisel, and Schloss Ambras. Then it passes through the middle of mountain pastures toward the very beautiful village of Lans and Igls. Service on this line is infrequent and often cut back to service only the suburban portion Bergisel to Igls, a transfer to the number 1 being required at Bergisel.

The Stubaitalbahn also makes the loop of the center of town, and follows the route of the 1 and 6 until the Wilten basilica. Then into the hills along the road to Brenner and the villages of Natters and Mutters. The village of Mutters is the postcard of the Austrian Alps. Finally the STB enters the Stubaital valley and terminates in the town of Fulpmes. The total length of the STB line is 18.2km and service is provided hourly.

Route Map

Roster

For many years the rolling stock consisted of mostly second-hand classic 1950s-1960s Duewag trams as follows:

31-42: Duewag Type GT6 (6-axle single directional), ex-Bielefeld, Germany, built 1957-1963. Used on lines 1 and 3.
51-53: Duewag Type GT8 (8-axle single directional), also ex-Bielefeld, Germany, built 1963. Used on line 6.
71-77: Lohner 6-axle single directional. Native to Innsbruck, built 1966-1967. Primarily employed on line 3.
81-88: Duewag type GT8 (8-axle bidirectional), ex-Hagen, Germany, built 1960-1961. Used on the Stubaitalbahn.

Beginning in 2007, Innsbruck received 22 new Flexity Outlook "Cityrunner" tram cars from Bombardier. These are 27.6m articulated low floor cars capable of 70km/h operation. Six cars are planned for use on the STB, and the remaining 16 on lines 1, 3, and 6. Total cost of the 22 cars was EUR 55 million. The cars are numbered 301-316 and 351-356.

By the end of 2009, nearly all of the Duewag and Lohner cars have been decommissioned.

Photo Gallery

Five Random Images
Image 9116 (226k, 790x1047) Photo by: David Pirmann Location: Marktplatz	Image 9121 (234k, 1044x788) Photo by: David Pirmann Location: Museumstrasse	Image 72904 (206k, 705x1043) Photo by: Thierry Leleu Location: Maria-Theresien-Strasse	Image 91414 (119k, 1024x768) Photo by: Jos Straathof Location: Amraser Strasse	Image 104782 (163k, 1024x768) Photo by: Jos Straathof Location: Fulpmes