Wendelstein Rack Railway

Wendelstein Rack Railway
The Wendelstein Railway passing the "Hohe Mauer" ("High Wall")
Overview
Line number9570
Service
Route number11030
Technical
Line lengthCombined total: 7.66 km (4.76 mi),
with rack: 6.15 km (3.82 mi)
Rack systemStrub
Track gauge1,000 mm (3 ft 3+38 in) metre gauge
Minimum radius40 m (131.2 ft)
ElectrificationCatenary
1500 V DC
Maximum inclineAdhesion (?)  %
Rack rail 23.7  %
Route map

0,00
Brannenburg
473 m
Rosenheimer Straße (former federal road)
Mühlenstraße
Dientzenhoferstraße
2,29
Waching
Base
508 m
Depot
Start of rack
Gembachau
End of rack
6,40
Aipl
972 m
Start of rack
7,50
Mitteralm
1210 m
Tunnel 1 (34 m)
Tunnel 2 (40 m)
Tunnel 3 (50 m)
Tunnel 4 (30 m)
Tunnel 5 (16 m)
wooden avalanche protection gallery
"Hohe Mauer" (with culvert)
Tunnel 6 (Schwaigerwand-Tunnel, 119 m)
9,90
Tunnel 7 (35 m)
9,95
Wendelstein
Summit
1723 m

The Wendelstein Rack Railway[1] (German: Wendelsteinbahn), sometimes just referred to as the Wendelstein Railway, is an electrically-driven metre gauge rack railway (with several adhesion sections) that runs up the Wendelstein in the Upper Bavarian Limestone Alps. Together with the Wendelstein Cable Car (Wendelstein-Seilbahn) it is operated by the Wendelsteinbahn GmbH. The mountain railway climbs through a total height of 1,217.27 metres (3,993.7 feet). The Wendelstein Railway is one of only four working rack railways in Germany, the others being the Bavarian Zugspitze Railway, the Drachenfels Railway and the Stuttgart Rack Railway. It is also the second-highest railway in Germany, after the Zugspitze Railway, but the highest when considering only open-air railways.[2]

  1. ^ "The "Wendelstein" rack railway / cogwheels". Wendelsteinbahn.
  2. ^ The Bavarian Zugspitze Railway is underground above 1,640 m