Die Eisenbahn als Entwicklungshelfer Innsbrucks

Die Eisenbahn als Entwicklungshelfer Innsbrucks

The railway came to Europe at breakneck speed. In 1830, the world's first railway line was opened between Liverpool and Manchester. Just a few decades later, the Tyrol, which had been somewhat remote from the main trade routes and economically underdeveloped for some time, was also connected to the world with spectacular railway constructions across the Alps. While travelling had previously been expensive, long and arduous journeys in carriages, on horseback or on foot, the ever-expanding railway network meant unprecedented comfort and speed.

In 1858, Innsbruck was connected to Munich by railway. Twenty years earlier, Alois von Negrelli (1799 - 1858), whose work on the Suez Canal is considered one of the greatest technical achievements of the 19th century, had already built a "Expert opinion on the railway from Innsbruck via Kufstein to the royal Bavarian border at the Otto Chapel near Kiefersfelden“ vorgelegt. Negrelli hatte in jungen Jahren in der k.k. Baudirektion Innsbruck Dienst getan, kannte die Stadt also sehr gut. Als Platz für den Hauptbahnhof hatte er die Triumphpforte und den Hofgarten ins Spiel gebracht. In einem Brief äußerte er sich über die Bahnlinie durch seine ehemalige Heimat mit diesen Worten:

"...I also hear with the deepest sympathy that the railway from Innsbruck to Kufstein is being taken seriously, as the Laage is very suitable for this and the area along the Inn is so rich in natural products and so populated that I cannot doubt its success, nor will I fail to take an active part in it myself and through my business friends when it comes to the purchase of shares. You have no idea of the new life that such an endeavour will awaken in the other side..."

Until the opening of the railway line over the Brenner Pass in 1867, Innsbruck was a terminus station for trains arriving from the east. The new, spectacular railway line across the Alps connected the northern and southern parts of the country as well as Germany and Italy. Engineer Carl von Etzel (1812 - 1865), who did not live to see the opening of the Brenner Railway due to his early death, had achieved a minor miracle of modernisation with the planning of the project.

With the opening of the Arlberg railway in 1884, Innsbruck had once again become a transport hub between Germany and Italy, France, Switzerland and Vienna. The Stubai Valley railway was opened in 1904 and the Mittenwald railway in 1912. Both projects were planned by Josef Riehl (1842 - 1917) as a private railway entrepreneur. Born in Bolzano, Riehl had gained his first experience with the Brenner railway under Etzel before he opened up the inner-Alpine region with many projects as a pioneer under his own company in 1870.

The railway was the most directly perceptible feature of progress for a large part of the population, and not just from a purely technical perspective. It brought immense social change. The railway stations along the line revitalised the towns immensely. The station forecourt in Innsbruck became one of the new centres of the city. Workers, students, soldiers and tourists flocked to the city in large numbers, bringing with them new lifestyles and ideas. However, not everyone was happy with this development. The petty aristocracy, which had already been severely plucked after 1848, and particularly strict clerics feared the collapse of local agriculture and the final decline in morals caused by the foreigners in the city.

By 1870, Innsbruck's population had risen from 12,000 to 17,000, partly due to the economic stimulus provided by the railway. Local producers benefited from the opportunity to import and export goods cheaply and quickly. The labour market changed. Before the railway lines opened, 9 out of 10 Tyroleans worked in agriculture. With the opening of the Brenner railway, this figure fell to less than 70%. The railway was worth its weight in gold for tourism. It was now possible to reach the remote and exotic mountain world of the Tyrolean Alps. Health resorts such as Igls and entire valleys such as the Stubaital benefited from the development of the railway.

The new means of transport contributed to the democratisation and bourgeoisification of society. Not only for wealthy tourists, but also for subjects who did not belong to the upper class, the railway made excursions into the surrounding area possible. New foods changed people's diet. The first department stores emerged with the appearance of consumer goods that were previously unavailable. The appearance of the people of Innsbruck changed with new, fashionable clothing, which became affordable for many for the first time. The transport of goods on the Inn received its final death blow. In the 1870s, the city's last raft unloading site, where Waltherpark in St. Nikolaus is located today, was closed.

The Die Bundesbahndirektion der K.u.K. General-Direction der österreichischen Staatsbahnen in Innsbruck was one of only three directorates in Cisleithania. New social classes were created by the railway as an employer. People from all walks of life were needed to keep the railway running. Workers and craftsmen were able to climb the social ladder at the railway, similar to the state administration or the military. New professions such as railway attendant, conductor, stoker or engine driver emerged. Working for the railway brought with it a certain prestige. Not only were you part of the most modern industry of the time, the titles and uniforms turned employees and workers into respected figures.

Die Bahn war auch von großer Bedeutung für das Militär. Schon 1866 bei der Schlacht von Königgrätz zwischen Österreich und Preußen war zu ersehen, wie wichtig der Truppentransport in Zukunft sein wird. Österreich war bis 1918 ein Riesenreich, das sich von Vorarlberg und Tirol im Südwesten bis nach Galizien, einem Gebiet im heutigen Polen und der Ukraine im Osten erstreckte. Um die unruhige Südgrenze zum sich neu konstituierenden Königreich Italien zu verstärken, musste die Brennerstrecke ausgebaut werden. Auch später im Ersten Weltkrieg waren Tiroler Soldaten in den ersten Kriegsjahren bis zur Kriegserklärung Italiens an Österreich in Galizien im Einsatz. Als es zur Öffnung der Frontlinie in Südtirol kam, war die Bahn wichtig, um Truppen schnell bewegen zu können.

Carl von Etzel is commemorated today by Ing.-Etzel-Straße in Saggen along the railway viaducts. Josef Riehl is commemorated by Dr.-Ing.-Riehl-Straße in Wilten near the Westbahnhof railway station. As a walker or cyclist, you can cross the Karwendel Bridge in the Höttinger Au one floor below the Karwendel railway and admire the steel framework. You can get a good impression of the golden age of the railway by visiting the ÖBB administration building in Saggen.

Influence of the railway on agriculture

Published: Neue Tiroler Stimmen / 11 February 1868

It is an undeniable fact that the Tyrolean is characterised to a high degree by a practical sense for everything he tackles and an eagerness to work. Tyroleans excelled in all fields of science, art and industry, just as many have achieved a good career and a respectable position abroad thanks to their entrepreneurial spirit and proficient business skills. The craftsmen from Tyrol, who go abroad in droves to find work, are also valued and well paid everywhere. But there is one peculiarity that characterises the Tyrolean above all others, and which hardly anywhere else achieves such validity and significance as with him, and that is - his striving for independence in his own homeland. The vast majority of emigrants are drawn back to the mountains. Once the Tyrolean labourer has acquired a small capital with toil and sweat, even if it is only a few hundred guilders, he uses it to buy a "Heimatl" or at least a field. The most remarkable thing about this, however, is that he only cultivates his land out of air and love of labour - a fact that is easy to prove.

For example, let us take a field in the neighbourhood of Innsbruck, where 1 acre in the better locations costs 1500 fl. including court costs. Of this, the (only 5%) interest amounts to 75 fl., plus 8 double loads of fertiliser placed on the field in Türkenfeld at 48 fl. Harrowing and building together with sowing 10 fl., "basin", "heaping" 8 fl., removal, insertion, removal and "removal" 12 fl., and 8 fl. for the stoning, this results in a total of 161 fl. as expenditure. If one now calculates an average of 60 rows of Turks at 2 fl. each, straw and cobs 20 fl., the income amounts to 140 fl. - The owner therefore works such a field for free and because he is not forced to do so, there is no other explanation left than that he does it for pleasure.

However, most of the work is done on the side - as they say - "one does not count one's own labour" and yet gets something in the house, which is more and more common for workers who are often without employment in winter, such as bricklayers, carpenters, etc., of greater or lesser extent in recent times. of greater or lesser extent have become more and more common in recent times, and such an owner, who on top of that often owns barely half of the purchase capital of his "arable land" himself and owes the rest on it, will, if not ruined, at least be severely affected for many years to come. As long as grain remains at the current price, it will be possible to get by through hard labour and hardship, but what if grain prices fall? What if the Pustertal railway shortens the distance that Hungarian grain has to travel to reach us by almost half? What if, in Hungary itself, branch lines and good roads make it easier to deliver the grain to the stations (which has cost the most so far) and the railway authorities themselves finally realise that by reducing the fare they are not only promoting general prosperity but also their own? If, for example, wheat is bought in Hungary for 2 fl. and the freight is also 2 fl. What effect will this have on our own products, on our entire soil culture?

It is high time that farmers took this question seriously. For if the further expansion of the railway network in the east (including the countries bordering on Hungary) makes it possible for us to buy a hectare of wheat for only 2 1/2 fl., the price of the fruit mostly grown here by the Turks will be reduced by half, and the present enormous value of the fields themselves will naturally be diminished as a result. The importance of the question is obvious and deserves our attention to the highest degree. It is true that the railway is of immense benefit to our country because we have to obtain 1/3 of our needs from outside, which is why it is obvious that our total wealth must increase if we can obtain this additional demand more cheaply than is possible through are and can seek further sales sources for our own export articles. Nevertheless, the completion of the railway network will have to bring about some far-reaching changes in our agricultural conditions in order to offset the individual detrimental consequences as far as possible through more modern utilisation of the land. First and foremost, this may well involve increasing livestock farming and consequently better cultivation of fodder herbs and especially the Alps.

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