Pöstlingberg & Grottenbahn in Linz

Autumn 2021. In theory we could travel to other continents, but destinations we had in mind such as Japan or the United Kingdom were impossible to plan ahead. Instead we organised a rail trip to Eastern Europe, travelling to Berlin, Gdańsk, Wrocław, Karlovy Vary, Pilsen, Bratislava, Poprad, Vienna, Linz and Salzburg. By travelling to Germany, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia and Austria, we explore an area which was in the (not too distant) past bonded together by the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and by Austria-Hungary.

We travelled from Vienna to Linz in Upper Austria using Deutsche Bahn‘s ICE to Frankfurt. As we have reviewed ICE travel so often, we’re not writing another.

In Linz we checked in at Motel One and we went straight up the Pöstlingberg using the Pöstlingbergbahn. We were inspired by Gerhard Liebenberger‘s video on the subject.

Presentation

The Pöstlingberg is a 539 metres (1,768 ft) high hill on the left bank of the Danube inLinz. It is a popular tourist destination, with a viewing platform over the city, and is the site of the Pöstlingberg pilgrimage church, and the Grottenbahn.

The Pöstlingberg is reached from the city centre by line 50 of the Linz tramway, running over the Pöstlingbergbahn mountain tramway.

The Pöstlingbergbahn opened in 1898. For 110 years the metre-gauge railway ran from a terminal station in Linz’s Urfahr neighbourhood, located across from the terminus of urban tram route 3, to Pöstlingberg. In 2009, service was extended from Urfahr to the city centre.

To permit this change, the railway was regauged from 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge to 900 mm (2 ft 11+7⁄16 in) and a track connection to the Linz tram network was built. With a maximum grade of 11.6% the Pöstlingbergbahn is one of the steepest adhesion railways in the world.

There are steeper grades on at least one other tram system, that of Lisbon in Portugal, but the Pöstlingbergbahn is still among the world’s steepest adhesion railways and has the steepest grade of any in Austria.

The ride

The ride was “cute”. Tram 50 meanders on its way to the top. The tram stops are signposted in a gothic typeface, the annoiuncements are long. Signs mark the gradient.

Grottenbahn

On the Pöstlingberg mountain there’s a zoo, a church, some restaurants and there’s the Grottenbahn or Grotto Railway.

“A trip on the Dragon Express through Linz’s Grottenbahn spirits visitors away into the realm of dwarves, forest animals and fairy tales. The Grottenbahn will enchant you with scenes from famous fairy tales, and takes visitors back to the olden days with a stroll on Linz Hauptplatz in miniature at the turn of the century. A great excursion destination for families”, the Linz website says.

The ride does three small loops, each time highlighting different aspects of the dwarf community. Afterwards there’s a fairytale marketplace with diaromas of famous and less famous fairytales. It’s all kind of cute.