Along its almost 125-year history of Innsbruck’s well-known “Mittelgebirgsbahn” was already under thread of closure several times, the first time already during the days of steam operation from 1900 to 1936 due to increasing competition from car traffic. As it was always necessary to change from the Innsbruck tramway to the Mittelgebirgsbahn at the peripheral Bergisel station, experiments were carried out from 1923 onwards with passenger carriages. Steam operation on this route with gradients of up to 46%o and tight curves was a challenge anyway – but the budget was always tight. In 1936, electrification was achieved and with it the local trains were routed over the 8.3 km long mountain line into the city centre. This splendour came to an end as early as 1940 and, with the exception of a few pairs of trains in the evening, passengers had to change trains at Bergisel station again for the next 47 years. This meant that the Mittelgebirgsbahn – also known as Line 6 since 1936 – fell further behind private transport and the regular bus service. The last 50 years of history have been characterised by repeated attempts to discontinue operations, with a wide variety of arguments.
At the same time, however, there were always those who campaigned for the preservation of this picturesque interurban tram. Modernisation started in 1981 with the use of modern vehicles (ex Hagen and 1985 ex Bielefeld), which also made it possible to reintegrate it into the inner-city tram network from 1987 to 2005. Although the most modern low-floor vehicles analogous to the Stubaitalbahn were used from 2009, operation was not really attractive. The low point to date was reached in the years since 2017, when only one morning train ran on school days and the service was otherwise reduced to 6-9 train pairs at weekends.
The end seemed foreseeable if Innsbruck’s city politicians had not stood up for this romantic interurban tram route. After a long back and forth, an agreement was reached to reintegrate it into the city’s tram service and since 14 June 2024, Line 6 trains have been running daily and hourly between Mühlauer Brücke, the city centre and Igls under the new “Waldbahn” brand. This “revival” was celebrated with a ceremony and special historical trains on 15 June 2024. Let’s be optimistic that the new service will be well received by local residents and day trippers and that the sceptics will be proven wrong.
