Semmering Railway, Semmering-Kurort, Austria

The Semmering railway, which starts at Gloggnitz and leads over the Semmering to Mürzzuschlag was the first mountain railway in Europe built with a standard gauge track. It is commonly referred to as the world's first true mountain railway, given the very difficult terrain and the considerable altitude difference that was mastered during its construction. It is still fully functional as a part of the Southern Railway which is operated by the Austrian Federal Railways.

The Semmering railway was constructed between 1848 and 1854 by some 20,000 workers under the project's designer and director Carl von Ghega born in Venice as Carlo Ghega in an Albanian family. The construction features 14 tunnels (among them the 1,431 m vertex tunnel), 16 viaducts (several two-story) and over 100 curved stone bridges as well as 11 small iron bridges. The stations and the buildings for the supervisors were often built directly from the waste material produced in the course of tunnel construction.

In 1998 the Semmering railway was added to the list of the UNESCO World Heritage sites.

References:

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User Reviews

Sougata Bose (8 months ago)
One of the best hikes I have been to

Poul Gotterup (9 months ago)
Went here during women’s World Cup and it was great fun even though there wasn’t any new fallen snow.

Alex Manias (20 months ago)
Beautiful place, only 50 munutes to 1h away from Vienna center and you can experience the glorius mountains and forests of Austria dressed in white with scenes like from a postcard! I loved the place and i'm certainly going to visit it again.

Bendegúz Dibusz (2 years ago)
The 20 schilling blick offers a scenic view. Only 10 minutes of walk from the Skulpturenpark, where you can leave your car.

A Fo (2 years ago)
It's a beautiful railway, I rode on a stunning autumn day, the view and the colors with the quiet modern train, the viaducts and the tunnels were really relaxing. It's worthy to ride it one time in a life. At Semmering station there is a free little museum.

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The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.

The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick.

Semmering Railway

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