Mödling and Hinterbrühl Tram

The Mödling–Hinterbrühl Local Railway was an electric tramway in Lower Austria, running 4.5 kilometres from Mödling to Hinterbrühl. It opened in October 1883 and was the first tram in the world to use overhead wires for regular electric power. The metre-gauge single track was laid partly on public roads and included several turnouts and sidings. Siemens’s experimental Electromote system inspired the original bipolar overhead line with two downward-opening tubes. The line was extended to Hinterbrühl in 1885 after authorities required a steam engine as emergency backup through the valley. The railway was built and operated by the Südbahngesellschaft, the private company that ran the main line from Vienna to Trieste. In 1903 the line was modernised, replacing the bipolar tubes with a single overhead wire and bow collectors. By 1912 the service was profitable, but from 1927 onward buses in the valley competed with the tram. The Ministry for Trade and Traffic ordered the closure in 1923, and the last tram ran on 31 March 1932. Today the route is a walking and cycling path through the valley between Mödling and Hinterbrühl. The path follows the old trackbed, passing the sites where the overhead line once ran. Informative panels along the way describe the railway’s history and Siemens’s pioneering system. The gentle route offers views of the surrounding hills and the old Südbahn station at Mödling. It provides a quiet green corridor linking the two towns.