Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft
Encyclopedia
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
and operates rail and bus services in the Karlsruhe area.
The AVG is a member of the Karlsruher Verkehrsverbundes (KVV) transport association that manages a common public transport structure for Karlsruhe and its surrounding areas. The AVG is also a partner, with the Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe
Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe
The Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe , is the municipal transport company of the city of Karlsruhe in Germany. It runs the tram and bus network within the city, as well as the Turmbergbahn funicular railway....
(VBK) and Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...
(DB), in the operation of the Karlsruhe Stadtbahn, the pioneering tram-train
Tram-train
A tram-train is a light-rail public transport system where trams run both on an urban tramway network and on main-line railways to combine the tram's flexibility and availability and the train's greater speed...
system that serves a larger area around the city. The AVG also operates some of the Karlsruhe region’s bus services and conveys freight by road and rail, as well as operating a travel agency.
The AVG owns and maintains several railway lines, including the Albtalbahn railway, and leases and maintains other lines. The VBK, a sister company, operates the city of Karlsruhe's bus and tram network, and AVG operated Stadtbahn routes use VBK tracks to access the city centre. Besides AVG owned and leased lines, and VBK lines, AVG rail vehicles also operate on DB tracks, and a short stretch of tram track belonging to the city of Heilbronn
Heilbronn
Heilbronn is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is completely surrounded by Heilbronn County and with approximately 123.000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state....
. Additionally VBK and DB operated Stadtbahn routes traverse AVG tracks.
Historically, the AVG dates back to the acquisition in 1958 of the Albtalbahn railway by the city of Karlsruhe. This formerly (metre gauge
Metre gauge
Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland...
) electric railway was converted to (standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
) and connected to the city's existing tram network. However because it remained legally a railway, and needed to conform to mainline railway design and safety standards, AVG accumulated experience in operating across the divide between tramway and railway. It was this experience that would eventually lead to the much wider development of the Stadtbahn Karlsruhe, and to the AVG operating its vehicles over a much wider area.
External links
- Home page of AVG
- Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft in Stadtwiki Karlsruhe
- privat-bahn.de: Fahrzeuge der AVG
- BahnGalerie: Photos of the Albtal Verkehrsgesellschaft