$Unique_ID{COW00226} $Pretitle{376} $Title{Austria Chapter 3B. Boundaries and Political Subdivisions} $Subtitle{} $Author{James M. Moore Jr.} $Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army} $Subject{austria river miles vienna west province austrian country east tirol} $Date{1976} $Log{Figure 6.*0022601.scf Figure 7.*0022602.scf } Country: Austria Book: Austria, A Country Study Author: James M. Moore Jr. Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army Date: 1976 Chapter 3B. Boundaries and Political Subdivisions Boundaries Austria has a boundary of 490 miles with West Germany, 355 miles with Czechoslovakia, 216 miles with Hungary, 194 miles with Yugoslavia, 268 miles with Italy, 101 miles with Switzerland, and 23 miles with the principality of Liechtenstein, a total of 1,647 miles. No borders are officially in dispute. Historians point out that Austria was, from the days that it was a march, or Mark (frontier zone), of Rome until the Habsburg domains were finally secured, an outpost on the border area between the east and west. A parallel can be drawn to the modern situation, alleging that the country now has much the same kind of exposure that it had before and during the Middle Ages. Austria shares mostly Alpine frontiers with the Western nations Italy, Switzerland, and West Germany; but it has miles of borders with no natural barriers between it and the Eastern European countries Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Yugoslavia. Political Subdivisions Austria is a federal republic; the nine provinces, one of which consists only of Vienna and its suburbs, are semiautonomous (see fig. 6). The degree of local autonomy is subject to interpretation, and the limits of administrative authority are periodically tested in the courts. Unless the political situation deteriorates seriously from that of the mid-1970s, however, it is almost inconceivable that any province would test its rights to the point of declaring itself independent and separate from the federation. The provinces were subdivided into ninety-eight Bezirke (districts) and 2,327 Gemeinden (local communities) on January 1, 1973. The Bezirke are administrative units representing the federal government. The Gemeinden are units of local government. In the case of chartered towns of 20,000 people or more, the boundaries of the district may be coterminous with those of the local community (see ch. 8). [See Figure 6.: Austria, Political Subdivisions] Of the nine provinces, Vienna, with 160 square miles, has the least area; but its population of 1.6 million is the greatest. The other provinces range in size from 1,004 to 7,402 square miles and in population from 271,000 to 1.4 million (see ch. 4). Vorarlberg Vorarlberg, the small westernmost province, borders Switzerland, the principality of Liechtenstein, an Alpine portion of West Germany, and the province of Tirol. Bregenz, the provincial capital, is located on the Bodensee and is the country's only lake port. Vorarlberg was until modern times isolated almost entirely from the rest of Austria. The Vorarlberg-Tirol railroad line, however, tunnels through the Arlberg Mountains for 6.4 miles and provides an all-weather link to the east. As an example, probably more extreme than typical, of the provinces' federal attitude, Vorarlberg claims to be an independent state, having freely decided to join the Austrian Federal Republic. It is oriented toward the west and has a strong provincial patriotism. Although it has much in common with its western neighbors, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, the people consider that their differences with them are greater than with the remainder of Austria. Owing partly to the ruggedness of the terrain, the severity of the climate, and the struggle its citizens have waged in order to glean a livelihood from Vorarlberg's meager resources, the people feel their independence strongly and are an enterprising group. The province may be isolated, but it is not backward. At the time it was within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Vorarlberg had the empire's first telephone, electric light, and first hydroelectric turbine; one of its citizens was the first in the empire to drive an automobile. The schools were in some respects 100 years ahead of those in most of the empire. Its modern-day citizens are known as the best of businessmen, and the region's dairy farming is, with respect to the terrain, as modern and efficient as any in the world. Tirol Tirol-the land of ski resorts-adjoins Vorarlberg to the east in a high mountainous region. The province is divided in two by the southwestern tip of Salzburg, which comes between eastern Tirol and the remainder of the province. The separation came about because South Tirol was taken from Austria and given to Italy during peace negotiations after World War I and was not restored to Austria after World War II. This also accounts for the fact that the major portion of the province-which lies almost entirely west of eastern Tirol-is called North Tirol. Like the people of Vorarlberg, the Tiroleans also feel strongly about their autonomy and federal status. They are quick to point out that in 1342 the Tirol received the earliest democratic constitution in Europe. This was called the Freedom Charter and was granted voluntarily by the ruler, Meinhard II. The mountains surrounding eastern Tirol have almost isolated it from northern and western Austria, giving it a much greater natural orientation toward the Italian Tirol than toward Austrian Carinthia. The Grossglockner Road, constructed during the 1930s, only partially relieved this isolation since the road is closed by heavy snows during the winter. Northern Tirol is as rugged as eastern Tirol but much more accessible. The Brenner Road is the best avenue for movement between Italy and West Germany. The highest point in the Brenner Pass is about 4,500 feet. Innsbruck (the "bridge town" and capital of the province) is located where the Brenner Road enters the Inn River valley and is an important crossroads. From Innsbruck northward from the pass, there is a choice of routes into Germany. The Inn River flows generally west to east through the city. Following the valley eastward downstream it curves to the north. Rail and road routes along the river cross the German border southeast of Munich. Routes from Innsbruck going west divide some ten miles from the city. The routes to West Germany go north from the river and enter near Garmisch-Partenkirche, south-southwest of Munich. Salzburg Salzburg adjoins the eastern border of the main part of Tirol and is north of eastern Tirol. Its seemingly random shape was arrived at in the southwest to encompass the upper Salzach River valley, which is the most important physical feature of its central region. In the east the border encloses the headwaters of the Mur and Enns rivers but separates the province from those to the east in areas of difficult terrain. The city of Salzburg is the capital of the province. The salt mines, the remarkably scenic countryside, and the portion of the Salzkammergut lake district in the province are the most prominent features. Upper Austria Upper Austria shares its western border with Salzburg. It borders West Germany and Czechoslovakia in the northwest and north, Lower Austria in the east, and Styria in the south. The province includes the arable, easily worked, and comparatively level land in the north-central part of the country and most of the extremely beautiful Salzkammergut. It also shares with Lower Austria the heavily forested Austrian portion of the Bohemian massif, north of the Danube River. Upper Austria and Lower Austria are the two original Austrian provinces that formed the nucleus of the empire during the days of its greatest power, and the boundary between them is for the most part only for administrative convenience. The capital of Upper Austria, Linz, is on the Danube River, which flows southeasterly across the northern part of the province. Lower Austria Lower Austria occupies the northeastern part of the country. It borders Czechoslovakia to the north and east, Burgenland and Stryia to the south, and Upper Austria to the west. The northern ranges of the Eastern Alps end in Lower Austria at the edge of the Vienna basin. Illustrating its position as a gateway to the east, a land tenuously held throughout much of early recorded history, there are more than 600 castles, fortified churches, and castle ruins in the province. The Vienna basin, in the northeastern part of the province, contains the country's valuable oil and natural gas fields and the best of its agricultural land. The Danube River, flowing generally west to east, approximately bisects the province. The twenty-mile stretch of the river upstream from Krems flows between the Alpine foothills and the foothills of the Bohemian massif. It was once a dangerous water passage and is still the most scenic part of the river's course in Austria. Vienna serves as the province's capital, although the city is itself a separate province. Vienna Vienna and its suburbs have an area of 160 square miles and constitute the only sizable urban complex in the country. The city-province has a population-1.6 million in 1974-that constitutes about 21 percent of the country's total; it is about 200,000 greater than that of Lower Austria, the most populous of the other provinces. Vienna is situated on the Danube River, with the famous Vienna Woods (Wienerwald) on higher ground in the southwest overlooking the great plains of the Vienna basin, which are the westernmost reaches of the middle Danube basin. The commercial and strategic importance of its location was responsible for its founding and early growth; its political and commercial importance continued to sustain its growth; but its unusually beautiful setting has undoubtedly contributed to its becoming eminent as a cultural and artistic center. Burgenland Burgenland was considered a part of Hungary during the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire but became a part of Austria when the states were separated during the dismemberment of the empire. Burgenland is long and narrow. It borders Czechoslovakia for a few miles, extends southward along the entire Hungarian border, and continues beyond it to border Yugoslavia for about ten miles. To the west, it borders Styria and Lower Austria. Mostly lowland, with lower average precipitation than the rest of the country, Burgenland has extensive vineyards and grainfields. Its soils are good but not the best. Most of the 130 square miles of the Neusiedler See are in Austria. During prolonged dry spells the lake may dry up altogether. For several seasons after 1865, for example, farmers grew crops on the lake bed. Styria Styria occupies the southeastern part of the country between Burgenland and Carinthia and to the south Upper Austria and Lower Austria. It faces east, in the sense that the Alps of western Styria become foothills and, eventually, lowlands at the boundary with Burgenland and the border with Yugoslavia. The fortresses and walled towns at the base of the mountains are reminders that this area was also for centuries part of the frontier between eastern and western civilizations. At times when the pressure came from Asia Minor and southeastern Europe, the region was subject to repeated invasion. When the pressure was from Rome or western Europe, it was a jumping-off area to the east and southeast. The province also contains a small part of the Salzkammergut in its northeastern region, a considerable area of good agricultural land in the south, and a sizable portion of the Alps. The Mur River flows to the northeast from the extreme southwestern corner of the province, but at Bruck its course alters sharply. It then turns southward, through Graz, the province capital and Austria's second largest city, into Yugoslavia. The Erzberg, the mountain of iron ore, is in the north-central part of the province. Carinthia Carinthia, the southernmost of the provinces, borders Yugoslavia and Italy to the south and, continuing in a clockwise direction, borders the Austrian provinces of Tirol (the eastern district), Salzburg, and Styria. The foothills of the mountains in the southern part of the province are strewn with lakes, some so small that they do not appear on most maps, a few that are ten miles in length. Partly due to their southern exposure, and in some cases because of thermal springs, a number of these lakes are much warmer than most of those in the Salzkammergut lake district. Soils in the lower Carinthian basin and the river valleys are good and support intensive agricultural crop production. Vineyards and orchards do well on slopes with southern exposures. The terrain rises sharply from the basin and in the extreme northwest, where a point of the province extends between eastern Tirol and Salzburg. Carinthia shares the Grossglockner with those two provinces. The highest point, 12,461 feet, however, is in Carinthia. TRANSPORTATION Vienna, with its concentration of population and industry, remains the focal point of the several communications systems of the country (see fig. 7). The city was founded and achieved its early growth as a Danube River crossing point just to the east of the Alps. One of the early north-south routes-called the Amber Road because of the amber transported along it from the Baltic Sea area to the jewelers of Rome-crossed Czechoslovakia through the Moravian Gap, crossed the Danube at the site of Vienna, skirted the Eastern Alps, and crossed to the lowlands of northern Italy via the passes to the west and south of the lower Carinthian basin. Vienna was also an outpost and a natural stopping point on the major east-west route across central Europe, the route most frequently traveled between western Europe and the Balkans, Black Sea, or the Middle East. The route followed the Danube River in southern Germany, using the valley to avoid the Bohemian ranges and the Carpathians to the north and the Alps to the south. In times of peace a stopover in Vienna was a respite after a difficult and perilous portion of the passage. In uncertain times or in times of war it was a jumping-off point into the unknown, into Magyar or Slavic lands or lands under the control of the Turks. The Danube routes-of largely military significance until after the Crusades-came into greater commercial use as the Magyars became less aggressive, settling down in the area that is now Hungary. Vienna grew as commerce increased and continued to grow as the capital of an increasingly powerful empire. Some of the earliest railroads of Europe were built to radiate out from the city. Since the dissolution of the empire, routes across what is now Austria have gained in relative importance, as have routes from outlying sections of the country. The Brenner Road across the Tirol remains the quickest surface route between Italy and West Germany. The famous Orient Express, on its route from northwestern Europe to the Balkans and Turkey, crossed Austria between Salzburg and Klagenfurt. All such routes have been vastly improved. Railroads The Austrians pioneered in railroad construction and particularly in the construction of rail routes through difficult terrain. A map showing the country's railroad network and ignoring terrain would suggest that rails have been laid wherever needed and in defiance of whatever terrain may have existed. This is not the case, but the system has overcome obstacles that have most often been bypassed elsewhere in the world. The railroad network has a total of approximately 4,075 miles, with about 6,400 miles of track. All but approximately 300 route-miles are standard gauge, four feet 8 1/2 inches. By 1972 over 40 percent of the network used electric locomotive power. Conversion to electricity has been first on the busiest lines; electric trains carry over 80 percent of the total traffic. Most of the narrow-gauge track (about 300 miles) has been laid in mountainous terrain where it permits sharper turns than are possible with the standard gauge. In 1972 eleven major lines of the state system had a total of twenty-nine international connections. Eight of these were connections to West Germany, five to Czechoslovakia, eight to Hungary, three to Yugoslavia, three to Italy, and two (one through Liechtenstein) to Switzerland. The main domestic lines extend from Vienna westward to the Swiss border, westward to the border of West Germany, and southwestward to lower Carinthia. [See Figure 7.: Austria, Communications Systems] The main lines to West Germany go through the North Alpine Forelands south of the Danube River and through Linz and Salzburg. The lines toward Switzerland follow the Leitha, Mur, Enns, Salzach, Inn, and Ill river valleys and use passes or tunnels from one valley to the next. The Semmering and Arlberg tunnels are the most famous on the route. The Semmering Pass and tunnel connect the Leitha and Mur river valleys at the border of Lower Austria and Styria provinces. The Arlberg tunnel goes beneath a section of the Arlberg Mountain on the border between Tirol and Vorarlberg provinces. The main routes to the southwest follow the Leitha and Mur river valleys to a point north of Klagenfurt, from which they branch southward to Klagenfurt and Villach. Railroads carried more than 175 million passengers in 1972. This is about 45 percent of all publicly transported passenger traffic and nearly 6 million more than were carried by public buses. Railroads also handled nearly 50 million tons of freight, which is about one-half of the cargo carried by all of the nation's carriers. Highway motor vehicles carried most of the remainder, with the exception of a small percentage by the waterways and a statistically negligible tonnage by air. The railroads carried more than 60 percent of Austrian exports, nearly 70 percent of its imports, and over 75 percent of all transit freight. Climate and terrain provide the railroads with continuing problems. The terrain has necessitated steeper grades and sharper turns than are desirable. The normal maximum grade for the country is a high 2.6 percent; west of the Arlberg tunnel it runs 3 percent for a short distance. On only about 10 percent of the routes the curve radius is held to about 2,450 feet, permitting trains to operate at high speeds. In a few places the radius is lower than 500 feet, and on one turn it is only 325 feet. Snow removal is required on a routine basis during the winter months; snow and earth slides are not infrequent. The system had nearly 5,550 bridges in 1972, with a total length of about seventy miles. It also had 263 tunnels, totaling about sixty miles. The longest of the tunnels is the one in the Arlberg Pass, which is about 6.4 miles long. In addition to higher than normal routine maintenance, the system had much damage to repair after World War II and much confiscated rolling stock to replace. About 380 bridges, including some of the most strategic and difficult to replace, were destroyed during the war; and about two-thirds of the system's rolling stock was unserviceable or had been confiscated. Repairs have been carried out, and the system has embarked upon extensive modernization programs. It has proceeded rapidly toward conversion to electric locomotion, and some 1,300 miles of continuously welded rail have been laid. In 1970, the Austrian State Railways still had over 400 steam locomotives, as compared with nearly 500 electric and about 300 diesel. More than two-thirds of the diesels were for switching use, however, rather than main line work. There were another 200 self-propelled cars, about one-half of them electric and one-half diesel powered. The remainder of the rolling stock-some 32,000 freight and 4,500 passenger cars-was still inadequate. In addition to the European Freight Car Pool, which makes up the Austrian State Railways' deficit of cars, the system participates in the organization providing international services in refrigerated freight cars (INTERFRIGO), in the Trans-Europe Express (TEE), and in Trans-Europe Express Freight (TEEM). The TEE trains provide fast deluxe passenger service; TEEM trains provide an equivalent in cargo shipment. The Austrian State Railways are also affiliates of several international organizations set up to share rolling stock, to speed movement and handling of freight, and to standardize equipment and operating procedures. Roads In early 1975 there were over 20,000 miles of improved roads, of which a little more than 14,000 were maintained by the provinces. Over 6,000 miles were maintained by the federal government, but that mileage will increase slightly as the autobahn system of limited-access divided highways is completed. In 1973 about 360 of the 1,100 miles of autobahn were in service. These highways are usually constructed on new routes and add to the total mileage instead of replacing existing roadways. Nearly all of the provincial and most of the federal highways are of two-lane asphalt construction. Other than the autobahns, some federal roads and city streets are wider than two lanes, and some are concrete. Rural or communal roads, totaling nearly 40,000 miles throughout the country, are usually dirt, gravel, or crushed stone; but the more frequently used roads are stabilized with tar. Austrian road builders are confronted with the same problems the railroad designers faced. The Grossglockner Road, when it was completed in 1935-then eastern Tirol's only good highway to the north-was considered one of the engineering triumphs of its time. Of nearly 14,000 bridges on the road system, about 3,000 are on the federal highways. Not content that the bridges be merely serviceable, the Austrians have constructed some that are works of architectural art. Roadways hewn from near-vertical valley rock frequently require retaining walls to protect them from falling rock or snow avalanches or to support them from beneath. In a few of the most precarious spots both kinds of retaining walls may be required on the same stretch of road. In many other places it is necessary to provide roof structures for protection against avalanches. Road surfaces suffer from alternating freezing and thawing conditions. Ice and flood waters are also periodically hazardous. In 1973 about 2.5 million motor vehicles were registered. About one-half of these were privately owned automobiles. Since 1950 this has been the fastest growing mode of transportation. Motorcycles proliferated rapidly between 1945 and 1960 but, with greater numbers able to afford automobiles, motorcycle registrations fell by more than 50 percent during the 1960s. Both the Austrian State Railways and the Post and Telegraph Administration operate passenger buses. Although their operations account for about one-third of the nearly 7,000 registered buses, they carry the largest share of riders on their 15,000 miles of urban and cross-country routes. The government does not attempt to estimate the tonnage of cargo carried by truck, but the increasing number of trucks registered indicates that they are carrying an increasing share of short-haul freight. Waterways Only the 217 miles of the Danube that flow across the northeastern part of the country and the less than fifty miles of the March that flow along the Austria-Czechoslovakia border east and north of Vienna are navigable to powered shipping. Another 250 miles are considered navigable in a more limited sense-for downstream rafting of logs and the like. The terrain in the country has prohibited canal building except to regulate the rivers or to construct river port facilities. Although the amount of river shipping appears small when compared with the statistics of rail and road traffic, the Danube, in particular, is an important route for bulk goods, such as ore, grain, and petroleum. The Danube Steamship Company, an Austrian firm based in Vienna, was carrying over 2 million tons of cargo annually during the early 1970s. Other foreign and smaller domestic companies operating on the river in Austria raised the total of goods handled at Austrian river ports to over 7 million tons. Several hundred thousand passengers also travel on Danube ships. Railroads, highways, and airways carry those who need to get from one point to another and to whom speed is a consideration, but the river offers scenery and relaxation that attract both tourists and local passengers during the more pleasant months of the year. This was not always the case. Before the river between Linz and Vienna was regulated, the channel was hazardous; and riding the rapids could be a harrowing experience. Accommodations on ship were often small, dirty, and ill kept. Food, both shipboard and at stops along the way, was reputedly barely edible. The importance of the river is expected to increase as more measures are taken to control the river upstream from Vienna and as the Rhine-Main-Danube canal system in West Germany is completed. Dam and lock installations are being constructed at several places on the river. Fourteen are programmed, and some have been completed. Construction was approaching the mid-point during the mid-1970s. As they are finished, river navigation becomes steadily safer, and each dam site is a large new source of electric power. The locks will be a minimum of 755 feet long, seventy-eight feet wide, and 9.5 feet deep. Danube bridges also have a minimum of seventy-eight feet between spans and a twenty-one-foot vertical clearance below the bridge at normal high water stages. River shipping encounters a number of other obstacles that recur with the seasons. Low water levels between November and December frequently restrict the loads that can be carried in larger river craft. The river normally freezes over from late December until mid-February. Icebreakers keep it clear most of the time, but in severe winters the river may be closed to all but skaters. Melting ice may make the stream too treacherous for shipping for a short time during the spring thaw, and flooding can be a threat from late spring until early or middle summer. Vienna is the principal Austrian river port. Linz also has a substantial amount of port facilities and warehouse space and handles a respectable quantity of shipping. Krems rates as a river port but is much less important than Vienna or Linz. Airways Rail and road networks are well developed and, in a country as small as Austria, there is relatively little opportunity for the time saving that air travel offers on long distance flights. The amount of purely domestic air transport is, therefore, small. A unique situation does exist with regard to one small settlement, Kleinwalsertal, high in the Vorarlberg Alps near the West German border. It is situated in a valley that opens only into West Germany. Except for a climb across steep mountain ridges impassable during most seasons, direct surface communication with other parts of Austria is impossible. This presents no problems ordinarily, but when local police apprehend a suspect who must be tried in a provincial court, he must be flown there. How this problem was dealt with in the days before aircraft is not known, but in the modern age criminal suspects are transported to trial via helicopter. Austria has served as a connecting point between the East and West because of its neutral status. Austrian Airways, the national airline, has flights into more Eastern European countries than any other Western airline. Foreign airlines have also used Vienna as a transfer point on East-West routings. Austrian Airways and nearly thirty foreign airlines connect through Austria with more than sixty cities in over forty countries. The role of Austrian Airways has diminished somewhat as the cold war has thawed and increasing numbers of bilateral arrangements have been set up between Eastern and Western countries. Unprofitable operations have been curtailed, including transatlantic flights. As a result the airline achieved a financial surplus in 1973 for the first time. The government has listed forty-four Austrian airfields, a relatively large number for a country of its size, although most of them are inactive or active only part of the year. Eleven have hard-surface runways, and six are international airports. In 1974 only Schwechat, near Vienna, was able to handle the largest commercial airliners. Pipelines Pipelines are the latest means of transporting mass shipments across the country, although in Austria their use has been limited to crude oil and natural gas. In 1970 pipe mileage consisted of 450 miles for crude oil and 535 miles for natural gas. The major internal lines for crude oil extend between the Vienna basin fields and the large refinery at Schwechat, near Vienna. Another line connects Schwechat with the Transalpine Pipeline at Wurmlach, southeast of Lienz in eastern Tirol. Large lines carry natural gas from the Vienna basin around the southeastern periphery of the country, serving the cities and industries en route, and crossing the Austrian border on the southern side of the Klagenfurt basin in the direction of Trieste and Venice. A second group of lines carries the gas to cities in the Leitha and Mur river valleys as far inland as Donawitz in central Styria. A third group serves the Danube River valley and most of the Alpine and Bohemian massif forelands in the provinces of Upper Austria and Lower Austria. Two international pipelines cross the western part of the country. The Central European Pipeline enters the country for about forty miles, crossing northwestern Vorarlberg between West Germany and Switzerland en route between major terminals at Ingolstadt and Genoa. The Transalpine Pipeline crosses farther to the east, between Ingolstadt and Trieste. It passes near Kufstein in the Inn River valley and Lienz in eastern Tirol. Both of the international lines carried only crude oil across Austria in 1974; a natural gas line is projected for the Transalpine Pipeline route. During 1973 Austria received over 5.1 million tons of crude oil from the Transalpine Pipeline, and it imported 3.5 million cubic meters (125 million cubic feet) of natural gas by pipelines from the east. There were no available statistics indicating volumes or tonnages for domestic shipments, imports, or transshipments.