The Brennerbahn (or "Ferrovia del Brennero" in Italy), is a major international connection between Italy and the rest of Europe, in its entirety connects Verona with Innsbruck, following a mostly natural mountain pass (Brennero Pass), and then running near the Isarco (Eisacktal/Eisack) Valley until reaching Bozen. The railway is pretty scenic, and from a scenery point of view should be between Main Spessart Bahn and Arosa Linie. I will provide a cab-ride so you can watch for yourself. The services are split between OBB and RFI on their respective side, the two sides share nothing in common apart from the track gauge, the Austrian side used 15kV AC and ETCS L2, while on the italian side 3kV DC and SCMT/RSC is used. The only services that cross from one system to the other are the numerous freight services and the EuroCities connecting northern Italy with Austia and Germany, those are usually hauled by a Taurus which has the italian safety system. Notice the little screen on the left with 4 buttons to either side, that's the SCMT interface Those units also have the italian registration on the front "E190 xxx" usually below the Austrian one (OBB1216 xxx) Freight locomotives are usually Vectrons (operated by a moltitude of operators, DB Logisitcs Italy, TX Logistics, etc...), the Vectron is not the only locomotive used there but it seems one of the most common, I'll talk about trains more in detail later. The most common type of freight I've seen on some recent trainspotting videos was intermodal transport and truck trailer transport (as to be expected by an international connection), altought some bulk freight is present, I'd have to do more research to find out more about that,. The overall lenght is about 130km which I know is a bit too much for TSW right now, but we are seeing some DLCs starting to push towards those lenghts. Services would be mainly freight going between the two nations, austrian and Italian pax services on their respective sides, and possibily some shunting at Brenner, and then the ECs Time of travel problem The problem is that in total a complete trip from Innsbruck to Bozen would take more than 2h, which is very far away from the 45m mark of "optimal lenght" for TSW. To resolve this problem it might be a sensible option to have some services stop at Brenner and then continue as a separate service, from Innsbruck to Brenner it should be about 30m of travel time, but it's more than 1h from Brenner to Bozen. A fair amount of this line is in tunnels so maybe it could save some resources, and there are not many intermediate stops (which as we know and have seen on BRD's airport branch, are usually the most time and labour intensive part of a route) Trains and Locomotives used, Services and some possibily stupid assumptions As I've said, the Vectron is the main locomotive used, another pretty common locomotive is the Italian E.412 (a.k.a. EU43), operated by both private operators like Rail Traction Company and Trenitalia themselves. It's based off the BR120's electronics so it would be quite a unique experience to drive. Like many other freight locomotives it will soon receive the "Mercitalia livery" About what trains I would include in a possible DLC, it's a difficult question because of the large number of trains used, realistically I think Austria will soon-ish come to TSW and this project could be useful to start building Italian stuff using the "already built" Austrian assets. So I will (maybe foolishly) assume that trains like the Vectron and the OBB1216 (Taurus) exist, so it might be required a rework of the cab for the "Italian version" The Traxx could be another valid alternative, but considering it's not very common and there are already a lot of variants in TSW I'd rather imagine a Vectron being in there instead. So the question remains about the regional trains, on the "Italian side" E.464s are used coupled to some "Medium-Distance" coaches, while on the Austrian side Talent (OBB4024) trainsets are used. Typical Regional push-pull consist for services to and from Brenner, leading an E.464, trailing the "MDVC Passante" Cab Car The extremely beautiful cab car leads this Regional towards Brenner Depending on which Austrian stock is "already existent" it would make sense to either introduce the E.464 and the E.412, or the E.464 and the Talent, or only one of the two, however it would be fundamental to have at least both sides of pax trains, but only a Vectron would suffice as a freight loco I guess you all know how an OBB Talent and a Vectron looks so I'll save the image space Safety Systems This post is already way too long already so I'll try to be brief, in Italy RSC and SCMT is used, which is our proprietary system, and is enforced from Brenner, on the Austrian side ETCS L2 has been used here since 2013, before that time it was PZB, so if DTG actually ever decisdes to do this route they could get away by deciding represent the early 2010s which could also open up interesting other possibilites which I will sadly not get into here, let me know if you want a follow-up post Well, I can't think of anything else to say, I'm hopeful for both Austria and other European states (Iike Italy) will become a reality in TSW not too far from now. As promised, the cab rides:
I agree, I focused more on the Italian trains because I feel they are less known, but a Vectron (or at the very least a Traxx) would be necessary
For ÖBB trains you're looking at 1293 Vectron 1216 Taurus. There are two variations of ÖBB 1293 one has Italian signaling systems while units 173-200 lack SCMT RS4 since they are supposed to operate on Austria to Belgium and Netherlands services via Main Spessart Bahn Aschaffenburg-Gemünden. For ÖBB trains those can layer to Rhein-Ruhr Osten and Main Spessart Bahn as Rangierbahnof Hagen Vorhalle to Vbf Hall in Tyrol Salzburg Gnigl and Wien Kledering. Hauptstrecke München-Augsburg Augsburg Rangierbahnhof München Laim Vbf Innsbruck Salzburg Wien freight. Riesa Dresden OBB 1216/1293 a Stralsund/Rostock Roderau Dresden Freight or Stralsund/Rostock Elsterwerda Raedebul Ost Dresden Hbf Although 1216 can do Railjet there's 20:43 & 08:40 trips on Hauptstrecke München-Augsburg. E412 has PZB LZB Sifa 15kv 16.7hz Deutsche Bahn ÖBB systems. If one has Brennerbahn with Bahnstrecke Bremen Oldenburg OBB 1216 will start spawning in as freight substitutes Video is by trainspotter Bavaria in German language ÖBB 1216 Brenner Bahn. For the Tutorial you must go to the engine room to activate Banking Communication switch and Sifa as seen on ES64U2 BR 182 MRCE and Deutsche Bahn. In the video, you are going to see ÖBB1116 & 1016 in the double header set up. ÖBB1216 brake selector is in the engine room
Saw that video and it has OBB Baureihe 1293 001-085 pulling the Lorry train with the rear pusher locomotive being an OBB 1016/1116. 2:03 in the Video is a Railpool BR 186 with Railpool 187 available in Creators Club requires Koln Aachen 187 DLC. Lorries are the MAN Volvo FH one is seen in Riesa Dresden Priestewitz Warehouse and requires the game to have the Ability to load lorries on trains. Ends up making the Brennerbahn the first TSW 2 route to load and unload lorries on trains then go.
