Green Tracks in Vienna: Emergency Services Often an Obstacle for Greening

The future of cities is green. How great is the combination of both? Green tracks refer to track bodies with planted track coverings. In many European cities, park-like track routes are being implemented. "For aesthetic and ecological reasons, there is much to be said for green tracks," say the Wiener Linien, where a corresponding initiative is being planned. It starts from a low level.

The first green track in Vienna was built in 1988 on Wolkersbergenstraße in Hietzing. 37 years later, Vienna has 9.9 kilometers of green tracks - out of a total track length of 342 kilometers of main tracks. It's not due to Thomas Hammer. "When I joined Wiener Linien ten years ago, it was hardly a topic," says the TU graduate, who has been advocating for more greenery since then and is now the head of the planning and track inspection department, in an interview with APA. "Back then, it was a lack of awareness, but also a question of money." Today, there is no doubt about the positive effects: The plants bind dust and carbon, the unsealed soil acts as a water reservoir and thus as an important buffer during heavy rain. The summer cooling effect should not be underestimated, the microclimate is influenced as well as the noise development. The appearance is also positively assessed.

"At Least One Inquiry Every Week"

Because it must not cost much, the expert has tried over the past decade to develop cost-neutral variants compared to conventional tracks. However, the use of green tracks can only be considered during the routine replacement of tracks (with straights, an average lifespan of 40 years is expected, with curves half that). "We receive at least one inquiry every week regarding this, also from the districts - and from all factions." Recently, it was Alsergrund, for example, that would have liked to have green tracks during a track renewal of line D in the area of Schlickplatz, as well as during the redesign of Universitätsstraße. Once again, only concrete slabs were used. Why?

"It often fails due to the 'no' from the emergency services," reports Hammer. In the standard examination procedure, they are allowed to announce whether the track body must remain passable for emergency operations. The track must also not be needed as a fire department setup area or as access for suppliers and garbage collection. In the case of Universitätsstraße, the track body is also claimed not only for the night bus but also as access for two private garages, according to the expert.

Categorization of the Rail Network in Vienna Started

Hammer and his team have now started to divide the entire rail network of Wiener Linien into four categories. Then it should be immediately apparent which sections could be replaced without any issues, where this would be possible with small interventions, and where this would be associated with larger structural and organizational measures (such as the elimination of parking spaces). Category four means: not possible at all.

"Doing nothing is not an option," was the recent motto during the renovation of Wiedner Hauptstraße, where from an ambitious plan, only thanks to the dedicated efforts of the district, barely 100 meters of green track remain, which currently present themselves rather poorly. A grass grid made of recycled plastic, planted with the ground-covering succulent Sedum, was used here, allowing for emergency access, with a standard track support plate underneath. Unsealing is different, but for Hammer, this solution is "a good compromise."

Green Track Is Not Just Green Track

Green track is not just green track. While the perforated concrete hole plates, which were laid over approximately 1.8 kilometers in total length on Simmeringer Hauptstraße, have now been abandoned, the elevated grass, as applied in the D-line extension in Helmut-Zilk-Park in Favoriten, is the top class of grass tracks: They are perceived so much as a meadow that fences had to be installed subsequently to visually highlight the track area for safety reasons. Lower-lying grass, where the rails are more prominent, makes up about one-fifth of the green tracks in Vienna.

While currently, with the new tram lines 12 and 27 and the extension of line 18, green tracks are being laid at least in sections everywhere (about 1.1 of 7.7 kilometers of new track), this year, as part of the ongoing track construction initiative, where the replacement of old track systems is being pushed forward, only about 300 meters of track in the Margaretengürtel / Wienzeile area are being greened. Or, as Thomas Hammer puts it: "Slow and steady wins the race."

The fact that Vienna will not become Brussels, Bordeaux, or Stuttgart so quickly, where the green wave in tram construction has significantly changed the streetscape in some parts for the better, is also due to the mostly narrow streets of Vienna, according to the expert. "The big difference is that in other cities you often have more space. While in Vienna, other issues like snow removal or heavy salt spreading in winter gradually resolve themselves, you often quickly reach your limits with space requirements. The question will be how far one is willing to sacrifice parking spaces and lanes for green track redesigns and the associated lateral relocations of the roadways. That would be the key to success."

More on Urban Development in Vienna

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.