Amtsbanerne på Als

Amtsbanerne på Als

The County Railways at Als - ABA

The Sønderjyske Amtsbaner: Cuckoos in Danish Railway History

The Southern Jutland county railways form a special part of Danish railway history. Built by the Germans around the year 1900, these lanes were established to improve the connection with the rest of Germany and ensure the market towns a solid commercial catchment area.

German Traditions in Southern Jutland
While in Denmark the focus was on an optimal utilization of resources, including bringing together all railways in a city at the same station, in Germany there was a tradition of separating private railways and state railways. The supervision of the private railways was generally more relaxed, which meant that the railways in German Southern Jutland were laid out as independent units that wound around the catchment without regard to state railways or other existing railways.

Alsener Kreisbahnen and Amtsbahnen at Als

On February 6, 1898, the Alsener Kreisbahnen (A.Kr.B.) was inaugurated. The tracks were built while Als was part of Prussia, under the law "preussische Kleinbahngesetz" of 1892, which made it possible to build local tracks. After Sønderjylland's reunification with Denmark, the tracks changed their name to Amtsbanerne på Als (ABA).

The tracks were not designed for heavy traffic or high speeds (max. 30 km/h) and therefore did not have to meet the strict safety requirements that applied to state railway lines. The track was laid out with meter tracks (1,000 mm) and light rails of only 15.5 kg per track. meters, which made the track cheap to build and opened up the possibility of financing from local authorities, cities and private investors.

Traffic and Economy

Although the tracks' light construction and low speed of 30 km/h were primarily intended for freight traffic, they also became popular with passengers. With up to 500,000 passengers annually, the lines were a success, despite the long journey times – for example, the trip between Sønderborg and Nordborg took over two hours. The cargo volume reached 60,000 tons per year.

The Amtsbanen was a fork railway that started from Sønderborg and split in Vollerup with a northbound track towards Nordborg and a southbound track towards Skovby. The southbound track split further at Lille Mommark, where a detour led to Mommark via Sarup. The sections from Sønderborg to Guderup, Skovby and Mommark were opened on 6 February 1898, while the section between Guderup and Nordborg opened on 1 July 1898.

Decline and Liquidation

The railways' economy was healthy with a profit until the First World War, but the war led to a lack of maintenance of both railways and equipment. After reunification, the tracks were renovated with new locomotives and stronger rails, temporarily reviving the tracks in the early 1920s. However, competition from trucks, buses and cars as well as the general economic crisis led to problems for the tracks.

With the Railway Act of 29 March 1924, it was decided that DSB should take over the operation of the Sønderborg-Mommark section and convert it to standard gauge (1,435 mm). The other lines were closed in 1933, while the Sønderborg-Mommark line opened again on 15 June 1933 and was finally closed on 27 May 1962.

The county railways at Als (ABA) serviced the following railways

The name of the railway Operator                                  Length      Opened            Discontinued

• Sønderborg-Mommark Ferry (Narrow Gauge) ABA 18.7       1898.02.06       1933.02.28
• Sønderborg-Nordborg ABA                                          30.9      1898.02.06        1933.02.28
• Sønderborg-Skovby ABA                                               19.0      1898.02.06        1933.02.28