Thörl

Thörl
Municipality
Coat of arms
Location within Bruck-Mürzzuschlag district
Thörl Location within Austria
Coordinates: 47°31′01″N 15°13′09″E / 47.51694°N 15.21917°E / 47.51694; 15.21917
Country	Austria
State	Styria
District	Bruck-Mürzzuschlag
Government
• Mayor	Günther Wagner (SPÖ)
Area [1]
• Total	166.43 km2 (64.26 sq mi)
Elevation	638 m (2,093 ft)
Population  (2018-01-01)[2]
• Total	2,295
• Density	14/km2 (36/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	8621
Area code	03861
Vehicle registration	BM
Website	www.thoerl.gv.at

Thörl is a market town at the foot of the Hochschwab in the Styrian district of Bruck-Mürzzuschlag.

Thörl has eight boroughs: Etmißl, Fölz, Hinterberg, Lonschitz, Oisching, Palbersdorf, St. Ilgen, and Thörl.

• in the north: Mariazell
• in the east: Turnau and Aflenz
• in the south: Kapfenberg
• in the southwest and west: Tragöß-Sankt Katharein
• in the northwest: Wildalpen

As of 1 January 2015 the formerly independent municipalities Sankt Ilgen and Etmißl were incorporated into Thörl. Already in 1955 the municipality Fölz bei Thörl had become part of the municipality.

Thörl's mayor is Günther Wagner of the SPÖ. In its municipal council (15 seats) the party seats are distributed as follows: 9 SPÖ, 3 ÖVP, 2 Freie Unabhängige Liste - Lebenswert, 1 FPÖ.^[3]

Thörl is twinned with:

• Ljubečna, Slovenia

The Mariazeller Straße is the most important road link between Kapfenberg and Mariazell, the most popular pilgrimage site in Austria. In its further course it leads to Sankt Pölten, the capital of the neighbouring state of Lower Austria.

In 1893, the Thörlerbahn, a narrow gauge railway with a track gauge of 760 mm, which linked the area with Kapfenberg and the Austrian Southern Railway (Südbahn), was opened. In particular, the local iron industry benefited from this. A connection to the Austrian Western Railway was planned, but never realized.

In 1959, the passenger traffic was terminated. However, in 1991, the Verein Thörlerbahn (Thörlerbahn Association) took out a trial run with a nostalgic train. But when a bank failure bankrupted the local iron industry, the operator of the railway, Steiermärkische Landesbahnen, lost their largest (and actually the only) freight customer. As a consequence of that, they had to close the track.

In 2003 and 2004, the train tracks were removed and replaced by a cycle track.

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