Welcome to Kehlsteinbus.de
This website deals with the bus service to the Eagle´s Nest (Obersalzberg near Berchtesgaden, Upper Bavaria). Of course, we also provide information here about Regionalverkehr Oberbayern GmbH (RVO) with its offices in Berchtesgaden and Rosenheim. On the following pages you will find pictures, information and data about Germany's highest bus line, the vehicles and their operators. In order to complete this page, I am looking for more photos of buses that run or drove at the Deutsche Bundespost and Regionalverkehr Oberbayern GmbH (RVO) in the Berchtesgaden operation (especially on Kehlsteinroad). The images should preferably have a size of 1024x768 pixels. I would like to expressly point out here that this is a purely private hobby site and not an official homepage of the Kehlsteinlinie or its operators. All information for your visit to the Eagle´s Nest, as well as useful information for groups, can only be found under “Kehlsteinhaus”.
The Eagle's Nest Road
The construction of a so-called tea house began in 1937 at the Kehlstein near Berchtesgaden. According to Martin Bormann's wish, this should be completed on Hitler's 50th birthday. Some sources report that it was a birthday present from the party, but this is not true. An access road also had to be built as part of the project. This leads from Hintereck (940 m above sea level), at the level of the former Obersalzberg barracks, to a turning plate (1710 m above sea level). The entire construction project was completed in a record time of 13 months, a masterpiece by everyone involved. On April 25, 1945, a bomb attack destroyed almost all buildings and facilities on the Obersalzberg; miraculously, the Kehlsteinhaus and the street remained unscathed. Initially, the American occupiers were the new masters of the Eagle´s nest, but that changed in 1952. Through the intervention of the Berchtesgaden district administrator Karl Theodor Jacob, the blowing up of the Kehlsteinhaus was prevented. The street and the Kehlsteinhaus (1834 m) were handed over to the Bavarian state government. In May 1952, the “Deutsche Bundespost” opened the regular service to the Kehlsteinhaus on behalf of the then Berchtesgaden Tourism Association. The first departure point was at the “Hotel zum Türken”, then the Hintereck bus departure point was put into operation. This was right at the entrance to Kehlsteinroad. Back then, a driveway on the road closed to normal car traffic took 35 minutes. The road is 6.5 km long and 3.5 m wide, the gradient is 24%, the road winds over an altitude difference of 770 meters. The route passes through five tunnels with a total length of 273 meters. Due to the weather, they can only be driven from mid/late May to the end of October. During peak times, up to seven buses run at the same time. There is only one alternative position that you have to wait for, the so-called Königsseeblick. Here the buses going downhill can wait and the ones going uphill can pass. Since June 1, 1976, the route has been operated by Regionalverkehr Oberbayern GmbH (RVO) on behalf of the Berchtesgaden-Königssee tourism region (TRBK). The dispatcher controls operations on the route using a perfect system. This year around 300,000 visitors take the highest bus line in Germany. Today the line is served by the new Kehlstein bus service, which is now located on the site of the former Hotel Platterhof, in just 15 minutes. The route has now been used accident-free for 70 years; we owe this achievement to the drivers of the Kehlsteinbuses. They have been the summit of Obersalzberg since 1952..
Branch BGD
The Berchtesgaden branch of the Regionalverkehr Oberbayern GmbH (RVO) is located in Berchtesgaden (Bischofswiesen) , in the industrial area Stangenwald.
Currently 40 buses at the depot are located. The fleet consists mainly of Mercedes-Benz Citaro C2Ü (9) and Citaro C2GÜ (1), MAN LC 12E (10), MAN LC A20 NÜ 323 or 363 (20). The business has also a office in Bad Reichenhall, there are 5 buses.
Eagle’s Nest Road Buses
Since 1952, following service in the line type used on the Eagle’s Line:
1st since 1952 Mercedes-Benz O 3500
2nd since 1955 Mercedes-Benz O 321 h
3rd since 1964 Mercedes-Benz O 317 k
4th Mercedes-Benz O 322 and O 302 as replacement vehicles and spare
5th since 1976 Mercedes-Benz O 307
6th since 1990 Mercedes-Benz O 407
7th since 2003, Setra S 315 NF
8th since 2010 Setra S 415 NF and MAN Lion's City NÜ A 20
9th since 2014 Mercedes Benz Citaro C2Ü
10th MAN LC 12E since 2023
Mercedes-Benz
The first Mercedes buses at the Eagle's line were "buses with hood" of the type O 3500, they had just 90 hp (66 kw). In 1955, the O 321H came with 110 hp (81 kw) is used. From the mid 60ziger years then the much larger O 317k sailed with 210 hp (154 kw) of the line. Occasionally, the car types O 322 and O 302 were used as reserve vehicles on the road. In 1976, the Post procured O 307 with special mountain gear. These cars were taken over by the RVO convince on June 1, but they cant be use for the mountain. As a replacement purchased new in 1978, the RVO O 307 with modified rear axle, it was the first car in RVO colors. Beginning with 210hp (154kw) later, with 240 hp (177 kw), the buses proved themselves excellent. From 1990, then came with the 250 hp (184 kW) strong O 407 the last moment Mercedes buses at the Eagle's Nest. In January 2014, 3 Mercedes Citaro C2Ü were housed at the Berchtesgaden depot for the Kehlstein service. At the end of September 2014, another 6 vehicles of this series were added.
Setra
In early 2003 should be purchased 12 new buses for the Eagle line. After the production of the previously used Mercedes O 407 was discontinued in 2001 so it was needed replacement. This was found in the home EVO-Bus (Kässbohrer) with the Setra S 315 NF. These are the first Eagle's car with air conditioning and low-floor technology. The engine was a Mercedes-Benz unit comes with a 260 kw (354 hp). In the 30th week of 2010 were handed over six Setra S 415 NF to the office of Berchtesgaden. These new cars are rejuvenating the Eagle fleet is now clear and replace the 7300 series on the mountain. On July 30, the first two cars, of this delivery, used first at the Eagles Nest Road service.
M A N
Since early September 2010, with the M-RV 5077 for the first time used a MAN bus on the Eagle line. It's a Lion's City NÜ A20 363 with a 360 hp engine. Since June 26, 2023, 10 new MAN Lion's City 12 E electric buses have been in use on the Kehlstein line.
This is usually a German website. I apologize for my bad English, I just hope it is understandable.