In Linz

St. Magdalena district is brightly lit again

Where lanterns normally light up the night, it had remained dark.

(Bild: zVg)

In the St. Magdalena district of Linz, not just one light, but several lights may have come on on Wednesday evening! Because since at least last weekend, it had been pitch black on Marienberg, Breinbauerweg and parts of Magdalenastrasse - the streetlights had collectively refused to work.

 "There was an initial report of this on Tuesday, and troubleshooting was completed on Wednesday afternoon: A cable had been damaged during construction work nearby," reports Christian Humer, Head of Department for Public Lighting and Traffic Engineering at Linz City Council. "Although we regularly carry out checks ourselves in the evening, it's impossible to cover the entire city area and check all of Linz's 22,000 or so light points." 

Then it's blow by blow
So if nobody reports a failure - via the "Schau auf Linz" app, for example - it could remain undetected for a while. Once the damage is known, however, it happens in quick succession: "We can usually fix problems on the same working day, although the exact duration depends on the fault, the position of the lamp and the number of failures," explains Humer.

600 call-outs a year
The repair crews have to go out around 600 times a year on behalf of the city. There are many reasons for breakdowns: Large-scale ones are usually caused by storm damage, extreme weather or construction work, while individual lanterns usually remain dark due to traffic accidents or used bulbs. The latter cause will decrease significantly in the future: Currently, 29 percent of lamps are already fitted with LED bulbs, and the complete switchover is being planned or is in progress. Although this has not yet arrived here, the streets in Magdalena are once again lit up.