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Delays ahead as Austria’s western train route partially closes

One of Austria’s most important rail routes, between Vienna and Salzburg, will be partially closed for several weeks this summer.

Published: 15 July 2024 11:33 CEST

Delays ahead as Austria's western train route partially closes

Trains between Vienna and Salzburg will face delays throughout August due to maintenance work. Photo: Andreas64 / Pixabay

Significant portions of the western route between Vienna and Salzburg will be subject to maintenance works, including the laying of new track between Amstetten to St. Valentin, from Marchtrenk to Wels, and at Schwanenstadt station in Upper Austria.

The work is expected to last between August 1st and 30th.

Journeys between Vienna and Austria are expected to take an additional half an hour, while journeys to Linz will probably be lengthened by up to twenty minutes.

READ MORE: Five Austrian destinations you can reach by train to escape the heat

Those taking regional trains – especially along the Linz feeder lines – should also expect delays, and rail replacement buses may be in operation.

Travellers abroad can rest easy, however: the direct connection from Vienna to the city’s airport has been guaranteed as remaining unaffected.

The ÖBB noted in a statement Saturday: “To ensure that travellers continue to reach their destination on time and in a climate-friendly manner, the railway line requires regular services and renovations.

“To be able to carry out extensive construction work in a bundled manner, several sections of the western route will be closed simultaneously.

“This means that the work can be carried out quickly and without long-term disruption to train traffic.”

READ MORE: Vienna public transport chaos: Which routes will be closed during summer?

According to the ÖBB, the western rail route carries approximately ten per cent of the country’s rail traffic.

The current upgrades are a part of the state rail operators ‘Target 2040’ infrastructure plan to deliver more punctual trains and more passenger capacity across the country’s public transport network.

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Sweden could have trains to mainland Europe by 2022

Would you take the train from Sweden to Brussels? File photo: Petar Starčević/Pexels

If it became a reality, it would also be possible to travel onwards to London with just one change in the Belgian capital.

Sweden's government last year commissioned a report from the Transport Administration to outline how state procurement of night trains from Sweden to mainland Europe.

The report is now ready, and the agency suggests that Malmö to Brussels via Cologne would be a suitable first route, due both to favourable traffic conditions and onward connections from the Belgian capital.

That's a more extensive route than when the first report on the government assignment came in January, and a route of Malmö-Cologne was proposed.

“As we have deepened the investigation, we have seen that it is possible to extend the route to Brussels. Traffic to Brussels is more complex, based on capacity and technical aspects, than just reaching Germany, but still possible to implement,” said Anna Fällbom, Head of Unit Agreement and Financing at the Swedish Transport Administration.

But this doesn't mean the route will definitely happen.

First, Sweden would need to make agreements with the countries concerned relating to “duty of traffic”, which means that the operator agrees to provide a certain basic supply. The Transport Administration said that Germany had signaled it was not currently prepared to enter such an agreement.

“It may be possible to put in place a solution where duty of traffic is only decided in Sweden and Denmark, and the traffic is subsequently commercial. However, there are doubts about such a solution and this needs to be studied further,” said Fällbom.

The next step would then be to find operators who can provide the vehicles, and then to go through the legal process to get the route set up.

If these obstacles can be overcome, the agency said that traffic on the route could be running as early as in two to three years' time.

Sweden's Foreign Ministry has advised against all non-essential overseas travel until June 15th, 2020, due to the uncertainty and infection risk associated with the ongoing coronavirus crisis. This deadline may be extended further, and state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell has told media that people in Sweden shouldn't necessarily be able to travel abroad until next year at the earliest.

When borders do start to open up again, there's likely to be high demand for international train travel due both to the climate crisis and the damage that the coronavirus emergency has done to the aviation industry, which may mean fewer departures and higher tickets for air travel.

Currently, it is possible to travel on direct trains from Sweden to Denmark and Norway, as well as to Berlin in the summer months when the Snälltåget traffics a route to the German capital.

The Local's ultimate guide to exploring Sweden by train

Swedish vocabulary

Brussels – Bryssel

obstacle – (ett) hinder

investigation – (en) utredning

to advise against – att avråda från

agreement – (en) överenskommelse

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