Rail transport in Austria

Rail transport in Austria is mainly provided by Austria's national rail transport company, the Austrian Federal Railways, which also manages rail transport in Liechtenstein. The Austrian railway network has a length of, of which are electrified. Most lines are in, while especially in the Alpine region there are several narrow-gauge railway lines and funiculars.
Within the European Union, Austria is among the leaders regarding the distance traveled by rail per inhabitant and year: in 2022. It was ranked fifth among national European rail systems in the 2017 European Railway Performance Index.
Austria is a member of the International Union of Railways. The UIC Country Code for Austria is 81.

Network

The Austrian network, aside from the principal rail system, also enfolds some funiculars, rack railways and several heritage railways mainly derived from part of disused lines. Some secondary lines are set up in narrow gauge.

Standard gauge railways

The following is an alphabetical list of standard gauge railway lines in Austria:

Due to the course of the Austria–Germany border and mountainous terrain, the shortest railway line between Innsbruck and Salzburg runs over German territory. This railway corridor, known as the Deutsches Eck, consists of two railway lines, Kufstein–Rosenheim and Rosenheim–Salzburg, which are both located almost entirely in Germany.
The Lower Inn Valley Railway and Brenner Railway represent an important north-south corridor for trains running between Germany and Italy via Austria. To shorten travel time, the long Brenner Base Tunnel is currently being built between Innsbruck and Franzensfeste, South Tyrol. Trains will run with a speed up to through this tunnel. It will be only slightly shorter than the world's longest railway tunnel, the Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland.
Another newly opened railway tunnel is the long Koralm Tunnel, which has shortened travel time between Klagenfurt and Graz.

Rail links to neighbouring countries

Czech Republic – voltage change to 25 kV 50 Hz AC
Germany – same voltage 15 kV, 16.7 Hz AC
Hungary – voltage change to 25 kV 50 Hz AC
Italy – voltage change to 3 kV DC
Liechtenstein – same voltage 15 kV, 16.7 Hz AC
Slovakia – voltage change to 25 kV 50 Hz AC
Slovenia – voltage change to 3 kV DC
Switzerland – same voltage 15 kV, 16.7 Hz AC, but different pantographs

Narrow gauge railways

In Austria, many narrow gauge railways were constructed due to the difficult mountainous terrain. Many survive to this day as a common carrier or a heritage railway.

Narrow-gauge links to adjacent countries

Switzerland – gauge:
* The International Rhine Regulation Railway, a former industrial railway along and across the Alpine Rhine

Operators

Austrian Federal Railways and WESTbahn are the main operators on Austria's railway network. In addition, the German Deutsche Bahn and the Czech České dráhy also operate passenger train services to destinations in Austria.

Austrian Federal Railways

Austrian Federal Railways is the national railway company. It owns a ca. long network and operates domestic and international long-distance passenger trains, most urban commuter trains, known as S-Bahn, as well as Interregio, Regional-Express and regional trains. ÖBB also runs Intercity-Express trains to Germany using Class 4011 tilting trains. In addition, ÖBB jointly operates the City Airport Train to. ÖBB also runs its own brand of night trains to other European countries, branded Nightjet. The company also owns and operates the Feldkirch–Buchs railway line, which links Austria and Switzerland via the Principality of Liechtenstein.

WESTbahn

WESTbahn operates express trains over Austria's Western Railway line. It includes both domestic and international passenger services.

Other companies

Achenseebahn runs steam locomotive hauled trains on the rack railway line between and Achensee, Tyrol
runs the Köflach railway line between Graz Hauptbahnhof and Köflach, Styria
Montafonerbahn operates a line between and in the Montafon Valley, Vorarlberg
NÖVOG runs the gauge Mariazell Railway between St. Pölten Hauptbahnhof and Mariazell
Pöstlingbergbahn operates trams on the gauge line from the main square in Linz to Pöstlingberg
Raaberbahn, or Győr–Sopron–Ebenfurti Vasút, operates the Győr–Sopron–Ebenfurth railway and the Neusiedler Seebahn across the Austria–Hungary border, as well as other lines in Hungary
Schafbergbahn, a rack railway between St. Wolfgang, is operated by the SchafbergBahn und Wolfgangsee Schifffahrt
operates the Salzburg–Lamprechtshausen railway and Bürmoos–Ostermiething railway and gauge Pinzgauer Lokalbahn from Zell am See to Krimml.
Schneebergbahn, a rack railway between Puchberg and Schneeberg in Lower Austria, is operated by Niederösterreichische Schneebergbahn GmbH
Wiener Lokalbahnen operates the Badner Bahn in the Greater Vienna area, between Vienna Opera and
Zillertalbahn runs a gauge line in the Ziller Valley between and Mayrhofen

Freight

Cargo trains are operated by Rail Cargo Austria.

Urban railways

Urban railway services are known as S-Bahn and U-Bahn. Regional trains are called Regionalzug in Austria.

Vienna counts a system of S-Bahn, U-Bahn, and a large tramway network.
Graz counts a regional S-Bahn, an extended tramway network and a funicular.
Linz counts a regional S-Bahn and a tramway network including the Pöstlingbergbahn.
Salzburg counts a regional S-Bahn and a funicular.
Innsbruck counts a regional S-Bahn, with some services to Germany and Italy, a tramway network and a funicular.
Klagenfurt counts a regional S-Bahn.
The federal state of Vorarlberg counts a regional S-Bahn, with services to Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. Some services are also part of the Bodensee S-Bahn.
The small town of Gmunden in Upper Austria counts a tramway line, which since 2018 is linked to the railway line to Vorchdorf.
The village of Serfaus in Tyrol, with the U-Bahn Serfaus, is sometimes considered as the smallest town with a subway in the world.

History

The history of Austrian rail transport starts with the Reisszug, a private, horse-drawn funicular serving Hohensalzburg Fortress. Built at the end of the 15th century and first documented in 1515, it is the oldest known funicular in the world, and possibly the oldest existing railway line.
In the 19th century, after building of several horse tramways, the Nordbahn line Vienna–Břeclav opened in 1837. The Imperial Royal Austrian State Railways ', a company serving the Austrian side of Austria-Hungary, was created in 1884 and in 1923, some years after the dissolution of the empire, the national company BBÖ ' was founded.
Following the Anschluss of Austria to National-socialist Germany in 1938, the BBÖ were taken over by the Deutsche Reichsbahn. After the end of World War II, the Austrian federal railways were re-installed in 1945, soon under the name of Österreichische Bundesbahnen.
In 1998 the market was liberalised and had one of the highest degrees of market openness in the EU according to the 2011 Rail Liberalisation Index, although the market share of ÖBB remains above 90% for passenger rail.