By 2022 Austrian railways had already broken a record with almost 467 million passengers. Of this total, 42 million passengers travelled on mainline services, including 14.7 million on international routes. By 2023, estimates point to more than 480 million.
In addition to the creation of new rail lines and the modernisation of the train fleet, new services have been and will be launched, such as the night trains or annual packages. One of the most spectacular of these was the "Klimaticket", an annual ticket for all transport in the country.
Over €26 billion of investment
" The Target Network 2040 is our vision of what a modern railway system in Austria could look like. It is a rail network for a climate-neutral Austria, in which climate protection and good mobility go hand in hand." said Leonore Gewessler, Minister for the Environmentwhen the plan was presented.
The 2040+ plan is currently being discussed by government bodies, with the aim of submitting it to the public by the middle of the year. It is particularly ambitious, covering 67 projects representing a total investment of €26 billion. By 2040, passenger trains will cover a total of 255 million kilometres a year. Let 40% more than today.
The introduction of double-decker trains will also make it possible toincrease transport capacity by 30% according to the ÖBB. In total, the purchase of trains and the digitalisation of systems will generate additional investment of €7 billion
Positive effects as far away as Paris
One of the flagship projects, which will have an impact on all European trafficis a a new rail link between the province of Upper Austria (Linz region) and Munich. Both the German and Austrian Federal Transport Ministries are working on doubling the number of lanes between this province and the Bavarian capital.
It would enable reduce the journey time from Vienna to Munich from the current four hours to around two and a half in the future. From Linz to Munich, the journey would take around 1 hour 20 minutes. With the modernisation of the tracks between Munich, Stuttgart and the border with France, it would also make it possible to considerably shorten the journey time from Paris to Vienna.
Work in Germany on the high-speed project Stuttgart-Ulm (Stuttgart 21) will cut 30 minutes off the journey between the two cities by 2025. Another project in the pipeline between Ulm-Augsburg-Munich would cut the journey time by 40 minutes.
It would therefore eventually be possible to make the Paris-Vienna journey in eight hours.. This compares with an average of 10 hours for the current fastest route.
Another major project is the modernisation of the railway lines in the Bregenz region on Lake Constance. This modernisation will reduce journey times throughout the Rhine Valley.
