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New Plan Unveiled: Vienna Airport to be Only Two Hours Away by Train from Budapest

• 7 Feb 2024 8:08 AM
• Hungary Today

A 15-year strategy for expanding the rail network in Austria has been unveiled, with one of the main objectives being to reduce journey times, writes Turizmus.com.

The ‘Target Network 2040’ (“Célhálózat 2040”) includes 67 projects at a total cost of around EUR 26 billion, according to Andreas Matthä, CEO of Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB).

One of the projects is the extension of the railway line in upper Austria, resulting in a two-and-a-half hour journey from Vienna to Munich. The development would also reduce the journey time between Innsbruck and Munich to 65 minutes.

Vienna airport would also be better integrated into the transport network, allowing a two-hour connection from Vienna to Budapest.

Connections to Slovenia and Croatia would be extended, for example from Graz to Maribor in 45 minutes.

Freight transport would also be made more competitive by making the rail network suitable for longer and heavier trains. Projects include, for example, the construction of a new Bosruck Tunnel on the Pyhrn railway line, which could be adapted to accommodate trains of up to 1,600 tons.

The ‘Target Network 2040’ is only a strategic guideline and will become more concrete in the framework plans to be published every six years. The plan is to increase the share of public transport (trains and buses) in passenger transport in Austria from 25 percent today to 40 percent by 2040 to meet climate neutrality targets.

The share of rail in freight transport is planned to increase from 31 to 40 percent by that date, according to vienna.at.


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