Rail transport in Austria is mainly owned by the national rail company ÖBB. The railway network consists of 6,123 km, its gauge is and 3,523 km are electrified. Austria is a member of the

International Union of Railways The International Union of Railways (UIC, french: Union internationale des wikt:chemin de fer, chemins de fer) is an international rail transport industry body. History The railways of Europe originated as many separate concerns, and there wer ...

(UIC). The UIC Country Code for Austria is 81.

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 a building of several horse tramways, it opened in 1837 the '' Nordbahn'' line Vienna- Břeclav. The Imperial Royal Austrian State Railways, a company serving Austrian side of Austria-Hungary, was created in 1884 and in 1923, some years after the dissolution of the empire, it was founded the national company "ÖBB". 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.

Network

Austrian network, out of the principal rail system, also counts some funiculars, rack railways and lot of

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

s mainly derived from part of disused lines. Some secondary lines have a narrow gauge.

Urban railways

* Vienna counts a system of '' S-Bahn'', '' U-Bahn'', and a large tramway network. *

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

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 Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

counts a regional ''S-Bahn'', a tramway network and a funicular. *The little town of

Gmunden Gmunden () is a town in Upper Austria, Austria in the district of Gmunden (district), Gmunden. It has 13,204 inhabitants (estimates 2016 ). It is much frequented as a health and summer resort, and has a variety of lake, brine, vegetable and pine-c ...

counts a tramway line. *The village of Serfaus, with the ''

U-Bahn Serfaus The U-Bahn Serfaus (until 2019 ''Dorfbahn Serfaus'' for "Village Railway Serfaus") is an underground air cushion funicular people mover system in the Tyrolian village of Serfaus in Austria. Overview Serfaus is a busy ski resort, and during the ...

'', is sometimes considered as ''the smallest town with a subway in the world''.Article on Funimag
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Narrow gauge railways

In Austria, many

narrow gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structur ...

s were constructed due to the difficult mountainous terrain. Many survive as a common carrier or a

Notes and references

External links