Long-distance Rail in Austria 2026

The opening of the Koralm Railway between Graz and Klagenfurt in December 2025 leads to major changes on the Südbahn between Vienna and Villach. Railjet and Railjet Xpress services connect Vienna with Graz, Klagenfurt and Villach. From 1 March 2026, Westbahn also run a few daily trains on this route. There is an hourly frequency between Salzburg and Villach. Intercity and Eurocity connections through the Austrian Alps between Innsbruck, Linz and Graz are replaced by Interregio trains running every two hours or hourly.

International trains are also affected: Instead of the Vienna-Ljubljana-Trieste Eurocity train, a Railjet Xpress train runs via Villach instead of Ljubljana. There are new Intercity trains between Vienna and Bratislava. ICE trains from Germany are extended to Salzburg, Villach, Klagenfurt and Graz. The Eurocity Transalpin from Zurich to Graz remains mostly unchanged. It replaces a two-hourly Interregio service from Innsbruck to Graz once a day.

These new trains require not only conceptual changes, but also minor adjustments to the design of the Austrian long-distance rail diagram 2025. Initially, I wanted to introduce a new colour for the Interregio lines. This meant that I had to rearrange the ÖBB colour scheme. Due to the shorter distance, the Interregio has been given the light grey colour that was previously applied to the Intercity and Eurocity trains. These lines are now represented by dark grey, whereas ICE trains are white. Secondly, I had to incorporate all the new Interregio lines into the diagram. Due to the large number of stops, I decided not to label all Interregio stops. Alternatively, I could have enlarged the diagram. However, this would have drawn too much attention to the Interregio trains, and the classic long-distance traffic would have been too dispersed.

(Updated 18 December 2025)