Austria is well placed to rise to the top of any notional ranking of European countries with the highest levels of investment in their railway systems. Projects and construction sites are widespread across much of the network, not only along the main corridors. Austria’s railways extend over around 6,000 kilometres, with a network density that is relatively modest compared with Germany’s, and especially Switzerland’s.
The objective of the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) is comprehensive: to strengthen the main routes, create new high-capacity lines, and upgrade numerous junctions, terminals and technological facilities. The most recent developments include ongoing investments along the Western Line, the key Westbahn linking Vienna with Salzburg and Innsbruck. In late September 2025, with the final testing of one of the bridges crossing the A25 motorway, an essential milestone was reached in the four-track expansion between Marchtrenk—home to a major freight terminal—and Wels.
In Upper Austria, ÖBB is working simultaneously on several expansion projects. The western branch between Linz and the new four-track line to Wels station is under construction, with work set to continue along these 24 kilometres throughout 2025 for an investment of €114 million. Meanwhile, the final design phase is under way for the four-track upgrade of the entire Linz through-station section, which handles up to 450 trains per day. Once this stage is complete, the entire Westbahn between Vienna and Wels will be four-tracked. The Linz–Wels hub serves as Austria’s western gateway on the TEN-T Rhine–Danube Corridor. The central stretch of the Westbahn concentrates the main logistics nodes, including the freight terminals of Wels, Linz, Sankt Peter, Sankt Valentin and Amstetten.
Moving from north to south, developments are equally significant. The network manager ÖBB-Infrastruktur is currently overseeing more than one hundred projects, both major and minor, along the Southern Line, or Südbahn, part of the Baltic–Adriatic Corridor. Two hundred kilometres of existing railway are being upgraded, while 170 kilometres of new tracks are under advanced construction, including 80 kilometres of tunnels and around 150 bridges and viaducts. Two mountain ranges, the Koralpe and the Semmering, will be crossed by new base tunnels, with one line due to open in December 2025 and the other in 2030. The works also include the Vienna South freight centre and the expansion of the Pottendorf line.
The date 11 October 2025 will mark another step forward towards a more integrated European rail network, with a particular focus on freight transport. Following ÖBB’s completion of electrification and upgrading works on the Eastern Line for 37 kilometres up to the Marchegg border, the Slovak railways have also electrified the connecting route to Bratislava, which will now be fully operable by modern multisystem locomotives.
Positive developments are also under way towards Germany. From 2026, the German rail corridor between Passau and Nuremberg, and subsequently the Salzburg–Rosenheim line, will close for restructuring works. Although this will pose short-term challenges for cross-border rail connections between the two countries, the long-term outcome will be a high-capacity infrastructure linking southern Germany with central Austria.
Piermario Curti Sacchi
