Austria’s Railways Explained: Among the World’s Finest

[@RailwaysExplained]

About HARTING Technology Group: www.harting.com/DE/en-gb/innotrans? About Rail Customized Solutions: www.harting.com/DE/en-gb/inter-car-jumper-cable-solutions?

[@Edward4Plantagenet]

Next should be Indian Railways explained.

[@wouterpaap9343]

Isn't it remarkable that of the two countries in Europe that have the highest mountains, have made the best rail network on the continent? Great achievement.

[@EnjoyFirefighting]

although the Alpen mountain range is probably the most popular one in Europe, there are taller mountains in other mountain ranges in other countries in Europe

[@marianandnorbert]

like EnjoyFirefighting already said, the real highest mountain range is actually the caucasus mountain range along the black sea, mostly in southwestern russia and georgia and I’m nitpicking but austria and switzerland don’t even have the highest mountains of the alps, that honour goes to france, with the summit of Mont Blanc at 4810 m elevation

[@moussa2949]

@@marianandnorbert monte bianco is between italy and france, quel monte è anche nostro

[@stefanbraem]

It’s in fact quite logical and for the same reason petro states usually fail despite their abundance of natural resources; the easier life becomes, the less effort you’ll have to make to get your life on tracks (see what I did there 😉😇). Scandinavian countries have to make huge efforts in order to survive and look at where it brought them. Southern countries generally had easier circumstances for survival, and now they’re mostly bankrupt…

[@josephharrison8354]

Actually, it makes perfect sense. Typically flat and fertile countries can easily transport goods with horse drawn carts, and countries with coastal links can use ships. Landlocked, mountainous countries are tough to get around, so the steam railway was a game changer; countries like Switzerland and Austria relied on railways for connectivity in the early days, and even now cars have advanced to where they can easily traverse this terrain, the railways are embedded enough in the national culture and infrastructure to still be popular.

[@FlorianHWave]

We have a ticket called "Klimaticket" in Austria, that costs just 3 Euros a day and lets you use virtually every form of public transport in the whole country, except for domestic flights (that barely exist anyway) and Flixbus.

[@amdphenomII]

Best invention ever ❤

[@uncinarynin]

You could also mention the large infrastructure projects: the Koralm, Semmering and Brenner base tunnels all being worked on at once. Compared to Switzerland, Austria is a little behind in these Alpine crossings, and some projects were delayed hugely by endless legal battles, but at least they are now all three on track, so in the coming years we will see significant changes in the way the Austrian railways are operating. In terms of branch lines it's not all that rosy but at least it seems like the current government is rail friendly. Then again, projects of this magnitude exceed the legislative term of any government, they have to be brought on track decades before they are complete.

[@RailwaysExplained]

We already published a special video about Brenner Base Tunnel. You can check it out on our channel. The Koralm Project is on our To Do List

[@uncinarynin]

@@RailwaysExplained Indeed, thank you.

[@ichdieLivi]

Austria built the first alpine trailway worldwide(!) though, on the Semmering 1848-54 (Semmeringbahn/ Südbahn), which led to an immense flourishing of the region with huge grand hotels and villas/mansions built there that remain till this day, which makes it UNESCO world heritage.

[@Trainspotting_Trips]

It is incredible to see, how the two countries with the alps have the best/most reliable railway system in Europe! I’m grateful to live in one of them!

[@LB767]

The fact Harting sponsored this is actually pretty cool. Makes for a nice change from the usual Brillant, vpn, etc Great vid as always of course!

[@RailwaysExplained]

Thanks 🙂

[@markusstudeli2997]

Well researched! I particularly liked the fun side note you made about the Oensingen-Balsthal Bahn, a ridiculously small railway company operating a track shorter than 5 km, but who managed to reserve the ÖBB abbreviation before the Austrian national operator could do this. They use OeBB today, by the way.

[@trainenthusiast7695]

I love ÖBB! They are very reliable and having short transfers is no problem, because trains run on time.

[@markus321xyz]

Hi from Austria, The ÖBB is far off to be perfect, but I have travelled with different train services around the world and it's one of the top 5 (I didn't get the change to test the Swiss train services).

[@Trainspotting_Trips]

And I - as a swiss resident - have never really got the chance to test the Austrian railway. But just to give you a number: According to statistics from 2021, the SBB - our national railway operator - was 92% of the time punctual. They outranked their own goal, which was 90.5%. Side note: Punctual for SBB means to not have more than three minutes of delay!

[@fideliovienna4631]

@@Trainspotting_Trips The problem of long distance travel within ÖBB is the corridor track in germany of the trains going from east to west. Most delays in long distance travel from east to west happen there and this is also true for many trains coming from germany or switzerland

[@TetaCilka-el5wh]

i am from Slovenia and our railways were mostly built by the Austro-Hungary and when we ended up under Yugoslavia, the Yugoslavs disasembeld quite a few lines. Im so happy we were once under thoes Austrians which knew what they were doing

[@Just_Adrian_]

I work for the ÖBB, nice to see it get some attention

[@digitaleswerken]

What makes ÖBB and Westbahn so pleasant to ride is that they invest a lot in new and upgraded rolling stock and with the exception of the not yet refurbished Nightjet trains you won't find a train on the main lines in Austria that doesn't look like it's brand new.

[@dontme4314]

lol 4020, 5047 und cittyshuttle sind wirklich brandneu (also stand 1970er)

[@duesenantrieb8272]

@@dontme4314 also ich wohn in 4020 und ich seh da nich wirklich was altes Rummfahren..

[@dontme4314]

@@duesenantrieb8272 dann hast du die aussage offensichtlich nicht verstanden, mir ging es um die baureihe 4020 besser bekannt als die wiener schnellbahn

[@RazielKainus]

@@dontme4314 4020 isnt too bad - it is old, but still capable :)

[@RazielKainus]

they are testing new NightJet trains pulled by Vectrons, as far as I know :)

[@msttt3723]

Interesting video: but at 3:45 the symbol used for Deutsche Reichsbahn is wrong. You took the very similar symbol of the German Postal Service at that time

[@tvman6993]

As an Austrian i have to say its a really nice place to live, i live in the region of St. Pölten (yes it was mentioned in the video) an i can reach many places within 20 minutes. Unfortunately a lot of people still drive with theri cars because there is simply no availible connection to the small villages, which we have a bunch of. So at the end of the day its reeeally great, but can be improved (also in the maintaining part because trains get often delayed)

[@jermainetrainallen6416]

Greta video as usual. Good to hear that the Austrian system is over 70% electrified and that it gets its energy from renewable sources. Keep it up👍

[@trainspottingtech23]

WoW! OBB & SBB for the best! The future is bright for them! I love it! ❤️😯

[@_ndr_s]

Great video Although after 1867 onwards on the Hungarian side of the Empire the railways were taken over mostly by MÁV

[@milatid3442]

Excellent information, inspiring & good examples for other nations.

[@PuNicAdbo]

I love how good your German pronunciation is. 😊

[@rezaalan3991]

Great video. Talking about Railway in Austria, it isn't complete without mentioning some of tunnel around that country or their famous Railjet and Nightjet.

[@toaster98]

As someone who works for the ÖBB let me add some things to this excellent video. In recent years there has been a heavy focus on expanding and improving the network from things like the Koralm, Semmering and Brenner Tunnels to the double track expansion of the Pottendorfer line. Passesnger number have significantly shot up this year thanks to covid restrictions being almost completely lifted and the introduction of the "Klimaticket" which is basically a one time fee for almost every kind of public transportation in the country. And due to that increase we are struggling very hard to keep up with the demand :D The main lines are usually pretty well maintained but the smaller side lines are in pretty bad condition with infrequent services. The line going into my town is one of those for example, there have been talks of electrifying it for decades now but nothing happened to this day. Also stuff that is worth mentioning is that we used to build all our locomotives in house with custom designs specifically tailored to our needs. Sadly that went away with the re structuring of the company (thanks EU for that one) so now we have to resort to off the shelf solutions from siemens most of the time and heavily modify the base to get something useful. Overall it was a really nice and enjoyable video !

[@thatguy_apu]

I will say, it's not all roses. Especially regional lines that head east from Vienna (basically, the S7 and S60 rail lines and all the REX trains that travel on them as well) can be downright horrendous. Totally normal occurence to encounter ancient 4020 trains in decrepit condition there, as well as extremely frequent outages no matter which train model occuring there as well. I imagine that is an especially awful occurrence for slovakians trying to reach Petrszalka station, who get stuck in random stations in the Austrian countryside with explanations only given in German, and the older ÖBB employees usually found on regional lines not even speaking English. The S7 is it's own horror as well, delays accumulating throughout the day in a sort of domino-effect because the S7 line only has ONE SET OF RAILS eastward of the Vienna airport station, meaning trains have to wait in stations to pass each other. It's also a relatively important commuter train, so it was extremely baffling to me how long it took for frequency to be increased around the time most people go to and leave from work. Also, whenever track maintenance is conducted, all trains on this line immediately cannot run, as the single-rail nature of the line of course makes it impossible to service one set of tracks at a time without the rails immediately becoming unusable. The replacement buses in these cases are always horribly managed, the ÖBB apparently exepecting 1 or 2, perhaps 3 if you are lucky, buses to hold as many people as a train that before even going one third of the way to Vienna, is usually already full to the brim with every seat occupied and plenty of people standing. But yea long-distance trains are ran extremely well, barely any complaints here, except that one time where I booked 'first class' only to end up in a car that had no WiFi and 1 power outlet for 4 people...

[@iyxec]

This channel is a gem

[@avatar_auxbourgh2010]

аустрија има супер возове, као и србија и онај вектрон који смо купили.

[@EpicThe112]

Another thing about ÖBB is that the whole fleet uses the same PZB 90 and LZB version as Deutsche Bahn Meaning the entire Austrian ÖBB fleet can actually run onto Deutsche Bahn network in Germany.

[@LudusArtifex]

@Railways Explained your german pronunciation is realy good ^^ :)

[@RailwaysExplained]

Thank you 🙂

[@LudusArtifex]

@@RailwaysExplained :)

[@garrytheplummer6167]

Do one on Máv or gysev please

[@aut_bedenis]

I really like the video. It is very informative and well researched. A small addition: "ÖBB Produktion GmbH" provides the driving personel and the driving stock for passenger trains and the locomotives for (most) freight trains.

[@RailwaysExplained]

Thanks for the info!

[@Colki12]

@@RailwaysExplained Yeah as BeStu said, drivers and locomotives are owned by ÖBB Produktion GmbH and are leased to ÖBB Personenverkehr AG, unlike the waggon material which is owned and operated by ÖBB Personenverkehr AG themselves. So for train to go from A to B they (Personenverkehr) need to put their material on the tracks and lease a driver (and a locomotive if necessary), pay a fee to ÖBB Infrastruktur AG for the tracks and depending on the setup, put up to 2 train conductors into it. It´s quite impressive how they manage it now, because like you mentioned in your video, the ÖBB isn´t a single company anymore (thanks EU...)

[@StaK_1980]

Man, I wish MÁV would sound like a similar success story... ÖBB make every other rail look bad (apart from the Swiss)

[@trainspottingtech23]

StaK_1980: MÁV not such a success... Me: Then don't try CFR! :))

[@StaK_1980]

@@trainspottingtech23 oh, Romanian rails? ... I'm sorry, you are right! 🙂

[@dandagames6030]

At 9:00 it definitely caught me quite off guard to see how high ireland is on that index considering their railways

[@SynchroScore]

Interesting that you're sponsored by Harting. I work in an industrial research lab for a large company that is also a major supplier to the railway industry (hint: Axle boxes with three letters on the cover) and Harting connectors are used to plug together some of our test equipment. Also, I think you made a mistake near the end. You mention a wind turbine plant of 3 MW. Just one wind turbine can generate 3 MW (and bigger ones, such as offshore installations, go up to 6 MW each). Perhaps you quoted the wrong figure.

[@upamanyuchatterjee9595]

When I moved to Austria initially, I was quite impressed with the railway infrastructure, network and satisfaction was a given. The scenic views while travelling by train are of course stunning but a few experiences recently dented that joyful experience and satisfaction that I had come to expect quite a bit. There have recently been a spate of delays due to some or the other reason, be it catenary faults or repair work. I don't know if just I am that unfortunate to be facing these issues every so often or whether they really have increased in the past half year. Recently, I had to spend the whole night at a train station because I missed the last connecting train to my destination due to the previous train's delay in arrival. Normally, I have noticed they also delay the connecting train within reasonable limits to make up for the delay, i.e., up to 10 or 15 mins. But this time the previous train was almost 40 minutes late and they of course couldn't delay the connecting train that much resulting in me having to stay put at the station all night. There is a provision that you can avail a taxi or some other mode of transport up to a value of 50 euro and an overnight stay at a hotel up to a value of 80 euro which the ÖBB reimburses but the train was so late that there were neither taxis plying in the region nor were there any hotels in the vicinity which were open to guests. In addition to this incident, there have been occasions where the train simply stopped at a train station and I had to get off and take a taxi to reach home. I still like to think the ÖBB is quite reliable and I would still rank it as one of the better railway services worldwide, but given how small the country that it operates in is, it definitely has a large scope for improvement. In my experience, it is definitely much better than the Deutsche Bahn, but again, the Deutsche Bahn operates in a significantly bigger country.

[@minermax5556]

Yeah connections have been rough for the last 6 months or so, especially on the Westbahn... literally missed my connection in Innsbruck every single time, often the connection an hour later was also a close call. but I think the worst is over now that they are mostly done with construction work.

[@Colki12]

If you could provide me more specific details on which trains you used (or tried to..) I maybe could give you some answers on why those were delayed etc. I agree, this summer was and is extremely challenging, for travelers and ÖBB. There are so many trains overcrowded and need to be evacuated because of safety reasons (thanks to the Klimaticket), so many trains or locomotives dying due to overheating or other technical issues. Or tracks simply breaking because of an combination of overheating and vandalism. Also the fact that passengers are more agressive than pre-covid and the increase in accidents/suicides with people involved (this incurs a minimum delay of around 2 hours at that location until the officials are done with their investigation). Also Region Ost borrowed Tyrol I think more than 15 train sets because Bombardier (now Alstrom) couldn`t deliver their Talent 3 train sets because they did not get a license to run on austrian tracks (because safety reasons) and thats why you can encounter more of the older blue train sets (4020) in and around Vienna. Which are really sturdy, but almost all of them are around 40 years old. My explanations probably won`t help you that much, but maybe you got a small glimpse of whats going on.

[@Andreas-et1et]

Nice explanation! As an Austrian myself I easily forget how well off we are with our state railways. A little feedback: the music in the intro is too loud compared to the rest of the video. Would be awesome if you can fix this in the next video :)

[@francisrogers9824]

Being from Britian I'm always intreged at watching the section that explains how the railway is structured. It looks similar to how British Rail was structured, but you mentioned the reforms of railways during the 90s and 2000s. Was this a transition from the railways being nationalised to being a private company operating a legal monopoly that happens to be owned by the state?

[@Rudl1044]

There was a transition from being basically a department of the MOT to a company run by the state then to a company owned by the state but always one railway - one organism. In 2005 however, according to some shady EU-legislation, the ÖBB was split up into different organisations - now a train runs on the tracks of the Infra, is owned and conducted by Personenverkehr, maintained by Technische Services (lately called 'TrainTech'), and driven by Produktion. They all directly or indirectly belong to the Holding, of which the state Austria holds 100% of its shares. Apart from only long-distance services Vienna - Salzburg and Germany - Innsbruck - Italy, all passenger services are ordered by national (long distance) or local (commuter services) authorities.

[@peepa47]

Fun fact: Linz-Budweis was the first railway, but still has no highway connection, it will be one of last city pairs of this size to be connected with a freeway in EU, more like sad fact..

[@LudusArtifex]

1:18 what is this modern looking locomotives name?

[@LudusArtifex]

is it SBB Re 460???

[@UlliStein]

@@LudusArtifex Yes it is. de.wikipedia.org/wiki/SBB_Re_460

[@LudusArtifex]

@@UlliStein danke. die sieht echt nice aus.

[@janspa_1119]

Ist tatsächlich ziemlich alt und schon lange in Betrieb (Quasi die Schweizer Taurus/ 1016 bzw. 1116)

[@LudusArtifex]

@@janspa_1119 danke ^^

[@RailwayNetworks]

Brilliantly handled topic as usual 😉

[@RailwaysExplained]

Thank you

[@lordeisschrank]

seems a bit incomplete without the mention of their single-handed revival of night trains with the night jet, not to mention the semmering bahn as the first mountain railway during the history section

[@leagueofrailway101]

Have you got any plans on making video about Serbian railway?

[@Aromiiiiii]

When you are gonna make video about Finlands railways

[@aoilpe]

3:42 you showing us the ReichsPost signage instead of the ReichsBahn ?

[@the_vehicle_spotter]

Nice video

[@RailwaysExplained]

Thank you!

[@thetrainguy1]

Amtrak can learn a thing or two.

[@maximilianh.]

I really like living in austria but our RAILWAY system SUCKS! I calculated it 64,89% of all trains come late. 25% of them are canceld! The staff is also not really frindly and the trainstations are dirty and unsafe!

[@maximilianh.]

Besides that do we have to drive with trains on a daily basis from 1978 with is a big pain in summer because they are not cooled!!

[@moover123]

As a Swiss I don't want to shit on out neighbours, but the one time I went across the border I bought the wrong ticket at the machine and I went to the desk to ask for a refund the lady really wasn't very kind to me and couldn't refund it stating "I just bought that right now".

[@TheWoblinGoblin]

The company restructuring was heavily critized for following the model with the most director positions to be filled instead of the one with the most synergies

[@Da_Big_G]

I struggle to believe the statistics about per capita investment in railway infrastructure at federal level is the full story! How on earth is Spain at the bottom? Spain has badly overspent on railway infrastructure!

[@qjtvaddict]

Spanish spending is local not national

[@Da_Big_G]

@qjtvaddict there are few examples of layers of government besides the federal government trying to build lines. The Basque Y is being built by the Basque government, but it is badly behind schedule. The Marchena-Antequera line was basically abandoned and there is no sign that the Seville-Marchena section is imminent.

[@ryanb5684]

do Australia perth

[@Hession0Drasha]

I want to see hsr from venice-trieste-ljbliana-zagreb-belgrade. And: venice-udine-graz-vienna. And Zagreb-graz. And eventually: Trieste-rjeka-split. And probably even more eventually: Nice-genoa. It's criminal how early the last train from nice onwards ends. Making everyone in the cross border region very car dependent, in an area with very little public parking. And it's incredibly stupid that there isn't a cross border rail service between the two, with a forced change of provider at ventimiglia.

[@gottfriedheumesser1994]

None of the hydropower stations shown were from Austria or ÖBB. I know them.

[@Giffellover89]

Please do Sweden

[@quuaaarrrk8056]

I like to think that the Swiss integrated their railway into their neutrality and thus Austria just copied it.

[@MirzaAhmed89]

Oh, bay-bay!

[@sophiaromanamanuela]

I'm from austria and let me tell you that I paid 15€ for 15 minutes train ride last saturday. That's ÖBB for you.

[@1234fishnet]

Details please....

[@sophiaromanamanuela]

@@1234fishnet st valentin to amstetten

[@heybenjii5544]

@@sophiaromanamanuela This i a lie, first for that route there is no ÖBB price, you pay the "Verbundpreis", the price Set by the state. Also, that is 10,90€, no matter if you take the Bus, Regional Train or Railjet, it can not go over that

[@sophiaromanamanuela]

@@heybenjii5544 it can! I literally still have the ticket:-) 14.99€

[@heybenjii5544]

@@sophiaromanamanuela Well then I do not know what you did but then you are in the wrong xD

[@thomasvideoa]

Don't be fooled by this video!!!! I was traveling between Germany and Austria recently. I took 10 trains between Vienna, Salzburg, Munich and Stuttgart. Six of them delayed, and two were totally canceled. The sucking DB and OBB only informed you till last hour and I almost missed my flight. You want refund for the canceled ticket? hehe, that is another long story. I would not consider this railway system as reliable option for traveling.

[@EnjoyFirefighting]

it definetly is; In over a decade I didn't have as many issues as you've just wrote about ...

[@panaralflp7313]

Enerybody who doesn't know: We are talking here about Austria and not Australia!

[@Marco-wz3ff]

9.023

[@0Defensor0]

Can we have Hungary next, please?

[@kurkkamambusu4063]

lol Only explanation to me, railway companies are even more fucked up than ours in austria...

[@Mgoblagulkablong]

I am from Austria, that title is nonsense LOL

[@RailwaysExplained]

How would you describe Austrian railways? 🙂

[@18is18is18ter]

@@RailwaysExplained I am also from Austria. Austrians tend to be very nitpicky when it comes to trains. But in a world wide comparison we are pretty good :)

[@LSK-ii2tg]

@@RailwaysExplained yeah I grew up in Vienna and compared to where I live now in the United States the Titel definitely makes sense lol

[@ex101jc]

Ohh, I live for 6 years in Austria and used to live in Germany. I don‘t understand how the title would be nonsense

[@CuzImMartin]

I also come from Austria and I can say with certainty that together with Switzerland we have the best railway in Europe.

[@tramsung8175]

第一個！

[@attMP021]

Barren of semi conducted patewhile

[@ongs9352]

some facts about austrian railways. - it´s so expensive that is mostly not worth using it -very little high speed tracks, so bring a lot of time when you travel by train in austria -always late/delayed -regularly canceled trains -low quality but expensive food -they go bankrupt every couple of years and get saved with tax money

[@janspa_1119]

Digga keine Staatseisenbahn jemals schreibt Schwarze Zahlen. Im Osten (Ab Salzburg-Wien) ist der Railjet auch ziemlich gut unterwegs. Ich fahre im Jahr zwischen 30 und 40 mal Langstrecke (Halbieren weil ich hin und zurück einzeln zähle) und hab in maximal 5 Fällen Verspätung wobei sie sich äußerst selten auf über 20 min. beläuft (eher im bereich 5 min.).

[@josefforstmayr8597]

I live in the USA and I am in awe of the Austrians investing into their rail infrastructure, both the rolling stock and their state of the art train stations. Every time I land at Vienna Intl. Airport, I head right down into the train station below the arrival hall to catch a high speed Railjet within minutes....55 minutes later I am in the deepest Mostviertel. Unbelievable. Always on time, never late, never been disappointed. Funny how some people always seem to find the "hair in the soup". Cheer up, Austria does it better than most! One Love,

[@heybenjii5544]

So ein Schwachsinn! Für den Fernverkehr kann man so unfassbar günstige Preise finden, wenn man früh genug bucht oder zu randzeiten fährt. Der Nahverkehr wird von den Bundesländern vorgegeben, und hält sich auch um Rahmen. Bregenz-Wien sind 6 Stunden, in 6 Stunden durchs ganze Land ist annehmbar. Die Züge sind fast immer pünktlich, die meisten Verspätungen entstehen im Ausland. Entfallen tun züge fast nie.

[@qjtvaddict]

Sounds like Amtrak but better

[@Token_Nerd]

Uhh no. OBB is a train wreck and I will die on this hill. Every goddamn time I need to use them a train breaks down for a few hours

[@redakteur3613]

Nothing interesting about infrastructure or system or pecularities or expansions but 3 minutes of useless trash talk about windmills and solar panels.

[@SynchroScore]

What video did you watch? Because it sure wasn't this one.

[@ingoos]

In case anyone wants to upgrade to & integrate affordable, safer, more reliable... faster than current high-speed rail using off the shelf conventional (non-MagLev) components & technologies which are already fully compliant with all known local & international standards & regulations... i am in the process of securing a patent.... Meantime, if anyone wants to inquire for possible licensing, please feel free to contact me.