AUSTRIAN Federal Railways (ÖBB) has announced plans to complete the full four-track rebuilding of the Vienna - Linz West Line by four-tracking the final 4km section just east of Linz main station.
ÖBB intends to submit an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the project to the Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology later this month. Once the EIA is agreed, the planning process for building permits from the state of Upper Austria will follow. Construction is planned from 2024 to 2030 with the cost estimated at €338m.
The West Line has already been rebuilt to four tracks between Vienna and Linz Kleinmünchen, east of the city, since 2017. This includes the 60km long high-speed line between Vienna Meidling and St. Pölten, which opened in December 2012.
The 4km Linz Kleinmünchen - Linz Signalbrücke section is currently a double track railway and this causes capacity issues as it is shared between fast passenger Railjet/ICE trains, slower regional or S-Bahn trains and substantial freight traffic. ÖBB has also previously announced plans to four-track the line west of Linz to Wels.
