A SIX-YEAR project by Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) to reconstruct Salzburg main station was officially completed on November 7 at a cost of €250m.

VIENNA celebrated the official opening of its new central station on October 10 following a seven-year project that cost €987m and was funded by Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB), the city of Vienna, European Union sources and property developments.

Freight has always been an important business for Austrian Federal Railways, and the company's freight unit suffered a particularly rocky ride through the economic crisis. However, as Keith Barrow reports from Vienna, Rail Cargo Austria has taken the opportunity to address many long-term weaknesses in its structure with a reorganisation that is already yielding promising results.

A BILATERAL agreement to substantially reduce journey times on the Prague – Linz route has moved a step closer following a meeting between representatives of Czech infrastructure manager SŽDC and Austria's ÖBB Infrastructure in České Budejovice on September 3.

ON August 7 Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) subsidiary ÖBB Produktion published a tender for five second-hand electric locomotives certified to operate in Slovenia.

AUSTRIAN Federal Railways (ÖBB) has placed a €145m order with Siemens for an additional nine seven-car push-pull Railjet trains, the final option in a contract for 67 sets.

AUSTRIAN railfreight continued to suffer the effects of the prolonged economic downturn last year according to annual figures released by Austria's rail regulator Schienen-Control, which also show a strong increase in passenger traffic.

JUST two years after launching its Vienna – Linz – Salzburg services, Austrian open-access operator Westbahn reached break-even last year according to the company's annual results, which were revealed on June 26.

AUSTRIAN Federal Railways (ÖBB) CEO Mr Christian Kern has announced that ÖBB intends to exercise the final option in its contract with Siemens for Railjet push-pull long-distance trains.

CZECH Railways (ČD) launched trial passenger operation of its new fleet of Siemens Railjet long-distance trains on May 6, when the first set entered service on the international Prague – Vienna – Graz route.