New "late express train"

New move after ejection

"Stranded" in Vienna with police assistance: this should no longer happen to Lower Austrians in future (symbolic image).(Bild: Tröster Andreas)

The case caused quite a stir: A woman from St. Pölten reported to the "Krone" that she had been thrown off a Nightjet train with a valid train ticket, on which she wanted to travel home from Vienna late at night. ÖBB responded to the case and added another special express train for late commuters from Vienna to the Westbahn.

 "It was accompanied by about ten police officers. Suddenly they split up in the compartment," the woman recalls scenes that she "could otherwise only imagine in a movie". Then everything happened very quickly: as she couldn't produce a reservation, the woman was thrown off the train along with an estimated two dozen other passengers.

It was clear to us that a solution had to be found. Because the Nightjet goes as far as Bregenz and therefore needs capacity. This has now been solved with the new connection.

ÖBB-Konzernsprecher Bernhard Rieder

"One elderly lady was visibly upset and didn't know what to do next - as there was no further information for the time being," she adds. What annoyed the climate ticket holder: "When I looked at the connection on the internet, it clearly stated that it was only recommended and not compulsory to have a reservation: But I was sitting in a seat marked as free."

New, last train connection for commuters holds 300 people
But it is precisely this last train that many Lower Austrians rely on as a late connection - unlike Viennese, it is the only way to make the (longer) journey home by train. Bernhard Rieder, ÖBB Group spokesman, has reacted: "We have now set up a late connection to relieve the strain, which runs five minutes before the Railjet daily at 10.50 pm from the main station to Linz. The express train is specially designed for commuters on the western route, has a capacity of 300 seats and arrives in St. Pölten in just 35 minutes."