After rockfall on B33

Long-awaited ferry departs from Monday in the Wachau region

Thousands of cubic meters of rock fell onto the B 33 in the Wachau at the beginning of June. The road has been closed since then and detour have been set up.(Bild: NLK Burchhart)

Next Monday, July 22, the long-awaited ferry near Aggsbach-Dorf will go into operation - and bypass the roadblock on the B33 after the devastating rockslide in the Wachau.

Since June 3, the mudslide near Aggsbach-Dorf in the district of Melk has kept tourism businesses on their toes. A cycle and pedestrian ferry to circumnavigate the closed section of the B33 was announced back in mid-June. This was actually supposed to go into operation at the beginning of the summer vacations, but the work was delayed.

Ferry departs on Monday
Exactly seven weeks after the accident, the time has now come: the ferry will depart from the south bank of the Wachau next Monday - from Danube station no. 13 in Aggsbach-Dorf to the concrete ramp at Radlerhof Kienesberger in Aggstein, to be precise. The ferry runs every 30 minutes in both directions every day from 9 am to 6 pm. Each trip takes five to eight minutes and is free of charge for cyclists and pedestrians. At peak times, such as weekends and public holidays, the transport service is even doubled.

The ferry service was up and running in just a few weeks. This is a remarkable achievement, emphasizes Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner: "In other cases, it would take years from the idea to implementation, here it was achieved in just seven weeks." Both facilities can be dismantled again after the opening of the main road and the end of ferry operations. The costs for the construction - a total of 65,000 euros - will be borne by the state of Lower Austria.

Mayor Josef Kienesberger, Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner and Bernhard Schröder, Managing Director of Destination Danube Lower Austria, provided information about the ferry at the landing stage in Aggsbach-Dorf, which will start operating on July 22 (from left to right).(Bild: NLK Filzwieser)

"Tough weeks" for Wachau businesses
The businesses around the rockslide are feeling the impact of the closure. Over 12,000 cycle tourists usually visit the south bank of the Wachau every month. Since the rockslide, however, the masses have stayed away. In order to help those affected financially, the state is supporting them with special funding, which can be applied for retroactively from January 2025.

Information on the south bank of the Wachau: www.wachau.at/suedufer