In the subway tunnel

Flooding: “There’s never been anything like this before”

300 Wiener Linien employees are currently busy dismantling the line.(Bild: Martin A. Jöchl)

Wiener Linien plans to resume normal operations from Wednesday, but how extensive is the damage? 

From six o'clock on Tuesday morning, Wiener Linien employees dismantled the embankment beams piece by piece and removed heavy sandbags. They had prevented water from flowing into the subway tunnels over the past few days. "We've never seen anything like this before," reports Wiener Linien boss Alexandra Reinagl. This extent of flood protection measures and the massive public transport restrictions. She went to see the clean-up work for herself on Tuesday morning. The "Krone" was there too.

Head of Wiener Linien Alexandra Reinagl.(Bild: Martin A. Jöchl)

At the U4/U6 station Längenfeldgasse, the water was up to one meter high. The overhead lines of the U6 had to be repaired here. It is the only line that runs with overhead power. The dismantling of the flood protection measures is well advanced and almost all of the dam beams have now been removed.

Massive water ingress occurred in the area of the U6 Längenfeldgasse - Niederhofstraße line. Wiener Linien is currently working with the Vienna professional fire department to pump out the affected areas.(Bild: Wiener Linien/Jakob Schönfeldinger)

At the same time, those sections affected by water ingress are being checked for possible damage. For example, on the U4 line in the Pilgramgasse or Kettenbrückengasse area, where the ballast under the tracks was checked. 300 people are responsible for the dismantling. Which is progressing faster than expected. The clean-up work at the Pilgramgasse U2 construction site is in full swing. On Sunday, the Vienna River overflowed the flood protection wall next to the construction site. The tunnel excavation work had already been stopped beforehand and all workers were withdrawn from the construction site in an orderly fashion. The water stood up to 10 meters in the construction site on Sunday evening and has since been pumped out.

The damage to streetcar lines 40 and 41 was repaired on Tuesday night and trains have been running normally again since the start of operations on Tuesday.

Wiener Linien plans to resume almost normal operations as early as tomorrow, Wednesday. The U2 and U3 lines are running continuously again, and the U4 is also scheduled to resume service during the course of the day. Only the U6 is still unable to run between Westbahnhof and Meidling station. Passengers are advised to use lines 6, 18 and 59A. Line 62 is also available as a replacement; it has been extended and will run from Lainz via Meidling station - S U - Margaretengürtel U - Westbahnhof S U - Burggasse, Stadthalle U.