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A turning point: Koralm line officially opened
After three decades of planning and construction, trains are now running on the Koralm Railway, which connects Graz and Klagenfurt in just 41 minutes. During the inaugural journey on Friday, the train even reached its destination in just 39 minutes. Shortly afterwards, the celebratory mood was clouded by a moment of shock. A moving day to read about.
It happened: The Federal President, the head of government, provincial governors and mayors officially opened the Koralm Railway on Friday morning. Head of State Alexander Van der Bellen christened the first special train, which left Graz Central Station at 11 am. It arrived at Klagenfurt main station at 11.39 am.
At around 2.30 p.m., everyone held their breath: There was a firefighting operation at the eastern portal of the Koralm Tunnel, the emergency organizations spoke of smoke development, ÖBB of dust. At 4.10 p.m. the trains were able to run again and ÖBB gave the all-clear.
Thousands of train enthusiasts in attendance
The 5500 tickets for the free special trains on Friday were sold out within a few hours. In the afternoon, four concerts were on the program in Graz and Klagenfurt until the evening hours.
New timetables from Sunday
After the opening weekend, the Koralmbahn will start regular operations. But why does passenger service actually start on December 14? It's simple: on this day, timetables will be changed throughout Europe - the best opportunity to put the new line into operation. After all, it is the starting point for a veritable timetable revolution that will encompass large parts of Austria. ÖBB CEO Andreas Matthä speaks of "epoch-making changes".
ÖBB is expanding its long-distance services by 30 percent. The Graz - Klagenfurt route was previously only served directly by buses; in future there will be around 29 connections a day.
Significantly more connections
Graz - Vienna will be offered 33 times a day in future (instead of 18), Railjet Express trains with fewer intermediate stops will shorten the journey time by a few minutes. The route from Klagenfurt to Vienna no longer crosses Upper Styria ("old Südbahn"), but runs via the Koralm Railway ("new Südbahn"): There are 26 (instead of ten) connections per day, the travel time is reduced from three hours and 55 minutes to three hours and ten minutes.
The Koralm Railway will also be the fastest route between Salzburg and Graz in future. Between Villach and Salzburg, the new timetable offers an hourly service (20 direct connections).
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