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Salzburg to Linz by train
How to take the rail journey Salzburg to Linz
On the route between Salzburg and Linz trains operated by Westbahn compete with the Railjet trains operated by Austria's national rail company OBB,
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Routes
Option 1: taking a Railjet
Journey Summary
1hr 8min - 1hr 16min
Daily
Travel Information
Final Destination: Budapest or Flughfaen Wien or Wien Hbf or Bratislava
On the Salzburg to Linz route the Railjet services comprise:
- non-stop RJX services, some of which will be heading to Budapest or Bratislava.
- RJ services which are slower by around 10 mins, because they make some station calls, including at Wels.
These slower RJ services tend to depart from Salzburg only 4 mins after the RJX services.
Also of you're booking in advance online, the ticket prices tend be cheaper on the slower RJ services; though overall the prices depend on demand per departure and not the journey time; so the RJ trains aren't always cheaper.
Also if you don't want to bother with a reservation, it can be worth targeting the RJ departures.
Most of the RJ departures commence their journeys in Salzburg so finding spare seats on these trains is virtually guaranteed.
1 - 2 x trains per hour
Tickets
Book early and save: Yes
Online bookings open: 6 months ahead of the travel date
The train service between Salzburg and Linz is split between these trains operated by OBB and alternative trains operated by WestBahn.
The two train services have similar journey times, the difference is generally less than 10 mins, though OBB's fastest trains have the edge.
The limited numbers of discounted 'Sparpreis' tickets for those alternative Westbahn trains, are cheaper than the discounted 'Sparschiene' tickets which are made available by OBB for these Railjet trains.
However, those Westbahn 'Sparpreis' tickets can sell out faster than the 'Sparschiene' tickets, so taking the Railjets can be the cheaper option; the 'Sparschiene' tickets can be booked online up until the day of departure.
Tickets for the trains operated by Westbahn are not available on the OBB ticket booking site and vice versa - tickets for these trains operated by OBB are not available on the Westbahn site; but both services can be directly compared on the Trainline website.
Last minute tickets booked at the station for journeys by these Railjet trains are more expensive than booking the discounted tickets in advance online.
Though if you want to leave booking tickets until the day of travel, it's highly likely that you'll save by taking the Westbahn trains.
Where to book
| Ticket Provider | Approximate Cost | |
|---|---|---|
| Trainline Österreich | from €9 | |
| OBB | from €9 |
Option 2: taking the Westbahn trains
Journey Summary
1hr 9min
Daily
Travel Information
Final Destination: Wien- Pratersen or Wien Westbahnhof
An odd feature of this route between Salzburg and Linz, is that these Westbahn trains make the same station call as those slower RJ departures, but they come close to matching the journey time of the non-stop RJX services.
If you want to look up this journey before heading to the station, these Westbahn departures can be compared with OBB's trains on the Trainline website, see below.
1 x train per hour
Tickets
Book early and save: Yes
The train service between Salzburg is split between other Railjet trains operated by OBB and these trains operated by Westbahn.
Tickets for these trains operated by Westbahn are not available on the OBB ticket booking site and vice versa,. tickets for the trains operated by OBB are not available on the Westbahn site.
However the tickets those OBB (Railjet) trains and these Westbahn trains can be directly compared on Trainline Österreich; see below.
The limited numbers of discounted 'Sparpreis' Westbahn tickets are cheaper than the discounted 'Sparschiene' tickets which are made available by OBB for the Railjet trains.
However, these Westbahn 'Sparpreis' tickets can sell out faster than the 'Sparschiene' tickets, so the taking the Railjets can be the cheaper option.
Like those ''Sparschiene' tickets, the 'Sparpreis' tickets for these Westbahn trains, are specific to the departure you select when making a booking.
Last minute tickets booked at the station are more expensive than either of these discounted tickets.
Though if you want to leave booking tickets until the day of travel, it's highly likely that you'll save by taking the Westbahn trains.
Where to book
| Ticket Provider | Approximate Cost | |
|---|---|---|
| Westbahn | * | |
| Trainline Österreich | * |
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