How to take a train journey from Wien/Vienna to Linz

The faster Railjet services on this route have been re-branded as 'Railjet Express' or 'RJX' services.
These RJX services only make one station call between Wien/Vienna and Linz. while the slower 'Railjet' services make four station calls.

Departing from Wien/Vienna:

By Railjet:

The Railjets depart from Wien Hbf and Wien Meidling stations.

All of the Railjet Express and most of the slower Railjet trains commence their journeys at Wien Flufghagen/Vienna Airport station.

Book early and save: Yes

Online bookings open: 6 months ahead of the travel date

The train service between Wien/Vienna and Linz is split between these Railjet trains operated by OBB and
other trains operated by WestBahn.
The limited numbers of discounted 'Sparpreis' tickets for the 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.
Though a sliding scale of prices is applied to the 'Sparschiene' tickets, so you can save by booking ahead.

Trains departing at different times can also be cheaper than others leaving on the same day, so you may need to look through the day's departures to find the cheapest fares.

Tickets for the trains operated by Westbahn are not available on the OBB ticket booking site and vice versa, while 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 (see below).

Last minute tickets booked at the station 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.

It can pay off to take a look at the guide to Austrian train tickets - it should help you save time and money and confusion.

Exchanges

No tickets sold for journeys by Railjet trains within Austria can be exchanged in the typical sense, instead the policy is that the more expensive type of tickets can be refunded - and then having done so, you can re-book for an alternative departure.

Refunds

• Standard-Ticket Gruppe; the most expensive type of ticket = You can also cancel and obtain a full refund at any time pre-travel date.
• Sparscheine Komfort tickets; mid-priced tickets (typically offered as an upgrade to Sparscheine tickets) = can be cancelled free of charge up to 15 days ahead of the journey, but if you cancel it with 15 days left to go, you'll receive up to* 50% of what you paid for it
• Sparscheine tickets; lowest priced, heavily discounted tickets = cannot be refunded at all.

Seat reservations

Reservations are optional, so need to be proactively added as an upgrade when booking tickets..

Child tickets

When booking 'Sparschiene' tickets each adult (aged 15 and over) can take up to four children aged 14 and under for free!
These children will still require tickets, but there will be no charge for them.

When not booking 'Sparschiene' tickets;

• Children aged 5 and under travel for free
• Children aged 6 – 14 travel at half-fare

Bike tickets

You will need purchase both a bike ticket AND a reservation for your bike prior to boarding; more info on how to do this is available on the [bikes on trains guide](/travel-info-and-tips/taking-a-bike-on-a-european-train/).

Dog tickets

If your dog is too large to be taken in a pet carrier you will need to add a dog ticket when making your booking;

Rail pass users

Rail pass users don’t have to make reservations.
However, in SMTJ's experience, it's a good idea to reserve when:

• departing from Wien between 08:00-10:00 and 16:00 -18:00 Monday to Thursday
• on Fridays
• Saturday mornings
• Sunday afternoons/evenings.

The Westbahn trains leave from alternative station in Wien/Vienna to those used by the Railjets, they commence their journeys at Wien Westbahnhof.
Unlike Wien hbf the Westbahnhof is served by line U3 of the Vienna Metro which calls at city centre stations with no direct link to the main hbf station including Volkstheater~

The Westbahn trains also call at Wien Hutteldorf a station not served by the Railjets, which has an interchange with line U4 of the Vienna Metro, which makes multiple stops on the southern side of the city centre, including at Karlsplatz.

What had been an hourly service from stations in central Wien/Vienna has been temporarily suspended.
So from that date only the hourly service from Wien Hbf will be available.

Final Destination: Salzburg or Munchen

Book early and save: Yes

The train service between Wien/Vienna and Linz is split between other trains operated by OBB and these trains operated by Westbahn.
The two train services have similar journey times, the difference is generally less than 10 mins

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.
Though prices and departures can be compared on the Trainline Österreich website.

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.