Major Upcoming Changes to Austrian Train Services

The Koralmbahn is a new 127km / 79 mile higher speed railway, on which trains will travel at up to 230 km/h.
From December 14th 2025 it will provide a new direct rail link between Graz and Klagenfurt with a travel time of only 45mins, replacing a bus link provided by the national rail operator OBB, which has a journey time of two hours.
The new rail link will impact on cities other than Graz and Klagenfurt as the new line opens up new and enhanced rail services across eastern and southern Austria - and beyond!

On the current core timetable two express train services per hour link Wien Hbf with south-eastern Austria, one goes from and to Graz and the other travels from and to Klagenfurt and Villach - with two of these services continuing on from/to Venezia/Venice via Udine.

However, from December 14th 2025 the new core timetable will be:

1. An hourly RJX fast service on a Wien Hbf - Wien-Meidling - Bruck an der Mur - Graz ↔ Klagenfurt - Villach route; which will reduce the Wien ↔ Klagenfurt and Villach journey times by around 25 mins.
2. An hourly slower RJ service on a Wien Hbf - Wien-Meidling - Wiener Neustadt - Mürzzuschlag - Kapfenberg - Bruck an der Mur - Graz ↔ Klagenfurt - some of the new Koralmbhan stations - Villach route.
   All of these services travelling between Vienna/Wien and the Koralmbhan will comprise Railjet trains.

Every other hour the new RJ service travelling via Graz, will be extended beyond Villach to/from Salzburg with stops in Spittal, Bad Gastein, Shwarzach St Veit and Bischofshofen.

Despite the longer distance, the journey time between Graz and Salzburg will be around 10mins faster than the current IC services on the Graz - Leoben - Selzthal - Stainach Irdining - Schladming - Radstadt - Bischofshofen - Salzburg route, so these IC services are to be withdrawn and replaced by new InterRegio services.

The new InterRegio services will also replace IC services on the Graz ↔ Linz route.
(see below)

The rail timetable which be in place across Austria and beyond from December 14th 2025 has yet to be confirmed, the details of the new core timetable had to be presented in advance to the Austrian parliament.

Therefore for the current time questions remain regarding most of the international rail services which serve Graz.

Though multiple reports suggest that the timings of the Zurich ↔ Graz 'Transalpin service and its Graz - Leoben - Schladming - Radstadt - Bischofshofen ↔ Zell-am-See - Innsbruck - Feldkirch - Buchs - Zurich route will not be altered.

Also certain is that the two daily current Venezia/Venice ↔ Wien/Vienna Railjet services will be replaced by a twice per day extension of the new fast RJX services via Graz, which will travel beyond Villach to and from Venezia/Venice via Udine.

And a very recently posted [video on YouTube](https://youtu.be/PrI2aLiFCRw?si=yog0y-Le13MUkY5w) mentioned that three of the RJX services per day on the Wien ↔ Villach route, will have their journeys extended to/from Praha/Prague via Breclav and Brno.

Therefore still to be clarified are:

• Whether any of on the other services Wien - Graz - Klagenfurt - Villach route will be extended beyond Wien/Vienna to and from Praha/Prague, as is the case with most of the current Graz ↔ Wien Railjet services.
• If Graz will have a direct connection to/from Ljubljana? Initial reports have suggested at least one of the new daily RJX services via Graz will be extended beyond Villach to provide an enhanced service between the Austrian and Slovenian capitals.
• Whether the current Trieste - Ljubljana - Maribor ↔ Graz - Wien service by a daily EC train will be replaced by an RJX service taking a Trieste - Udine ↔ Villach - Graz - Wien route.
• If the EC and ICE trains which currently travel between German destinations and Klagenfurt via Salzburg, Bad Gastein and Villach will be extended to travel to/from Graz? This seems likely as the ICE trains have been tested on the new line and if this does happen the existing Germany ↔ Graz EC services via Schladming, Radstadt and Leoben will likely be withdrawn.
• Some of the future RJ services on the new Wien - Graz - Klagenfurt - Villach - Bad Gastein - Salzburg route, may have their journeys extended to/from Munchen/Munich.
• Whether the Nightjet trains on the Milan / Roma ↔ Wien/Vienna route will now serve Graz?

It also seems likely that the existing Graz ↔ Zagreb via Maribor service will continue to operate on its current route, with connections available to/from Wien/Vienna in Graz.

In conjunction with the full opening of the Koralmbahn, the December 14th timetable change will also the introduction of Regionalbahn services to the Austrian rail network.
The new services will plug a gap in the services provided by state rail operator OBB, as the existing semi-fast 'REX' services are something of a compromise, with trains which had been used for local city services, currently being used on most of these routes.

Brand new trains with wheelchair spaces, bike racks and level boarding will be placed into service on six routes.
The idea is that the new InterRegio services in Austria will be the equivalent of the IR services in Switzerland and the Regio services in Germany; hence semi-fast long distance services operating at regular timetables every one or two hours.

Though on some routes the InterRegio services will in effect replace long-standing IC services, so from the timetable change the trains, which were once the top-tier express services in Austria, will almost disappear from the regular timetable.

The national rail operator, OBB, is ambitiously launching six InterRegio routes at the December 14th timetable change.

1: IR Aichfeld
Graz ↔ Villach via Leoben and Judenburg

The current express trains on the Wien/Vienna ↔ Villach via Klagenfurt route use the scenic Rudolf Valley railway through Leoben, Unzmarkt, Judenburg and Treibach-Althofen, but from the timetable change they will be diverted away to the Koralmbahn so that they can serve Graz.
Hence a replacement by a new hourly InterRegio service which will take a Graz - Leoben - Unzmarkt ↔ Judenburg - Treibach-Althofen - Klagenfurt - Villach route.

2: IR Pyhrn
Graz ↔ Linz via Leoben and Seltzhal

This service, which will operate every other hour, will in effect replace the current IC services between Linz and Graz, but will almost double the number of direct trains between the two cities.

3: IR Ennstal
Graz ↔ Salzburg / Innsbruck via Leoben and Seltzhal

This service will provide connections every other hour between Graz and locations along the Enns Valley railway including Stainach-Irdning connect for Bad Ischl, Schladming and Radstadt.
It seems that the trains will be divided and joined in Bischofshofen with one part of the train travelling to and from Salzburg.
Though the new RJ services which will travel between Graz and Salzburg via Villach and Bad Gastein, will provide a more comfortable and slightly faster option for Graz ↔ Salzburg journeys.

The other part of the train will travel along the Salzburg-Tyrol railway with stops including Zell-am-See, Leogang and Kitzbuhel, all of which will gain a more frequent connection with Graz.
Most of these trains will start and finish at the junction station of Worgl, but two trains per day will travel on to/from Innsbruck via Jenbach.
These Graz ↔ Innsbruck InterRegio services will in effect replace the current twice daily IC trains which travel between Graz and Innsbruck.
The only other direct train between Innsbruck and Graz will be the daily 'Transalpin' EC service on its Zurich ↔ Graz route, as it will still travel along the Enns Valley and Tyrol railways.

4 IR Pinzgau
Salzburg ↔ Worgl via Schwarzach-St Veit

This route will take over current REX service which operates every other hour, but with more modern trains.
On the the Salzburg-Tyrol railway between Schwarzach-St Veit and Worgl via Zell-am-See, Leogang and Kitzbuhel, this route will be combined with the IR Ennstal route to provide an hourly service.
Similarly it will combine with the Alpe-Adria service to provide an hourly InterRegio service between Salzburg and Schwarzach-St Veit.

5: IR Alpe-Adria
Salzburg ↔ Villach via Schwarzach-St Veit, Bad Gastein and Spittal

The new RJ services on a Salzburg Bad Gastein - Spittal - Villach ↔ Klagenfurt - Graz - Wien/Vienna route will operate every other hour, so these InterRegio services will plug the gap and operate in the alternate hours on the Tauern Valley Railway route between Salzburg and Villach.
The longer term plan is for this route to be extended beyond Villach to/from Trieste via Udine.

6: IR Mur-Drau
Graz ↔ Spielfeld-Straß

This will be a comparatively short route between Graz and the station on the Austria / Slovenia border, so it seems likely that it has been granted InterRegio status due to an ambition for this to be a Graz ↔ Maibor in Slovenia route.

The biggest beneficiary of this major timetable update will be Graz as it will gain a 45 min link to/from Klagenfurt, plus new direct trains connecting it worth the Worthersee resorts, as well as Villach, Spittal and Bad Gastein - and a doubling of its Railjet service to/from Wien.
So adding Graz to an Austrian holiday itinerary will become exponentially easier.
Graz will also be on the Wien ↔ Venezia/Venice rail route.
These benefits will also be available when travelling to/from Bruck an der Mur

Both Klagenfurt and Villach will gain from faster connections with the Austrian capital and the service on all of the InterRegio routes will either be more frequent or more regularly timetabled.
Many of these routes will also gain more accessible trains with wheelchair and bike spaces and amenities such as on-board info screens and Wi-Fi.

The unlucky losers will be the locations along the Rudolf Valley railway including Unzmarkt, Judenburg and Treibach-Althofen, though there is speculation that a few direct trains to/from Wien/Vienna will be available on Friday to Sunday.
The rail journey between Wien/Vienna and Klagenfurt will also become less scenic, as in SMTJ's humble opinion the Rudolf Valley railway is a more beautiful ride than the Semmering railway between Bruck an der Mur and Wiener Neustadt.

Though a thought or two needs to be spared for the residents of Leoben.
Overnight it will be transformed from a rail hub served by Railjet, IC and EC express trains to a location which will only be served by the new InterRegio services, plus the once per day 'Transalpin' EC service