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 every other hour 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 ↔ some of the new Koralmbhan stations - Klagenfurt - Villach route.
   Close to all of these OBB services travelling between Vienna/Wien and the Koralmbhan will comprise Railjet trains.

Plus Westbahn trains will also be operating on the Wien - Graz - Klagenfurt route.

In every other hour there will be express trains which will use the new Koralmbahn to take a route between Graz and Salzburg via Klagenfurt, Villlach and Bad Gastein.
These trains between Graz and Salzburg will comprise a mix of:

• ICE trains travelling to/from Germany
• Railjet trains taking a Wien - Graz - Villah - Salzburg (- Munich) route

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- Selzthal - Stainach Irdining - Schladming - Radstadt - Bischofshofen - Salzburg route, so these IC services are to be withdrawn and replaced by new InterRegio services (see below)
Though the EC 'Transalpin' service to and from Zurich will take the route via Schladming and Radstadt

The re-routed and extended international services are:

• Prague - Brno - Brevclav - Wien - Graz - Klagenfurt - Villach by 2 x Railjet trains per day
• Wien - Graz - Klagenfurt - Villach - Udine - Venezia/Venice by 2 x Railjet trains per day
• Wien - Graz - Klagenfurt - Villach - Udine - Trieste by 1 x Railjet train per day
• Wien - Graz - Klagenfurt - Villach - Bad Gastein - Salzburg - Munich by 2 x Railjet trains per day
• Graz - Klagenfurt - Villach - Bad Gastein - Salzburg - Munich - Augsburg - Ulm - Stuttgart - Heidelberg - Mannheim - Frankfurt (Main) by 3 x ICE trains per day
• Graz - Klagenfurt - Villach - Bad Gastein - Salzburg - Munich - Augsburg - Ulm - Stuttgart - Heidelberg - Mannheim - Frankfurt Flughafen - Koln Messe/Deutz - Dortmund - Munster by 1 x ICE train per day
• Wien - Graz - Bologna - Firenze - Roma by Nightjet
• Wien - Graz - Padova - Vicenza - Verona - Brescia - Milano by Nightjet
• Graz - Feldkirch - Buchs - Zurich by Nightjet

The Zurich ↔ Graz 'Transalpin service, on its Graz - Leoben - Schladming - Radstadt - Bischofshofen ↔ Zell-am-See - Innsbruck - Feldkirch - Buchs - Zurich route, will not be altered.

There will also be a significant change on the Wien ↔ Salzburg route.
The current timetable per hour typically comprises a mix of:

• RJX services by Railjet trains which only make calls at St Polten and Linz
• RJ services by Railjet trains which typically make station calls in St Polten, Amsletten, St Valentin, Linz, Wels, Attnang-Puchheim and Vocklabruck
• Westbahn (WB) services which typically make station calls in St Polten, Amsletten, Linz, Wels, Attnang-Puchheim and Vocklabruck.

However from Dec 14th 2024 the RJ services, which are slower than the RJX services, are to be replaced by double-deck IC trains, which OBB has acquired from DB in Germany.
The Railjet trains will be switched to the Wien - Graz - Klagenfurt - Villach route.

The IC services, which use the older single deck coaches, won't (yet) be disappearing from the domestic timetable.
From December 14th they will become more scarce, particularly as they are to be replaced by Regio trains on the Linz ↔ Graz route - see below.
However, they will still be used on these services / routes:

• Three of the trains per day in each direction on the Wien ↔ Graz route with one of the trains extending beyond Graz to / from Klagenfurt and Villach; evidently not enough Railjet trains will be available for a 100% transformation
• Two trains per day in each direction taking a Wien - Wiener Neustadt - Bruck an der Mur - Leoben - Unzmarkt - Judenburg - Treibach-Althofen - Feldkirchen in Kärnten - Sattendorf - Annenheim - Villach route
• Trains taking a Salzburg - Bad Gastein - Spittal - Villach route; these trains will operate in the hours when there are no trains travelling between Salzburg and Villach on the Germany ↔ Villach - Klagenfurt - Graz routes.
  Not all station calls have been included in these summaries.

The IC trains on the Wien - Leoben - Villach route will maintain a direct connection between Wien and destinations on the Rudolf Valley railway including Unzmarkt, Judenburg and Treibach-Althofen.
They will also provide new direct links between Wien and destinations along the railway between St Veit and Villach, including Feldkirchen in Kärnten, plus locations on the shore of Lake Ossiach including Sattendorf and Annenheim.

In conjunction with the full opening of the Koralmbahn, the December 14th timetable change will also see 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 most of these routes - Plus some similar trains already used by OBB will ne designated as InterRegio trains.

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 trains.

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.
The stations on the Rudolf Valley route between Leoben and Klagenfurt will gain a regular link with Graz.

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 a 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 express trains on a Salzburg - Bad Gastein - Spittal - Villach ↔ Klagenfurt - Graz 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 ↔ Maibior

Every other hour trains will travel across the border to link Graz with the Slovenian city, Maribor.
There are Slovenian IC rains which take a Maribor ↔ Ljubljana route, so there will be significantly options for making a rail journey between Graz and Ljubljana.

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 two direct trains IC trains to/from Wien/Vienna will still be available
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 Railjets and multiple other express trains, to a location which will only be served by the new InterRegio services, two IC trains taking the Wien ↔ Villach via Lake Ossiach route; And the once per day 'Transalpin' EC service on its Graz - Schladming - Zell am See - Worgl - Innsbruck ↔ Zurich route.