ÖBB Railjet (RJ/RJX) (Austria/International)

ShowMeTheJourney has anticipated what questions are most often asked about travelling on these Railjet trains managed by the Austrian national rail operator, ÖBB.

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These trains travel at up to 230 km/h (140 mph) on the Westbahn railway between Wien / Vienna and Linz and up to 200 km/h (125 mph) on these sections of the routes taken by these trains:

• Salzburg ↔ Munchen / Munich
• Innsbruck ↔ Worgl
• Villach ↔ Udine
  Most of of the other routes that they follow have have a maximum speed of 160 km/h (100 mph),

Yes when booking the more expensive 'Standard' type of ticket for travel in First Class and Business Class tickets
When travelling in Economy (2nd) Class and when booking the cheaper Sparschiene types of tickets to travel First Class, seats are only automatically included on the routes which have mandatory reservation - which in effect are the journeys across the Italian border and between Italian destinations.
On other routes, you have to proactively add a reservation when booking tickets and doing so incurs an additional small, flat-rate fee, regardless of distance and class of travel.
Aside from the peace of mind of knowing that you will have an allocated seat for the entire journey, opting to reserve has these benefits:

• less stressful boarding
• when travelling in Economy (2nd) class you can ensure placement in a specific 'zone' on the train, Bike, Family and Quiet - this zone is also available in 1st class

Yes, this is available when opting to reserve.
If your preferences include seats at tables, forward facing seats or seats in Quiet zones, you will need to use the seating plan.

Only on the routes which have mandatory reservation, which in effect are the journeys across the Italian border and between Italian destinations.
On all other journeys they are optional - despite what can be indicated on the Eural / InterRail travel planning services.

The bar/bistro on Railjets sells comparatively good hot and cold food that isn’t extortionately priced, but don’t overly rely on the full range of items being available.
A full restaurant facility is also available - Passengers travelling with 1st or 2nd class tickets can take seats in this restaurant car.

If you will be travelling in First class or Business class you can order food or drink from the catering staff that will pass through the train and have it delivered to your seat - the full restaurant menu is available.

Yes, it is available - During your journey access the OEBB network on your smartphone, tablet or notebook, accept the terms of use, and click "WiFi Connect"!

Yes and the sockets are compatible with standard EU plugs.
There are sockets per pair of seats in Economy (2nd) class, but there are sockets per seat in First and Business class.
On the recently introduced Neu Generation Railjets wireless, device charging pads are available - and there are USB sockets available in First and Business Class.

Yes, when opting to travel in Economy (2nd class) and First class.
To ensure being placed in the Quiet Coach, opt to reserve and then make use of the seating plans - see above.

There are no luggage rules for travel by these trains, though an option for transporting larger items of luggage between Austrian locations, is to use the OBB luggage service.

Yes - and places can be booked by using the OBB Mobility service.

Yes, but places must be reserved pre-boarding.
On Railjets the bike spaces are at one of the ends of the train, so it makes sense to also opt to add a seat reservation and then choose seats in the Bike Zone - see above.
The Bike Zone is in Economy (2nd) class, it is possible to book First class tickets + bike reservations, but you will need to move through the train after boarding and before alighting.

Yes, but how you can travel depends on the size of the dog.

If you can transport a small dog in a pet carrier it is will be classed as hand luggage and no ticket will be required.

If your dog is too large to be taken in a pet carrier it will need to be muzzled and you will need to book a ticket.
The ticket price will vary according to distance travelled.

If you want to travel at the cheapest possible price, it's best to book tickets in advance on the OBB booking service.
The booking process is similar to booking travel with a bike, you need to add a dog to your ticket
You can't retrospectively add a dog ticket online to your booking, so if you decide to take a dog after you have booked a ticket online, you can buy a ticket for the dog at a station ticket counter.

Austria’s premier express trains operated by OBB are easy to spot, as they have ‘Railjet’ spelt out in huge letters on the side of the coaches.

Although someone has realised that having the Railjet lettering over the windows, can spoil some of Europe’s fabulous train journeys, so on the most recently repainted coaches the ‘Railjet’ logo is now beneath the windows.

Internally OBB’s Railjets are amongst the most comfortable trains in Europe and they’re getting faster too, as they’re taking advantage of the higher speeds on the re-routed lines between Wien/Vienna and Innsbruck.

The on board announcements are in German and English, but a particularly useful feature of these trains are the easy to understand, bi-lingual electronic info screens, which can be found in all coaches.

The luggage space is also comparatively generous, so travelling by Railjet is comparatively stress free.

OBB Railjets now operate on all express train routes in Austria and many journeys also extend over the borders into neighbouring countries.

The services used on these THREE routes are now branded 'Railjet Express' - which is usually shortened to RJX.

(1) Bregenz - Feldkirch - St Anton - Innsbruck - Salzburg - Linz - St Polten - Wien/Vienna - Wien Flughafen/airport

(2) Zurich - Buchs - Feldkirch - St Anton - Innsbruck - Salzburg - Linz - St Polten - Wien/Vienna - (Budapest or Bratislava)

(3) Munchen/Munich - Salzburg - Linz - St Polten - Wien/Vienna - Wien Flughafen/airport or Budapest

The 'Railjet-Express' branding is being used because these services make fewer station calls between Salzburg and Wien, than other Railjet services.

However, the trains used for those RJX services are no different to those used on the these SIX other Railjet (RJ) routes:

(1) Salzburg - Attnang-Puchheim - Wels - Linz - St Valentin - St Polten - Wien/Vienna - Wien Flughafen/airport
Look up a journey between Salzburg and Wien/Vienna, in either direction and these trains, which make more station calls between the two cities are the RJ services, but the faster alternative trains (see above) are the RJX services.

(2) Venezia/Venice - Treviso - Udine - Villach - Klagenfurt - Bruck an der Mer - Wien/Vienna

(3) Villach - Klagenfurt - Bruck an der Mur - Wien/Vienna - Wien Flughafen/airport

(4) Klagenfurt - Villach - Bad Gastein - Salzburg - Linz - Wien/Vienna

(5) Klagenfurt - Villach - Bad Gastein - Salzburg - Munchen/Munich

(6) Graz - Bruck an der Mer - Wien/Vienna - Breclav - Brno - Pardubice - Praha/Prague*

*Czech CD Railjets share this route with these OBB Railjet trains.

The new generation Railjet trains are now being used for 3 x trains per day in each direction on the München ↔ Innsbruck - Verona routes, including the service which travels München ↔ Innsbruck - Verona - Bologna.

The on board service is the same as the older Railjet trains - which are to be refurbished from 2024 to match the ambience of the new trains.
Though the new trains have more space for bicycles and snack / cold drink vending machines, in addition to the on board bistro.
The luggage racks are equipped with locks and the back-seat tables have ambient charging for phones.

The new trains have a different look, because the middle set of five coaches have doors at a lower level than the norm, so that they are at platform level in Austria and Italy.
So steps don't have to be ascended / descended when boarding, but there are steps between the boarding area and the seating saloons.

For journeys within Austria AND to/from Czechia, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia and Switzerland:

Reservations are only included automatically when booking seats in Business Class.

In 1st and 2nd class seats don’t HAVE to be reserved on OBB’s Railjets for and the seats are very rarely sold out - but reservations are recommended for the international journeys to/from Budapest and Munchen/Munich.
They’re also recommended when travelling to/from Wien/Vienna at business hours and either side of holidays.

When booking 1st and 2nd class tickets on ÖBB's online ticketing portal, the seat reservations are an optional 'extra' and the fee in 1st and 2nd class is €3.

Having the peace of mind of a guaranteed seat, when making comparatively long journeys, such as Wien/Vienna – Innsbruck, is also generally a good idea.

Some seats in both 1st and 2nd class don't line up very well with the windows - and on the busiest departures it tends to be these seats that are left unreserved

Reservations: Austria <> Italy journeys:

Reservations are now mandatory when travelling on a Railjet between Austria and Italy, the reservations will automatically be included when booking tickets.

However, paying a 'supplement' is required when using 'global' Eurail or InterRail passes.
The fees for the supplement are €15 in 1st class and €10 in 2nd class.
However, the supplement is not a seat reservation, so the seat reservations are an additional charge, but they are optional when using passes.

You can purchase the supplements on the Eurail reservation service or the InterRail reservation service

Or you can book the supplements for journeys to Italy by these trains, at the Reisezentrum desk at Innsbruck Hbf (or at any hauptbahnhof in Austria) - You won't be charged a booking fee and can also opt to pay seat reservation charges of €3.50 in both 1st class and 2nd class.

OBB also sells the supplements for these trains online, but the supplement is charged separately to the seat reservation, so you need to proactively also add the seat reservation when booking- and pay the additional cost of €3.50 in both 1st class and 2nd class.

Or you can board the train, find an available seat and then buy the supplement from the train conductor, but when doing so there is an additional charge of €5.

Travelling Business Class with a 1st class rail pass:

If you will be travelling with a valid 1st class rail pass you can opt to reserve in Business Class at a cost of €15 per reservation - the fee is €33 on journeys in either direction between Austria and Italy.
Though it seems these upgrades to Business Class are not available on the Eurail and InterRail reservation services, but they can be booked on the OBB website.

Most of the stations that the Railjets call at have electronic displays on the gleis/platform/track that show the formation of the trains.
Use these to see the zones on the gleis, in which each coach will be located when the train arrives.

If you have reserved check the coach number in which your seat is located and wait in the appropriate zone.
Don’t be surprised if the zone you need is some distance from your entrance point to the gleis/platform/track - two Railjet trains are often joined together for some departures, meaning that the trains can be very long

If you haven’t reserved still check the electronic screens on the platform that show the zones in which the coaches will be located.
Head for the zones furthest away from the entrance to gleis/platform/track - fewer people will have headed to the far ends of each train, so you should increase your chances of finding a seat.

On the train:

Seat reservations are marked on electronic indicators by the seat numbers – find a seat number with no text and the seat will be free for the entire journey.

Travelling from Wien/Vienna to destinations west of Salzburg:

If you haven’t reserved and will be travelling from Wien/Vienna and Linz to destinations west of Salzburg, such as Innsbruck, Munich, St Anton or Zurich, pay particularly close attention to the departure info screens.

That's because between Wien/Vienna and Salzburg two Railjets trains are usually joined together.
On arrival at Salzburg they separate into two trains – one will head off to Munchen, while Innsbruck or Bregenz will be the other train's final destination.

So if you’re going on beyond Salzburg, you need to be sat in the correct part of the train - so take care particular care when boarding and then check the info displays within the train
Adding a reservation to a ticket booking will ensure that you will be sat in the correct part of the train!

Folding bicycles can be taken on board as hand luggage, but all Railjet trains are equipped with bike racks which can accommodate up to five non-folding standard bicycles.

If you want to travel with a non-folding bicycle space must be reserved on these racks prior to boarding and the procedure for how to do this is explained on this guide to taking bikes on Austrian trains.

OBB has now equipped its Railjets with a complimentary on-board entertainment portal - 'Railnet' - the equivalent of the seat-back entertainment screens commonly found on long-haul aircraft.

As well as movies etc, the portal features live journey information - useful for connecting train info, such as which platform/track/gleis your onward train will be departing from.

The Wi-Fi on Railjets is free, and relatively easy to access and use.