ÖBB: 330 new trains starting to roll



(Vienna, 20 October 2023) – On 10 December 2023, the new timetable will start across Europe. ÖBB is planning various new connections that will make rail travel within Austria even more attractive, as well as providing even better daytime and night-time connections throughout Europe.
“ÖBB is the European pioneer in overnight travel and we are continuing to expand this market leadership. Internationally, we are strengthening our offer with additional long-distance connections, including to Germany, Slovenia, Poland and France. In Austria passengers can expect numerous innovations in the 2024 timetable and a substantial increase of around 4.5 million additional service kilometres in local and regional services,” ÖBB CEO Andreas Matthä points out.
330 new trains for comfortable travel
“With over 20 % more passengers in long-distance services compared to 2019, we have a new record high. In order to make rail travel even more comfortable and to ensure quality for our passengers, around 6.1 billion euros will be invested in new and modern trains by 2030. For customers, this means around 330 new trains and more than 100,000 modern seats over the next few years,” ÖBB CEO Andreas Matthä announced.
The trains will be ordered, introduced into the fleet and modernised. From the timetable change in December, the first new generation Nightjets will be in service, providing a completely new overnight travel experience on the first routes from Vienna and Innsbruck to Hamburg.
The new generation Railjets are currently being completed and will offer passengers more comfort on the Brenner route (Munich – Innsbruck – Bolzano – Verona) from spring 2024. In 2025, another 27 new carriages will be put on the rails for inner-Alpine traffic.
In addition, ÖBB has already ordered 14 Railjet double-decker trains this year, which will significantly increase seating capacity from 2026. The currently most popular existing vehicle, the Railjet, will also be given an even more modern design: In 2024, the upgrade programme will start, in which all 60 existing Railjet sets will be successively modernised in terms of design, interior, technology and telematics.
Provisions are also being made for the mobility transition in local services: 47 additional Cityjet double-decker trains with an investment volume of around 743 million euros are being newly ordered from Stadler. This means that passengers can look forward to a total of 109 new Cityjet double-decker trains – the first trains will already be running in the eastern region from 2026. Another important milestone in decarbonisation is the recent order for 16 new battery powered trains, which will replace diesel services on the Kamptalbahn line from 2028.
The overnight train network is growing
ÖBB is the market leader in night services and continues to expand Europe's overnight train network in the 2024 timetable year with new Nightjet lines as well as improvements to existing services.

2 new Nightjet lines from Berlin to Paris and from Berlin to Brussels, initially 3x weekly and daily from October 2024:

o   NJ 40424: Berlin Hbf from 20:18 – Paris Est to 10:24 (Mon, Wed, Fri).
     NJ 40469: Paris Est departs 19:12 – Berlin Hbf arrives 08:26 (Tue, Thu, Sat).
o   NJ 424: Berlin Hbf departs 20:18 – Bruxelles Midi arrives 09:56 (Mon, Wed, Fri).  
     NJ 425: Bruxelles Midi departs 19:03 – Berlin Hbf arrives 08:26 (Tue, Thu, Sat)

Nightjet from Vienna to Paris (NJ 468/469) and Vienna to Brussels (NJ 40468/40425) daily service from October 2024 onwards
EuroNight 406/407 will operate on a new route (Munich - Salzburg – Linz – Vienna – Krakow – Warsaw) and thus in future from Salzburg and Linz directly to the capital of Poland
NJ 456/457 Graz – Vienna – Berlin now travels via Břeclav, Prague and Dresden; thus shorter travel time and more attractive departure and arrival times.

For journeys to more distant destinations that cannot be covered by overnight train, ÖBB offers enhanced networking of trains and flights. Air travellers get even better connections by extending existing trains from Vienna Airport:

New daily late service from Vienna Airport at 00:02 to Linz
New daily evening service from Vienna Airport at 21:33 to Graz
All direct Railjets (RJ & RJX) from/to Vienna Airporthave been added to the AIRail service.

International travel: new long-distance connections at a glance

New ICE connections (ICE 94/95) Vienna – Berlin, thus a total of 5 direct connections per day and per direction
ICE 1218/1211 Innsbruck – Munich – Stuttgart – Frankfurt/Main – Berlin will in future run daily instead of 2x weekly until now
A new pair of trains between Salzburg and Munich (RJ 268/1295) closes the 18:00 gap in the timetable from Salzburg.
EC 102/103 as new additional direct connections between Vienna and Krakow, incl. one coach on the route Vienna – Wrocław
Extension of services Graz – Spielfeld-Straß – Maribor: the 3 existing train pairs Graz – Spielfeld will be extended to Maribor (and partly to Ljubljana).
6 new direct trains between Villach and Ljubljana with optimal connections from/to Vienna and Salzburg
New seasonal Saturday connection (EC 1214/1215) for the Villach – Munich route as a relief at peak times
New comfort on the Tauern route Munich – Salzburg – Klagenfurt with two new ICE 4 sets from the timetable change

Consistent improvements & expansion within Austria
In the new timetable year, ÖBB is also making the change to rail and bus even more attractive in domestic daytime services in Austria.

The provincial capitals will be even better connected:

o   New daily RJX 764 in the evening from Vienna to Salzburg.
o   New pair of direct trains (D 502/601) between Graz and Linz
o   More long-distance connections between Innsbruck and Bregenz (RJ 668 & RJX 663)

Expansion of services on the Vienna – Villach – Lienz route with additional direct trains Vienna – Villach (IC 737/736), optimised timetable at morning and evening times & individual additional trains at weekends
Improved weekend connections for the route Vienna – Salzburg – Zell am See – Kitzbühel – Wörgl


In the timetable year 2024, the range of services in local and regional services will also be consistently expanded – so ÖBB can report a large increase of around 4.5 million service kilometres. 2.9 million of these will be in the eastern region alone, among other things through the introduction of a new CJX line between Vienna Hbf – Baden bei Wien – Wiener Neustadt, the new half-hourly service for the inner Westbahn line (Vienna – St. Pölten) and the increased frequency for the REX 4 between Vienna Franz-Josefs-Bahnhof and Krems.
In Tyrol, travellers can expect a new local transport concept including increased frequencies, extensions, a new night S-Bahn and new timetable arrangements.
In the south of Austria, the Carinthian section of the Koralm railway including the Wolfsberg – St. Paul im Lavanttal feeder line will go into operation and bring some improvements for commuters, such as faster journey times, an hourly frequency also at weekends for the Wolfsberg – Klagenfurt suburban railway and additional REX connections during rush hour. For more flexible mobility beyond the timetables, a new Postbus shuttle service will also be rolled out in Carinthia from 11 December 2023 in Bleiburg.