It’s been a tricky couple of years for Alpine railways – lines have suffered from derailment, landslides, floods and subsequent closures, but there’s some exciting news regarding one of the most integral routes.
The Tauern railway, which stretches all the way from Schwarzach-Sankt Veit in the state of Salzburg to Spittal an der Drau, Carinthia has been closed since November 2024, but it’s just been announced that it will reopen next week.
So, from July 14, it means that services which had been suspended due to its closure can return (yay!) – these include the overnight service from Stuttgart and Salzburg to Venice, as well as the Nightjet train from Munich to Rome.
Does the Tauern compete with the efficiency of Europe’s high-speed railways? No, but that was never the point. It’s an old-style main line which carried both passenger and freight trains, but it’d be silly to fly past such glorious Alpine scenery.
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The line journeys through the Salzach valley towards the dazzling Tauern Alps, stopping in Bad Gastein, a spa-town which drips in belle epoque detailing. It then reaches the Tauern tunnel (one of the shortest of the great Alpine rail tunnels) before emerging into Carinthia.
‘The Tauern tunnel reopening is so important, as it’s a key route for trains from Bavaria to Slovenia. It is also used by travellers heading through the Alps to north-east Italy. The Austrian province of Carinthia becomes so much more accessible again,’ said CEO of Rail Europe Björn Bender to the Guardian. ‘And the Tauern reopening on 14 July is just the prelude of more good things to come. In December the new Koralm tunnel opens, cutting journey times between Vienna and Klagenfurt, the provincial capital of Carinthia’
All this comes after other exciting reopenings of other Alpine railways. The Monte Cenis route was closed in August 2023 after a landslide and that halted all high-speed services between France and Italy. Now, since it reopened in the spring, services such as this one between Milan and Paris have relaunched.
There’s also the Semmering railway, which has welcomed new services such as this one from Poland to Croatia. Have a look at more iconic railway journeys here.
All aboard
Time Out has covered everything from news of a €10 train connecting Berlin and Amsterdam to a high-speed service set to connect 17 cities across France and Spain, a shiny new route between Scandinavia and central Europe and the potential of a direct connection between these amazing three cities.
For all the latest, make sure you check out our travel news page.
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