Infrastructure for the railway of the 21st century in Austria

The growing demand for mobility, the exchange of goods and services, the promotion of competitiveness and the establishment of industries in view of the opening up of the East and ever-increasing globalization call for the provision of modern transport infrastructures and intelligent interconnections between individual modes of transport. The implementation of the TransEuropean Networks (TEN) will allow to meet the infrastructure requirements on a large scale. On Austria's railway infrastructure, the measures aim at developing the lines to ensure high-performance connections on these routes and to optimize the line capacities. The measures are focussed on the Westbahn route and other important transit routes crossing Austria as well as the Vienna conurbation. In the years to come, about 2 300 km of Austria's railway network will be upgraded to meet the standards of high-capacity railway lines. Given Austria's topographical conditions, the technical condition of installations and the great number of engineering structures, this is a challenging task. The aim of developing an Austrian high-capacity network that is an integral part of the TransEuropean Networks (TEN) will be achieved only on the basis of excellent technical know-how, high-quality project management and the employment of large funds. OBB is fully aware of this great European challenge.