The new ÖBB framework plan for railway expansion in the period 2025 to 2030 foresees a volume of 19.7 billion euros. Before the austerity measures of the new federal government, 21.1 billion euros had been planned for the years 2024 to 2029. The state-owned federal railways spoke today of a “contribution to the federal government’s budget consolidation.” The expansion and modernization plan would continue “at the high level of 2024 despite savings requirements,” according to ÖBB.
Once again, railway boss Andreas Matthä assured that “every railway project that has been started will be completed and that we will stay on course with the railway expansion.” This concerns, in addition to the Koralm Railway set to go into operation in 2025, the Semmering Base Tunnel and the Brenner Base Tunnel, as well as projects to enable four-track expansion of the Western Line. “Key projects for enhancing the mobility offering in urban areas—such as the modernization of the Vienna S-Bahn—will also remain on track,” said Matthä.
Regional railways could become bus routes
Some projects, however, will be implemented later or over a longer period. This affects, for example, the connection between the Eastern Line and the airport rapid transit (Kledering Loop, Lower Austria), the new line between Köstendorf and Salzburg (Salzburg), or measures in the Ennstal (Salzburg/Styria). Also, those few regional railways that had particularly low passenger numbers would be reviewed. A switch to bus connections is conceivable here.
From the SPÖ, which with Peter Hanke provides the new Minister of Transport, it was assured on Wednesday that the railway expansion will continue. “With the new ÖBB framework plan, we are continuing this success story and investing in our future,” said SPÖ transport spokesperson Wolfgang Moitzi.
“Complete climate failure”
The Greens criticized the new ÖBB framework plan as a “complete climate failure, which cuts the future and invests in the past”: “The turquoise-red-pink government continues to pour billions into the construction of new roads while at the same time shutting down regional railways,” said Lukas Hammer, transport spokesperson for the Greens. Instead, regional railways should be preserved, made more attractive, and converted to climate-neutral drives using overhead lines or battery trains.
A “closure orgy” of regional railways was “a completely wrong signal, an imposition on the population especially in rural areas, and therefore simply unacceptable,” also criticized FPÖ transport spokesperson and general secretary MP Christian Hafenecker, referring to the new ÖBB framework plan, which includes 1.4 billion euros in cuts to railway expansion and a switch from regional railways to bus lines. A forward-looking transport policy must focus on the expansion of both public transport and roads to meet the mobility needs of the population.
Criticism also came from Carinthia’s Chamber of Commerce President Jürgen Mandl—he is particularly bothered by the postponement of ÖBB investments in the logistics hub Villach-Fürnitz. “You really have to ask what signatures under contracts are actually worth anymore,” said Mandl in reference to a “Memorandum of Understanding” for the project signed a year ago. The ÖBB’s approach is “unacceptable”: “The Koralm Railway and the preliminary work for the Europe-wide unique customs corridor from Fürnitz to the port of Trieste are among Carinthia’s most important location projects. And ÖBB is irresponsibly abandoning us on this.”
