The ÖBB’s considerations to convert certain regional rail lines to bus services have caused uproar in Upper Austria. Specifically affected are the Hausruckbahn, the Almtalbahn and the northern section of the Mühlkreisbahn. With fewer than about 2,500 passengers per day, rail is deemed economically unjustifiable, argue the federal railways—while the three lines often fall well below that threshold, as Franz Hammerschmid, head of strategic planning at ÖBB, calculates.

Because the ÖBB must also contribute to the federal budget consolidation, roughly 10 percent of expenditures in the new ÖBB framework plan through 2030 have been sacrificed to the current austerity drive. Instead of the originally planned € 21.9 billion, only € 19.7 billion is now available for nationwide rail expansion from 2025 to 2030. This means some projects will be postponed or called into question. In Upper Austria, this concerns the northern part of the Mühlkreisbahn, the Almtalbahn and the Hausruckbahn. The proposal does not call for a complete elimination of public transport, but rather a shift to buses, whose operation would then fall under the purview of the state or the Upper Austria Transport Association instead of the ÖBB.

Very Low Passenger Numbers on Northeastern Mühlkreis Section

On the Mühlkreisbahn, it is the northern section from Aigen-Schlägl to Rottenegg that is under review, where just 375 passengers travel daily on an hourly or bi-hourly schedule. Projections for the next 15 to 20 years estimate a potential rise to about 600 passengers per day. The Hausruckbahn between Attnang-Puchheim and Schärding currently serves 1,200 passengers per day, with forecasts rising to 1,900, while the Almtalbahn from Wels to Grünau handles 1,500 daily riders, projected to reach 1,950.

By contrast, urban lines dominate: Vienna’s core line sees 250,000 to 300,000 passengers daily with minute-interval service. Other Upper Austrian regional lines such as the Mattigtalbahn or Innkreisbahn carry 5,000–7,000 daily passengers—far above the three lines under evaluation. Even Lower Austrian regional lines handle between 4,000 and 7,000 passengers. Franz Hammerschmid places the “economic viability threshold” for a regional rail line at roughly 2,000–2,500 passengers per day.

Bus Faster than Train from Northern Mühlviertel to Linz

Hammerschmid argues that running buses on the Almtal, Hausruck and northern Mühlkreis routes could be more sensible, and the ÖBB plan to discuss this with the state of Upper Austria. State Transport Councillor Günther Steinkellner (FPÖ) decried it as a “frontal attack on the mobility needs of tens of thousands of people who rely daily on these rail lines,” warning it would undermine the Linz regional tram project whose backbone is the Mühlkreisbahn.

The ÖBB emphasize nuance: “We never questioned the southern section of the Mühlkreisbahn between Rottenegg and Linz,” stresses Hammerschmid. And given the low ridership on the Aigen-Schlägl–Rottenegg segment, buses could suffice—especially since the state already provides “extremely dense bus service toward Linz” that commuters use extensively. Indeed, a bus from northern Mühlviertel to Linz can be 30 minutes faster than the train. Shifting 600 commuters to buses “means ten more buses,” notes Hammerschmid.