OM the Rails 🇵🇸

Back home for me now - funnily enough on a former WESTBahn KISS which will be taking me to Wien Flughafen…

I enjoyed this trip, the Koralmbahn is such a game changer for Southern Austria and here’s hoping for further improvements once the Semmering Base Tunnel opens at the end of the decade! 🇦🇹

It’s a shame this is the only high speed train in Stadler’s portfolio and that it only has two customers - it really is brilliant, especially from a ride quality perspective!

📍 Wien Hbf

On time into Vienna after a fantastic journey with WESTBahn, though I can see why I was alone in first class the entire trip. Regardless, their Stadler SMILEs and onboard service are fantastic and I wish them the best with their latest expansion!

WESTBahn’s SMILE units were built on the back of an order made by SBB and as such have a pretty similar internal design spec. The good thing about this is exc the limited options, the WESTcafe is now a proper dining car rather than mini-bistros on the double-deckers, which is a huge improvement!

WESTBahn now enters very high speed rail having reached 250km/h for the first time in commercial service - my first time experiencing it on a Stadler SMILE and have to say the ride quality is amazingly smooth!

📍 Villach Hbf

An early start today to catch the first Northbound @westbahn1.bsky.social service bound for Vienna from Villach along the Koralmbahn - first class is the only offer of WESTBahn I haven’t actually tried yet and I’m the only one booked, so should be a relaxing 3.5 hours. Let’s go!

I think ÖBB’s long-term ambition to turn the IRs into “Railjets” is a rather poor move, especially given the journey times and facilities compared to the current Railjet offering.

I do also think that more could have been done to compensate the loss to the Koralmbahn, especially with the interiors

Made it back to Graz 2 minutes early - with the high speed line I can’t honestly see why anyone would do this journey end to end, but it provides frequent links for local communities at least.

Final train of the day to basecamp for tonight, thankfully on a much faster Railjet 🇦🇹✌️

This one’s very empty, though can imagine it’s because the Koralmbahn’s essentially taken away most of this line’s passenger traffic 😅

📍 Klagenfurt Hbf

With the introduction of the Koralmbahn, what’s replacing the old Railjet services on the classic line? That would be the new IR service to Bruck/Mur and Graz. In a way this highlights just how much of an upgrade the Koralmbahn is, the journey to Graz will take over 3hrs on this… 😬

Most of today is basically just shuttling between Graz and Villach as I look further into the changes since the Koralmbahn opened… there’s a lot!

One of the more unique ones is the Railjet from Vienna that goes to Munich via the Koralmbahn instead of the direct Westbahn route. Quite an oddity!

📍 Graz Hbf

Made it to Austria’s second largest city with a minor delay owing to issues on the Koralmbahn - I did make it on time to see WESTBahn’s new Stadler SMILE on a preview run to Klagenfurt, but that’s a subject for another time… 🇦🇹

📍 Villach Hbf

Made it more or less on time - a shame the first class seats from the Railjet 2 weren’t used and the economy seats were changed to the same ones Flixtrain use, but otherwise a pretty decent refurb.

The Koralmjet now continues to Lienz, whilst I’m backtracking to Graz on a ComfortJet…

Welcome to the brand new Koralmbahn high speed line, which this exact Railjet inaugurated in December 2025. Crazy to think this line took almost 27 years to complete, no doubt due to the extreme geography of the route amongst other things… 🇦🇹😯

📍 Wien Hbf

Feels like forever since I’ve been out, but it’s good to be back travelling again (albeit briefly)!

First up I’m following good on a promise I made in January and trying the refurbished Railjet 1 - my first class advance cost €34, which is pretty good going for a near 4 hour trip! 🇦🇹

Artist impressions of the Lumo 222s have been released - can’t say I’m thrilled the original seats are staying and the new ones replacing first class aren’t exactly the best. Hopefully they prove to be better once they re-enter service!

Wuhan high-speed rail station

Canada: we’re maybe thinking of a ten-year time frame to start construction and another 20 for project completion

China:

These will be used on what’s currently Interregio lines in Austria, but the Railjet is ÖBB’s flagship intercity product. Make it make sense 😭🙃

I’m sorry, but how can ÖBB call a 160km/h regional train a Railjet 😭

Tbf once the route between Haparanda and Oulu opens to passenger traffic it should be more known - at the moment only the Kolari sleeper serves it several times a day, so most tend to use Kemi which isn’t massively far by bus

I know VR are lazy with their rebrands, but still leaving that it’s operated by Vy 😭

Wouldn’t even believe it’s a border station with how isolated it is, many locals don’t even know it exists 😭

Good luck given Luleå only has a small handful of trains a day 😭

Enjoy guys!

Enjoy guys!

NEW VIDEO! 7.5 hours in a lie-flat seat overnight from Bergen to Oslo with Vy!

Link: youtube.com/watch?v=LHnQ...

Sweden’s oldest operational station too, a true gem!

Hopefully once I do give this a go I’ll actually have a chance at getting a seat 😅😭

The ICE brand has also seen very little change since it was introduced, very iconic. I’d argue the same for the Frecciarossa brand tbh

That looks so terrible in comparison 😭