TERRY SMITH takes a journey on Austria’s premium high-speed train service, just before the lockdown.
It may surprise you that I have been using the services of the OBB (Österreichische Bundesbahnen - Austrian Federal Railways) every winter for the last 15 years. Not for a railtour mind, but to get me from A to B, or from Innsbruck to Worgl (pronounced Vergull) to be precise. The reason for this trip is to get me close to the ski area of the Tyrol where I can pretend to snowboard! The time for the 60km trip up the stunning Inn Valley takes an average of forty minutes, down to just twenty-five if you take the Railjet. Having worked at Gaugemaster for 20 years you cannot help but notice model railway stock in liveries such as this, but not being much of a continental rail enthusiast you don’t really know what they are.
The Railjet service was set up in 2008 by the OBB to be a highspeed link between major hubs and as an alternative to short haul flying, not only in Austria but to spread out into neighbouring countries as well. This includes Zurich in the west to Budapest in the East, and to Prague in the North down to Venice in the South. If you notice, all of these have major international airports, as do places such as Munich, Frankfurt, Salzburg, and Vienna which are also served by the Railjet service. It would however be a very small network if these were the only destinations, so of course there are many other stations the trains stop. However, to give you an example on how many they do not stop at, between Innsbruck and Worgl there are 13 stations, the Railjet only stops at one, Jenbach, home of the Narrow Gauge Zillertalbahn mountain railway.
As well as culling the amount of stations this high-speed service stops at it also runs at times on its own tracks, which are sometimes sunken down below ground level. The standard set up of these trains are hauled by a Siemens Taurus electric locomotive with a DVT matching the style of the Class 1116 Taurus at the other end, and a further 6 coaches in between. The OBB have been known to double up on these formations, which makes an impressive train indeed, one that often cruises along at over 200kph.
So, after my high speed 25-minute train journey to Worgl, I got to the bus stop outside to find the next service up to my ski village of Soll was 1 hour 20 minutes away! I can do 60km in twenty-five minutes but now a long wait for a bus which itself takes 30 mins to do the 11km trip. The sun was shining and with a cold drink it was time to go back into the station and do some train spotting OBB style, I got to enjoy it so much I nearly missed my bus!
As mentioned earlier the Railjet is available from various model railway manufacturers that we supply in both HO and N Scales.
The outside of Worgl Bahnhof, my unexpected home for well over an hour.
Looking very much like a Taurus, this is the DVT (Driving Van Trailer) end of a Railjet train.
At the rear was a complete Class 1116 Taurus, I do like this grey/orange/red livery - very classy.
On the far side of the station was the freight sidings. Unfortunately, my view was blocked by this huge lumber train - which I could only fit half of into the picture.
A cut down map of the central Railjet routes which also serves destinations into Switzerland, Germany, Hungary, The Czech Republic, and Italy.
Plenty of freight trains came through while I was there including this double-headed Class 191 Vectron hauled container train.
Local stopping trains are often served by modern EMU units such as these Bombardier class 4024s, although you can still see short trains hauled by older electric locomotives.
Another freight working, this time by a pair of Railpool Class 186 locomotives. As well as containers, you will also see trains made up of car transporters, tanker wagons and lumber, amongst others.
In the next part, I'll tell you about the journey back to Innsbruck and also have a look around the station there.