Records in rail transport: passenger numbers at a historical high!

Records in rail transport: passenger numbers at a historical high!

Wien, Österreich - In 2024, Austrian rail traffic recorded a remarkable development. The number of passengers rose to 348.7 million, which corresponds to an increase of 6 % compared to the previous year. Improvements in the range and clock seals played a crucial role in this increase. In particular, the commissioning of the Carinthian section of the Koralbahn and additional offers in the Vienna area have contributed to this. New connections between Linz and Graz as well as Vienna and Villach were also established in national traffic, supplemented by additional night train connections and extended Westbahn offers, as vienna.at reported.

Pay freight transport, on the other hand, shows an ambivalent picture. Despite the increase in providers, growth in this sector stagnated in 2024. One reason for this is the challenging economic framework, international construction sites and the continuing problems with personnel and driven procurement. According to the annual report in 2024, the rail control is the market share of Rail Cargo Austria, the market leader in freight transport, to 57.3 %, while private providers, including ECCO-Rail, Lokomotion and Cargoserv, come to 27.6 %. However, the development is strongly shaped by a slightly increased traffic situation, especially on the burner axis, where almost every third train is a freight train.

market development and challenges

The number of operators in freight transport rose in 2024 to a total of 68 companies that work in the ÖBB network. This growth shows that Austria is increasingly positioning itself as a hub in European rail freight transport. Nevertheless, standardizations at EU level and more flexible route allocation are necessary to exploit the full potential. The economic pressure on single car traffic is growing, even if there are funding that are central to regions away from large terminals, but are hardly economically viable. According to [ots.at] (https://www.ots.at/presseaus-sung/ots_20250710_ots0055/schienen-control-year report-2024- Mehr-Kaum-aka-Wachstum-in-Schnengueterverkehr-Personal traffic, personnel and material bottlenecks face the requirements of the market.

growth in passenger traffic is unbroken. The passenger train kilometers reached a record of 138.5 million in 2024. Overall, the passengers covered a volume of 15 billion person kilometers. More than 511 million passengers were promoted by the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB), which have established themselves as the largest state railway company in Austria. The market shows a clear trend: the ÖBB is planning to increase their fleet significantly by 2030, including 40 new railjets and the expansion of the Nightjet fleet, in which 24 of 33 new trains are to be available by mid-2026, such as Statista.com supplemented.

future prospects

Investments in the rail infrastructure remain a central topic. Austria plans to invest around 3.26 billion euros in rail transport by 2027. With around 69 % of the traffic investments, a significant part flows into the rail, which Austria catapults into fourth place in the investments in European comparison. In addition, it turns out that 27 % of the total transport performance is now provided by the rail, which underlines the far -reaching importance of rail transport for the Austrian economy.