The Austrian Federal Railways (, formally Österreichische Bundesbahnen-Holding Aktiengesellschaft or ÖBB-Holding AG (lit. 'Austrian Federal Railways Holding Stock Company') and formerly the Bundesbahnen Österreich or BBÖ), now commonly known as ÖBB, is the national railway company of Austria, and the administrator of Liechtenstein's railways. The ÖBB group is owned entirely by the Republic of Austria, and is divided into several separate businesses that manage the infrastructure and operate passenger and freight services. The Austrian Federal Railways has had two discrete periods of existence. It was first formed in 1923, using the Bundesbahn Österreich name, as a successor to the Imperial Royal Austrian State Railways (kkStB), but was incorporated into the Deutsche Reichsbahn during the 1938–1945 Anschluss. It was reformed in 1947, under the slightly different name Österreichische Bundesbahnen, and remains in existence in this form. Major changes currently being made to the Austrian railway network are the construction of the Koralm Railway, the Semmering Base Tunnel and the Brenner Base Tunnel connection with Italy. Eurobarometer surveys conducted in 2018 showed that satisfaction levels of Austrian rail passengers are among the highest in the European Union when it comes to punctuality, reliability and frequency of trains. Furthermore, with their Nightjet brand, ÖBB operates Europe's largest night train fleet. Unlike other major railway companies in Europe that offer more flexible cancellation policies, ÖBB only offers two types of tickets: full-price tickets, and cheaper but non-exchangeable and non-refundable tickets.

History

The Austrian rail system is largely electrified. Electrification of the system began in 1912 but did not reach an advanced state until the 1950s. The last steam locomotive in regular service on the standard gauge network was retired in 1978. The post-war laws related to the Austrian railways were the:

Logo history

Current structure

By a law of August 2009, the organisational structure dating from 2005 was further modified; the railways are under the control of ÖBB-Holding AG, a holding company wholly owned by the Austrian state, under the Ministry of Transport. The holding company has a number of subsidiaries:

Infrastructure

The infrastructure of the state-owned Austrian network is managed by ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG, which was formed from former infrastructure-related units including Brenner Eisenbahn GmbH. It now manages 9,740 km of track, 788 signal boxes, 247 tunnels, 6,207 bridges and eight hydro-electric power (hep) stations for the 16.7 Hz electrification system, and two hep stations for 50 Hz power generation. As of 2009 it employed 17,612 staff.

Statistics

According to the Annual Report 2013, the company employs 39,513, there of 13,599 employees, 24,251 tenured employees and 1,663 apprentices. In 2013, ÖBB-Personenverkehr AG carried 469 million passengers of which 235 million were bus passengers. The ÖBB has

Principal lines

Rail links to adjacent countries

All neighbouring railways have the same gauge.

Active rolling stock

Electric locomotives

Diesel locomotives

Electrical multiple units

Diesel railcars

Maintenance of way equipment

Other railways in Austria