After over 20 years of construction, the new Koralmbahn, a line in Austria connecting Graz and Klagenfurt, is finally ready. As of this month, freight trains will start running on the new infrastructure, while passenger traffic will start in the next few weeks.
“With a single-wagon train, the wagons arrive from various directions at the Villach Süd marshalling yard and are assembled into a train. They then travel on the new line towards Graz, where they are separated again at the marshalling yard and distributed to their final destinations”, the Austrian railway holding ÖBB said.
The new line provides the Adriatic ports of Trieste, Venice and Koper better access to the Austrian network and market, providing 30% additional capacity compared to the old line.. It is also a key section of the TEN-T Baltic-Adriatic corridor, connecting these ports to the Baltic Sea in northern Europe. The first freight trains will carry products by Omya, a chemical company specialised in industrial minerals.
The new Koralmbahn
The newly opened Koralmbahn measures about 130 kilometres. Almost half of it, roughly 50 kilometres, will be underground, including the 33-kilometre Koralm Tunnel, the longest rail tunnel in the country (until the Brenner Base Tunnel will be ready). Construction of this new line started in 2001, highlighting the complexity of the project, especially when it came to the tunnels.
