{"id":149931,"date":"2024-11-19T22:51:41","date_gmt":"2024-11-19T12:51:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=58006"},"modified":"2024-11-19T22:51:41","modified_gmt":"2024-11-19T12:51:41","slug":"tauern-tunnel-in-austria-closed-until-july-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=149931","title":{"rendered":"Tauern tunnel in Austria closed until July 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Tauern tunnel, a vital trans-Alpine rail artery in Austria, has closed for modernisation works. It will remain inaccessible until July 2025, and will get a second round of modernisations in the first half of 2027.<\/strong>
\n<\/span>Austria\u2019s rail company \u00d6BB points out that a partial closure of the tunnel is impossible. For that reason, the eight-kilometre long tunnel will be closed entirely for the next eight months between Mallnitz and B\u00f6ckstein.<\/p>\n

The works include the construction of a new tunnel vault, an adaptation of the track and overhead lines, the modernisation of communication and tunnel safety equipment and the renovation of the tunnel portals. For freight trains, diversions are supposed to go through the town of Selzthal during the entire period of construction works.<\/p>\n

Old infrastructure<\/h2>\n

The Tauern Tunnel is an old piece of infrastructure: it was first taken into use in 1909. It got its last upgrade in 2004, which focused on tunnel safety and track construction work. Now, 20 years later, the tunnel needs to be modernised and made more efficient for the future, says \u00d6BB.<\/p>\n

It is not the only piece of rail infrastructure that Austria is working on. Besides the tunnel, the Westbahn between Vienna, Linz and Salzburg is being quadrupled. Austria is also building a 130-kilometre railway connection between Graz and Klagenfurt, the so-called Koralmbahn, a crucial rail (freight) line within the framework of Europe\u2019s TEN-T network.<\/p>\n