WESTbahn Südbahn competition begins on Austria’s Southern Railway

WESTbahn Südbahn competition is now underway as the private open-access operator starts running trains on Austria’s Southern Railway for the first time, directly challenging state-owned ÖBB on the Vienna–Graz–Klagenfurt–Villach corridor with what it calls the country’s “fastest trains”, as reported by RailTech.

WESTbahn Südbahn competition: launch and service pattern

After months of preparation, WESTbahn launched the new operation on 1 March. Meanwhile, services run from Vienna Central Station via Vienna Meidling and Wiener Neustadt, continuing south to Bruck an der Mur and Graz. From there, trains call at Kühnsdorf-Klopeiner See, Klagenfurt, Pörtschach am Wörthersee and Villach, near the Italian/Slovenian border.

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At the outset, WESTbahn is operating three daily return trips. In addition, the plan is to increase the offer in phases to five daily connections in each direction from 29 May.

Koralmbahn upgrade and Stadler SMILE high-speed trains

The new Southern Railway move is closely tied to the opening of the Koralmbahn high-speed section, which has significantly shortened journey times between Graz and Klagenfurt and enabled sustained higher speeds along the route. At the same time, those conditions have changed the commercial landscape on the corridor.

WESTbahn is using new Stadler SMILE trainsets capable of 250 km/h — the fastest in Austria — on a line long dominated by the incumbent. Separately, the operator puts the Vienna–Villach journey at around three and a half hours, placing it alongside ÖBB’s Railjet services, which run at up to 230 km/h.

“1 March 2026 will be a historic day for WESTbahn and for rail travellers in Austria: WESTbahn will be travelling south for the first time,” said Managing Director Thomas Posch last year on launching the plans. “We want to put an end to the quality deficits in rail traffic on the southern route and demonstrate how reliable, comfortable and high-quality rail travel can be achieved.”

Fleet details, onboard offer, and the ÖBB challenge

For the shift south, WESTbahn has introduced three new 11-car Stadler SMILE high-speed trainsets, according to Stadler. Each unit is 202 metres long and offers 422 seats across three comfort classes, including 288 in Standard Class. The trains are leased for six years, with an option to purchase or extend the lease, representing an investment of around €120 million, as previously covered by Railway Supply.

The SMILE fleet is also a technical change for the operator, which previously relied on Stadler KISS double-deck EMUs on the Western Line. Onboard equipment includes leather seating, power sockets at every seat, Wi-Fi throughout, two step-free PRM entrances enabling level access through the train, bicycle spaces, WESTbahn’s Relax Check-in and a free seat reservation system. KlimaTicket Austria is accepted on the services.

Still, WESTbahn says it expects the Southern Line operation to reach profitability within three years, potentially earlier. Also, the launch marks a structural shift in Austria’s long-distance rail market: WESTbahn has competed with ÖBB on the Vienna–Salzburg corridor since 2011, but the Southern Railway has remained under the incumbent’s control until now.

This second core corridor will test the practical maturity of the open-access regime, particularly given past disputes over track access, infrastructure charging and data provision that previously required regulatory intervention.

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