Today I'm heading west from Graz in Austria to Zurich in Switzerland. It will be only one train, but it will take almost all day, 9h 35min. I will be taking Eurocity service "Transalpin"
Railjet service to Vienna
"Transalpin" consists of ÖBB coaches and SBB panorama coach.
Panorama coach Apm. This coach is also used for Eurocity between Hamburg/Zurich and Munich/Zurich as well as "Gotthard-Panorama-Express" train between Lugano and Fluelen.
My reserved seat
The coaches are of type "Eurofima"
The "Transalpin" service will switch locomotives 4 times during the trip, first it is ÖBB Class 1144 until Selzthal
ÖBB ADbmpsz73 coach with 1st class and bicycle compartment
I was really looking forward to take this train and enjoy the fantastic views from the panorama coach, unfortunately this was not the case as it was raining all the way until Switzerland.
The train is taking the railway nr 105 "Südbahn" until Bruck an der Mur. Here passing by Gratwein-Gratkorn and a TRAXX F140 AC2 locomotive from DB Cargo Deutschland AG.
Vectron AC from WLC - Wiener Lokalbahnen Cargo GmbH
Frohnleiten
Frauenkirche Pernegg
Eurocity "Emona" from Wien to Ljubljana. Here with SŽ Beelm coach.
Leoben Hbf
We are now travelling on the Bruck an der Mur-Leoben railway line nr 413. Here is Annaberg Tunnel (158 m)
St. Michael
Between St. Michael and Selzthal we are travelling on the Rudolfsbahn nr 404.
Burg Strechau
At Setzthal the train is changing direction and locomotive
ÖBB Class 1144 is replaced with ÖBB Class 1116 "Taurus" which is a more powerful locomotive and equipped with ETCS Level 2 which will be necessary at neue Unterinntalbahn.
Selzthal is a junction station linking 3 railways, Rudolfsbahn nr 404, Pyhrnbahn nr 204 and Ennstalbahn nr 102. The latter one is the one our train will continue on.
Ennstalbahn connects Selzthal and Bischofshofen. Here is ÖBB 4024 (Bombardier Talent). Last year I saw
this train in Norway (NSB Class 93)
Transalpin service was launched in 1958 and until 2010 it was on route from Basel to Vienna. From 2010 Railjet replaced the route to Vienna, while Transalpin was re-routed to Graz.
The train has 11 coaches, since I'm in the last one, I can view all the train when passing curves.
I have also a nice view from the back of the train
Schladming
Mandling
Radstadt
Maria Geburt
The area is full of ski resorts
Salzach river and Salzburg-Tiroler-Bahn
Bischofshofen Bahnhof. We have now reached the 5th railway which is one of the main railways in Austria - Salzburg-Tiroler-Bahn. We are going to travel from Bischofshofen to Wörgl.
Schwarzach-St.Veit Bahnhof
ÖBB Class 1016. Many of the "Taurus" locomotives have colourful liveries.
Railcolor website has a poster with different liveries of "Taurus". Here with Eurocity 112 and 212. EC212 is a route from Zagreb to Frankfurt.
Two of the most used locomotives in Austrian is this one and..
...this one.
Siemens ES64U2 can be of class 1016 (pure 15kV version) and 1116 (2-system version with 15kV and 25kV for international traffic to Hungary). Siemens ES64U4 (Taurus III) or ÖBB Class 1216 has 4 systems, this one on the photo (1216 146-1) is approved to be used in Austria (15kV), Croatia (25kV) and Slovenia (3kV).
At Schwarzach-St.Veit there is a longer stop, so I have time to view the locomotive in the front.
The reason for the longer stop is this Railjet train 596 from Flughafen Wien to Klagenfurt. We have to let it pass in front of us.
Passing by Zeller See lake
Bahnhof Kitzbühel
Not many nice views today...
From Wörgl our train is now travelling on Unterinntalbahn nr 302 which is main line from Kufstein to Innsbruck. The railway is part of TEN-R nr1 Berlin-Palermo freight route.
The line was built in 1858, but in order to increase the capacity and speed a new double track line was built almost in parallell to the existing route. It is Neue Unterinntalbahn nr 330 and it opened in 2012. The route is designed for mixed traffic up to 250 km/h and is fitted with ETCS Level 2 signalling system.
Rail yard in Hall in Tirol. Here are the ÖBB Class 1014 and TRAXX F140 MS
Approaching Innsbruck
Here in Innsbruck another Class 1116 is added at the front for the trip between Innsbruck and Buchs. It is necessary with two locomotive on the Arlbergbahn between Innsbruck and Bludenz since the railway has steep inclines, for ostrampe: 2.6 %, for westrampe: 3.1 %.
Telfs - Pfaffenhofen
Stift Stams
River Inn
Landeck-Zams
Schloss Landeck
This part of the railway has single track except for some passing loops
Pians
Trisannian bridge (L 207 m / H 87.4 m)
Weinzierl Tunnel (212 m)
Strengen
Flirsch
St. Anton am Arlberg located 1309m above sea level.
Arlbergtunnel 10,6km long is the central part of the railway and it was built in 1884.
Langen
The section Langen am Arlberg to Bludenz has a slope 31.4 ‰.
Wald am Arlberg
Seems that the rain is starting to weaken
Ausserbraz
IC 119 Münster-Innsbruck
Bludenz
NPZ car operated by MBS for the Montafonerbahn railway.
Vorarlbergbahn between Bludenz and Lindau is operated with S-Bahn Vorarlberg and these double deck coaches among other trains.
Feldkirch is the last stop in Austria.
We are now on 18,5km long Feldkirch-Buchs railway connecting three countries.
Schaanwald in Liechtenstein
Nendeln
Shaan-Vaduz station. Vaduz is the capital while Shaan is the largest town. Liechtenstein is the sixth smallest state on earth.
Only 3 stations here, but our do not stop at any of the stations in Liechtenstein.
Bridge over Rhine river which is also a border between Liechtenstein and Switzerland
We have arrived to Buchs. It's time to change locomotive and the train direction.
Railjet is leaving Buchs.
The last part of the trip will be done with this SBB Class Re420
This locomotive is from 1968
After many hours in the rain, finally the sun is showing
Sargans
Until Sargans the train was following Chur-Rorschach railway but now we have switched to Ziegelbrücke – Sargans railway.
Museum Sarganserland
Walensee lake
Richterswil
On the other side of the Zürichsee lake is another railway
IC2000
Final stop - Zurich
Switzerland is an expensive country, even this low budget hotel costs a fortune.
Swisstrolley 3 BGT-N2C
Tram 2000
Grossmünster
At this years 100th anniversary of the russian revolution I'm visiting the house where Lenin lived before going to Russia
"Before the Russian Revolution, Lenin and his wife spent a year in exile in Zurich. They lived on the Spiegelgasse close to Cabaret Voltaire. During the First World War, Lenin lived with his wife Nadeshda Krupskaja at Spiegelgasse 14 in Zurich for about a year – a commemorative plaque on the house serves as a reminder. He finished his work "Imperialism as the Highest Stage of Capitalism" in Zurich."
I wonder, how can somebody make a communist revolution after spending time in one of the most capitalist cities in the world...
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