Tag Archives: Austria

Underground archaeology at the metro station

During my visit to Vienna, I found something interesting when passing through the U-Bahn station of Stephansplatz – a window into an underground crypt. The Vergilius Chapel (German: Virgilkapelle) dated back to the early 13th century, with the Magdalene Chapel […]

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Mobile traction substations for powering trains and trams

The power for an electric railway has to come from somewhere – and that place is a traction substation, a facility that convert hogh voltage electricity from the power grid to the voltage and frequency that trains or trams use. […]

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Crossing international borders by train

When I travelled across Europe by train, I crossed a few international borders. Some were simple, but others were more involved. The uneventful My first border crossing by train was on my journey from Germany and Austria, and it was […]

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Switching from right to left on the Wiener Straßenbahn

Trams on the Wiener Straßenbahn run on the right hand side just like every other road vehicle in Austria, but there is one exception – the elevated tracks of line 26. Opened in 2013, the 4.7 kilometre long extension of […]

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‘Do Re Mi’ music as the train powers out of the station

It’s normal for electric locomotives to make some kind of ‘buzzing’ noise as their accelerate, due to the way that power is applied to their traction motors. But the Siemens EuroSprinter family of electric locomotives make an unexpected sound – […]

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Freight trams of Europe

Trams are usually used to carry passengers, but across Europe there are a handful of tramway networks that also carry freight. Pure freight The best known in the English speaking world is the ‘CarGoTram‘ of Dresden, Germany. Photo by kaffeeeinstein, […]

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Animal themed trains of Europe

Trains named for cute animals – during my time in Europe, I found two rail operators who did just that.


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Train formation and carriage numbering diagrams

When travelling by long distance train across Europe, finding your booked seat can be difficult – the trains are long, so finding your carriage by walking along the entire train with heavy bags is something to avoid. It becomes doubly difficult if your train is one that splits up mid-journey to form two separate services! So how do you make sure that you end up in the right place?

Main concourse of Wein Westbahnhof railway station Continue reading

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Vienna to Budapest by train

For me the train journey from Vienna, Austria to Budapest, Hungary was the most boring one of our trip across Europe – the reason being the lack of daylight for spotting passing trains!

A lone 'Cargo' wagon stands out Continue reading

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Frankfurt to Vienna by train

My journey across Europe started in the German city of Frankfurt am Main, and my second stop was the Austrian capital of Vienna, with a seven hour long train trip between the two.

ICE 3 arrives into Frankfurt am Main Hauptbahnhof Continue reading

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