No trains between Salzburg and Carinthia for eight months
Staff bottlenecks due to tunnel closure?
However, one is aware of the consequences that will initially arise for the same region as a result of the tunnel closure. “The Gastein Valley in particular benefits massively from workers from Carinthia. An avalanche is coming our way,” says Steinbauer. Employees can be found, for example, in the retirement home in Bad Gastein, in health professions throughout the valley, in the hotel industry, in the thermal baths. Everything that areas are already suffering from a lack of qualified personnel.
Not to mention families who have previously been able to commute short distances. Or ski schools and tourists who were able to commute from Gastein to the Mölltal Glacier in the pre-season or who compensated for the lack of snow in one state by taking a train to another. “But a building that is more than 100 years old has to be renovated,” says Steinbauer.
understanding of steps
And it also gets encouragement in the wagon in the middle of the Tauern tunnel. “What is the ÖBB supposed to do? We understand that, but we just hope that our employers will also think of us and accommodate us,” says the woman in the plaid coat. She is now considering taking a sabbatical. Others could not die.
There are no reliable figures on how many commute every day. But alone in the two morning trains at 5:50 a.m. from Carinthia and back at 6:20 a.m. from Salzburg there are a good 60 people. The Tauernschleuse runs every hour. There are also express trains every two hours.
At 06:00 the train finally leaves the tunnel on the Salzburg side. The question of whether those employees would probably return if they had to look for another job for the eight months is answered with a delay. First, the Salzburg drizzle must be analyzed. Then the answer follows: no, if you go back to Carinthia, you stay there. With that you leave the carinthian the train.
Students have to go to boarding school
The shift change with Salzburg commuters makes the carriage even fuller. Five students who commute to Spittal an der Drau every day sit next to one. They are also informed about the total lockdown. “We’ll probably have to go to boarding school or look for an apartment. If that’s still affordable, Mom said,” says a teenager with a hooded sweatshirt. All other travelers are woodworkers or construction workers. Unanimous short comment: “The people from the railway are crazy.”
At 6:22 a.m., the train finally rolls back towards Carinthia. “A refurbishment like this is necessary every hundred years,” said the ÖBB employee at the checkout earlier. And after a pause: “The two of us will experience the next renovation anyway.”