The Lienz-Innsbruck direct train remains on the siding
With the Riggertal loop, the route leads via Brixen. The travel time is getting shorter, but the transfer remains.
When it comes to questions about the reintroduction of the direct train, the Tyrolean state government has always put it into perspective, roasted it and instead sung praises to the bus connection to and from East Tyrol. The new Mobility Provincial Councilor Rene Zumtobel (SPÖ) is now waiting with a well-founded answer to a question from the Fritz list in the state parliament: “When will you implement the reintroduction of the direct train?”
Zumtobel’s answer has dampened hopes of a comeback for direct trains once and for all. However, this does not necessarily mean that there is no improvement in sight for train passengers. Zumtobel paints a detailed picture for the coming years. The connections from Lienz to Fortezza could be “trained”, but a lack of rolling stock and scarce track capacities are taking the wind out of the sails of this vision.
According to Zumtobel, locomotives and wagons suitable for cross-border traffic will be available in South Tyrol “in December 2025 at the earliest”. At this point in time, the Riggertal loop – probably before the Olympics in Cortina – should go into operation, an important link for the Pustertal railway. With these 220 million expensive and almost four kilometer long railway bridges, the course is set to the south.
“The trains from Lienz will then no longer go to Fortezza, but directly to Brixen and on to Bozen, Meran and Malles. A simple extension of the trains to Innsbruck would then no longer be possible, even if the costs were borne by Tyrol,” says Zumtobel. The route of additional trains also failed because of the dense clocks and the infrastructure in the Puster Valley: “Before and after Bruneck, the route is so densely occupied that no more trains can run there.”
Due to the two-track expansion of the Pustertalbahn, which the state of South Tyrol is aiming for, there might be the possibility of introducing additional direct trains. However, these primary expansions are of course planned for intra-Italian traffic.” The time horizon for this has not yet been defined either, as the planning is still in its infancy.
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In the long term, everything points to a connection between North and East Tyrol with a change in Brixen – instead of in Franzensfeste as before. “With the completion of the Brenner Base Tunnel, the travel time should be reduced to about three hours with a change in Brixen,” the Provincial Council calculates. This would mean that the train would be about as fast as today’s direct bus.
The coalition paper also defined an international rail connection from Vienna via East and South Tyrol and on to Innsbruck as a desired route. The ÖBB doesn’t know anything about that. It would be years before this train rolled, i.e. the federal railways. A small side note from the state council: “The direct bus is very well received by customers.”