Flooding in Austria

Welcome to the forum. Your best bet for current conditions anywhere is never a guidebook. Use guidebooks for general information and helpful hints. Use online sources for current conditions.

Use guidebooks for general information and helpful hints. Use online
sources for current conditions.

Wise words from Carol! Even the newest guidebook can be a little out of date when it first hits the shelves; things like visiting hours, closures for renovations or special events, entry and transport fees, visiting rules, etc. can change right after a book has gone to press. It's possible even for some restaurants or accommodations to close or experience a negative change of ownership after press time. As well, a guidebook will never be able to cover anything like recent natural disasters.

As she advised, use the book only for very general information, such as historical background, how-to's and the like. For anything else use online resources.

The books are more likely to be correct than forum advice.

The books are more likely to be correct than forum advice.

Not neccessarily. My advice is to use the guidebook as a guideline for general information," check out the books' page on this website for updates, and then utilize the internet for the most up to date information on the area you are visiting.

I will be in Austria in June 2025.

At that time life should be normal again. The big floods have been mostly in not so touristic areas, except Vienna, but the city was prepared, resulting in minor damages only.

Thank you all for your advice.
I will check the information about hotels and museums a month before getting there.
I usually use the guidebook for itineraries, things to see, but also for suggestions on small places to eat or to stay.

We were in the Danube Valley 1 week ago. There was extensive flooding with numerous road closures. The hotel we had booked near Melk was flooded. The restaurant on the first floor was closed but they were working to reopen. The rest of the hotel was open as normal. By June of 2025 they should be back to normal. We were also in the old town Vienna. We saw no evidence of flooding

Thank you very much for your update. I agree that many places will be back to normal next year, unless there is more flooding because of climate changes. I cross my fingers.

Note:

As it turns out slowly, some train stations and tunnels being still flooded, there are major damages of the high-speed train tracks between Vienna and St. Pölten (route to Salzburg). This line runs through a series of mile-long tunnels, some of them having their infrastructure (e.g. electric wiring, signalling, etc.) completely destroyed. The repair works will need months, not to be completed in 2024, and have already a nine-digit figure for the price tag.

Under normal circumstances about 600 trains run daily along this route. At the moment the capacity is about 150 trains, to be increased to 200 trains next week, using the older and slower train tracks across the Vienna Woods.

Therefore, for travelling from/to Vienna to/from a western destination (e.g. Linz, Attnang-Puchheim, Hallstatt, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Munich, Zurich) there will be a reduced service for the time being. You need to check the time tables rather often as changes in the schedules on short notice are to be expected. Consequently, it will be difficult to obtain seat reservations as a large number of passengers try to squeeze themselves into a low number of trains.

Thank very much! This is a very important information. I will check the train situation in March 2025 when I will plan my itinerary and shedule.

Re: The Munich/Salzburg/Vienna train lines. I just booked trains on the RJX Railjet trains before finding this out. I did make seat reservations.

Should I expect this will be canceled and I will need to re-book? Our dates are late November.

Thank you,

PQ

Munich to Vienna is currently running. At the moment there is a change of train set at Salzburg. So the RJX train is running from Munich to Salzburg, Then a diverted Railjet between Salzburg and Vienna.
There is an extended journey time of 30 to 60 minutes.

The whole operation appears to be very slick. @ Andrea (from Sacramento) did that journey today so will hopefully have an 'on the ground' comment on how the journey went. She should have arrived into Budapest about 2 or 3 hours ago as I write this.

I just booked trains on the RJX Railjet trains before finding this out. I did make seat reservations. Should I expect this will be canceled and I will need to re-book?

It could happen, unfortunately. You will have to monitor OeBB's time tables from time to time.

Note:

As it became clear now that the high-speed tracks between Vienna and St. Pölten will be out of order for about half a year, all traffic has to be re-routed using the old tracks across the Vienna Wood.

This will add 30 to 45 minutes of travel time for every long-distance train. Consequently, all timed connections with other trains will fail.

Therefore OeBB has started to re-write its complete time table to deal with this situation. The new time table is expected to become effective on October 10th, 2024.

Hello,
I just booked tickets on OBB website from Vienna to Salzburg for Oct 30, 2024. I didn't see an option to reserve the ticket while booking but when I tried to reserve a seat using 'seat reservation only' under services, I got the following message:

"Currently not reservable"
Due to construction work or missing timetable information, it is currently not possible to book a reservation for this train. It is not yet possible to predict when the information will be available. Therefore, please check at regular intervals whether your connection can already be reserved.

Now that I am learning about the flooding and repair work along this route, I am wondering:

1. Since the website allowed me to buy the tickets, the train must be running that day correct?
2. Since I booked a Sparschiene (non-refundable & non-cancelable) ticket, would OBB allow me on another train in case they cancel the one I booked or refund the money?
3. Is it possible that they may open up reservation closer to the travel date?

Since this is my first trip to Austria, I am just learning about these train systems and any input would be helpful. Appreciate your time.

@AarDi
The current situation is unprecedented, the major train line being interrupted for about half a year at least.

If you have read all previous posts in this thread you know everything what is available at the moment.

If your train is canceled you are entitled to get a refund or a re-booking.

In Vienna, you would have no idea that this even happened a week later.

I posted a response earlier and tried to edit it. Now it has disappeared completely. When I tried to repost the message, I get an error message saying "oops! you already posted this reply". Do any of you see my reply? Has anyone had this issue before?

AarDi

you have a reply just 3 posts up. Is that the missing one?

It starts:

Hello,
I just booked tickets on OBB website from Vienna to Salzburg for Oct 30, 2024

No, that was my first post. I replied again after Emily's post and I don't see it.

Below is the last update (as of Oct 1) on OBB website for the Vienna - Salzburg trains. The header of the message (the link) also shows a timeline as 01.10.24 until 09.10.24. (i wish this posting allowed screenshots).
I am hoping it means things are expected to change after Oct 9th and hopefully RJX will resume normal service. However, just in case the following message applies to my travel dates (Oct 30th), I want to make sure I am reading this right. I think I am allowed to take one of those non-OBB trains to go to Hutteldorf from where I should look for a connecting RJX train to Salzburg. Can someone confirm please?

repair work after the flood: Wien Hbf (U) ⇔ Salzburg Hbf
Due to repair work after the floods, train and rail replacement services are currently only possible to a limited extent between Wien Hbf and Salzburg Hbf.
Reciprocal ticket recognition between ÖBB and WESTbahn GmbH is in place. The reciprocal ticket recognition applies exclusively on the route between Vienna and Salzburg.
*ÖBB tickets are recognized by Wiener Linien on the Wien Hbf - Wien Hütteldorf and Wien Westbahnhof - Wien Hütteldorf sections.
We ask travellers to inform themselves about their planned connections** before departure in the ÖBB timetable information Scotty, the ÖBB app or at the ÖBB customer service at 05-1717.
We apologize for any inconvenience.*

Should I expect this will be canceled and I will need to re-book? Our
dates are late November.

If the train you selected during booking gets cancelled you do not need to "rebook". When you buy a train ticket you do not book yourself on a particular train. Tickets are for a route, not a train. While it is true that discounted tickets often come with the requirement that you take the train you selected, this requirement is lifted the moment that train is cancelled.

So if the train you selected is cancelled you can use your ticket on any other train on the route without needing to do anything. Just show your ticket to the conductor on the train when requested. The conductors know what is going on.

Reservations are another thing. It is a good idea to get them, but you can travel without them.

You will need to check much closer to the date of travel that the special ticket easement of being able to use any Westbahn train is still in place.

The chances are very high that it still will be, and for many months to come. But Westbahn are a separate private company, and that is not a given. If that ceases then it will be any train except a Westbahn service. But the easement is in Westbahn's clear commercial interests to maintain because their services are also heavily disrupted.

Normal service will not be restored by 9 or 30 October or any date in 2024.

As already described here, a complete new time table will become effective on October 10th, 2024 for the time being, taking into account that all trains will have to use the older tracks between Vienna and St. Pölten.

On the Westbahn train this morning Vienna to Salzburg. We had booked the high speed train 906 at 8:38. The train at 8:38 was 960. The Westbahn office at the station confirmed ticket was valid. Once we got on the train there was an issue with seats. Our seat number had changed. So advice would be to confirm seat number too!

In other news like to report we met Emily’s challenge (sort of)…lunch at Miznon, chocolate croissant at Parémi and coffee but not at Diglas but Oberlaa where we had to share a Sacher torte (with cream) Wasn’t sure if it was the aroma of reefer or charred cauliflower at Miznon but we were happy rest of the day!

As said a new train time table will be effective October 10th, 2024.

OeBB is still working on it, Westbahn published it today.

Edit: https://www.oebb.at/en/neuigkeiten/unwetterwarnung
OeBB's new time table is available now.

wmt1 - Thank you for the update. I do see that my train RJ 542 is now scheduled to start early (6:28 instead of 6:55) to cover the added time. Now that OBB is also allowing free cancellation 15 days before the travel, I am wondering if I should change my plans from:

• Visiting Salzburg for 2 days (current plan) to Visiting Cesky Kumlov for a day before heading to Prague depending on:

• Flood impact in Salzburg/Hallstatt area

• Would I be able to do the planned half/one day visit to Hallstatt from Salzburg

• Would a packaged tour (considering getyourguide.com) be better than booking train to Hallstatt

I would appreciate any input.
Thanks

Flood impact in Salzburg/Hallstatt area

There is none, except for changed departure times of trains.

The biggest floods were along the river Danube and its tributaries.

Thank you for confirming!

Hi All,
I've taken your advice and checked the new timetable for some of my upcoming trains in and out of Vienna.

I have two questions please:

1. For my Salzburg to Vienna train on Nov 27th at 8:07am, I'm on RJX265. On the Scotty planner it says this is "running with" another train. I'd like to confirm that this doesn't affect me and my seat reservations I purchased before the new timetable are still good for RJX265?

2. For my Vienna to Budapest train on Dec 1st at 7:40am, I was on RJX267. When I look though, the only train at that time I can see is EC463? Does this mean my RJX265 is canceled?

I'm very new to OBB and really appreciate your patience if these questions seem obvious.

Thanks again,

PQ

On 27 November it means that two trains join together at Salzburg to form one long train.RJX763 started from Innsbruck, yours started at Munich. This is common in Europe.
On 1 December your Railjet is replaced with a Eurocity train.
Your ticket is valid on a route, not a train type, so will be valid on the new train. By all means check your seat reservation at the station in either Salzburg or Vienna.

Ok, thank you so much. I really appreciate your help!

And because the tracks between Vienna and Budapest are such that speeds are limited the RailJet is no faster than the EuroCity. It all depends on the number of stops, but even with an extra stop the time difference is less than 10 minutes.

By all means check your seat reservation at the station in either Salzburg or Vienna.

This is very important, as there is no way to check a seat reservation online, as far as I know. The RJ and EC trains use different types of cars, having a different layout and numbering of cars and seats. Therefore your original seat reservation will not match.

Ok, I will definitely do that then. Do you know if purchasing the seat reservation guarantees me another seat reservation on the EC train? Would they still be seated together likely? My mom would be a bit nervous if we were separated, so trying to prepare.

Thanks again for everyone's help.

PQ

For my Vienna to Budapest train on Dec 1st at 7:40am, I was on RJX267. When I look though, the only train at that time I can see is EC463? Does this mean my RJX265 is canceled?

There is something wrong with this statement.

RJX267 departs at 6:40am from Vienna to Budapest, whereas EC463 departs at 7:40am.

RJX265 is a train going from Munich to Vienna, but not to Budapest.

Sorry, there was a typo when referencing the 265 being canceled. I meant if the 267 was canceled because it now says the EuroCity train at 7:40 instead. I did double check my tickets from OBB though for Dec 1st from Vienna to Budapest and it does say "valid for RJX267 at 7:40".

So, now I'm a bit confused. Are you saying the 267 has been moved up an hour and I can't get on at the originally scheduled time on the EC train?

PQ

Sounds to me like your train has been delayed an hour. I would wait for it. But I'm no expert.

It kinda depends on an extent on whether you have a cheap sparscheine ticket or a full price ticket.
If the former you are tied to that departure time, NOT the train number. So whatever train cars are on the 0740, that is the train you are on.
If you have a full price ticket you can travel on any train you like.

Ok. Yes, it was the cheaper sparscheine ticket. It originally said 7:40 when I bought it and my email says that as well, so if it's now 6:40 it's actually an hour earlier.

I guess I'll just have to check what it says closer to departure and allow plenty of time to ask someone at the station to be 100% sure. There should be someone who can help in English at the station right?

Sorry to have taken over this thread. Really appreciate all the help.

PQ

It kinda depends on an extent on whether you have a cheap sparscheine ticket or a full price ticket.
If the former you are tied to that departure time, NOT the train number. So whatever train cars are on the 0740, that is the train you are on.

This is not correct.
I called OeBB's customer service on this issue and got the following information:

(1) Your tickets are good for RJX267, no matter at what time, i.e. at 6:40am.
(2) If you are uncomfortable with that departure time, the binding of your Sparschiene tickets to train RJX267 can be waived, so you may travel on EC463 at 7:40am.
(3) As EC trains have different cars and seat numbering your seat reservations can be changed accordingly.
(4) The fastest way to achieve (2) and (3) is to call OeBB's customer service (+43 5 1717) and give them your tickets numbers. If you had booked online, they should have all your data and can send you the changed tickets and seat reservations via email.
(5) Alternatively you can do (4) at a ticket counter in a big train station, e.g. Salzburg.

You also can try this using OeBB's customer service page.
https://www.oebb.at/en/reiseplanung-services/kundenservice/allgemeine-anfrage
Select "Booking of ÖBB tickets", fill in all required data, describe your problem and the solution you would prefer.
Wait for an answer. You have plenty of time until December 1st.

Oh my goodness, thank you SO MUCH! I was feeling so overwhelmed about this; normally I'm very go with the flow, but there's been a lot of stress here lately unrelated to the trip and the train stuff had just felt like that one thing I couldn't resolve.
Seriously, I can't thank you enough for taking time out of your day to go through all those options just to help me. You have no idea how much that means to me.

We will probably stick with the original train and go for 6:40am.

Thank you thank you thank you!

PQ