Salzburg - Freilassing travel

Posted by kj on 09/16/15 05:41 AM

Sorry for yet another post on the transportation situation between Austria & Germany. We have Westbahn train reservations for next week . It appears train travel within Austria is still open. However, we had planned to pick up a car in Freilassing after a visit to Salzburg, and I read that the train AND the bus is suspended starting 9/15 again. It is only a 5-6 mile distance, so also walkable. Is that even permitted? Or when they suspend the train and bus, are they in effect closing the border completely? If it takes 2 hours to drive due to border checks, it would seem that the border is open, just delayed crossing. It would almost be faster to walk!

What is a good source to stay informed of the most recent train cancellations?

side question: Does anyone know if there are luggage lockers in or near the Salzburg train station?

Posted by Sam

Green Bay

09/16/15 03:09 PM

21269 posts

Side answer: Yes, there are luggage lockers.
http://www.oebb.at/en/Planning_your_trip/Luggage/Luggage_lockers/

Posted by Emily

Vienna, Austria

09/16/15 03:25 PM

5518 posts

Things are changing every day. Better to check next week. Regardless, the border is not sealed, there are passport controls.

Posted by lachera

Firenze, Italy

09/16/15 10:34 PM

1744 posts

Try if this bus is running: http://www.albus.at/linienverkehr/linien-ubersicht/linie-24/

Generally speaking, the border between Germany and Austria looks very walkable; there once were border checks but they were removed after the Schengen treaty. I understand they could be checking the main passage at Walserfeld and trains between Salzburg and Freilassing but I wonder how they can secure all the border. For example, I spend my holidays at an hotel in Wals near Salzburg on the river Salzach that is the border between the two countries. Once the river was almost impassable - you had to drive kms. to find a bridge and pass border controls. Now they have built a walking bridge just on the back of the hotel so that there is a flow of people living on a side and working on the other one. Policing all this look difficult to me without damaging the local economy. - Another case: the Europark shopping mall, built almost on the border to attract customers from Germany.

Posted by lachera

Firenze, Italy

09/16/15 10:52 PM

1744 posts

Just an add-on. I went to Google News Oesterreich, I typed "Salzburg Grenze" (Grenze is border in German) and I got an article. It looks that hundreds of refugees have come to the conclusion that walking the 7 kms. between Salzburg and Freilassing is no big matter after the travel they already had and they are doing it. If you want to see the refugee crisis from inside, it looks that walking that route is the way to go.

http://kurier.at/chronik/oesterreich/zuege-in-salzburg-stehen-still-fluechtlinge-zu-fuss-ueber-west-grenze/153.096.715

Posted by kj OP

09/17/15 01:36 AM

51 posts

On the news this evening (DW channel), they featured the Salzburg train station, where currently a very large number of refugees are camping overnight. It appeared Salzburg was trying as best they can, to accommodate the swell, but it also looked very chaotic. I am assuming it would not be advised to use the train lockers, if any were still available. Are there any other areas in town to store luggage for about 5 hours?