Southern railroad runs, western railroad remains closed, more than 250 road closures in Lower Austria

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The heavy rain in eastern Austria seems to be over, but isolated showers are expected to follow in the course of Tuesday. However, flooding, mudslides and melting snow could continue to cause problems. Both politicians and the emergency services are therefore calling for caution. In terms of traffic, there was a slight sigh of relief on Tuesday morning: ÖBB resumed long-distance services between Vienna Central Station and Mürzzuschlag (Styria) at 4am. The Pottendorf line and the Mattersburg line are also back in operation. Local services between Vienna and Payerbach-Reichenau (Neunkirchen district) have been running again since Monday afternoon.

The situation on the Westbahn remains tense: Both the Inner and Outer Western lines are closed, between Vienna-Meidling and St. Valentin (Amstetten district), and Vienna-Hütteldorf and St. Pölten respectively. In order to get stranded passengers home, ÖBB and the Westbahn are currently working on an emergency bus service, reports ORF Niederösterreich. Passengers are to be transported directly from Vienna to Linz and back. The first buses started at 6 am.

The Eastern Railway between Vienna and Hegyeshalom (Hungary) will remain closed for the time being on Tuesday due to persistently high water levels.

In Lower Austria alone, more than 250 roads are also still closed: the B1 near Loosdorf, the B11 in Achau and in the Alland area, the B14 in Klosterneuburg between Stegleiten and Hintersdorfer Straße, the B19 between Ried am Riederberg and the B19 are (partially) closed or will remain so for the time being. The underpass near Tullnerbach is also closed, as are sections of the B215, B217, B218, B27 and B28, the B3 between Krems and Emmersdorf, the B34 Kamptal between Horn and Hadersdorf am Kamp and the Hohenau a.d. March border crossing. In St. Pölten, several areas are also impassable due to the flooding.

Vienna parks closed, public transport running more frequently
As a precautionary measure, over 1000 parks in Vienna’s municipal gardens are temporarily closed. The Lainzer Tiergarten, the Steinhofgründe and the Laaer Wald recreation area will also remain closed until further notice.

The situation for public transport passengers remains unchanged. There are still limited subway services due to the flooding. The U2, U3, U4 and U6 lines are affected. According to the crisis management team, regular service should only resume “gradually” from Wednesday.

The U2 line is currently only in operation between the stations Seestadt and Taborstraße, the U3 line runs between Ottakring and Schlachthausgasse and the U4 line runs between the stations Heiligenstadt and Friedensbrücke. The U6 line is out of service between Meidling and Westbahnhof.

Wiener Linien began dismantling the dam beams and sandbags in the early hours of the morning. Work has also begun on repairing the U6 overhead line. In addition, those lines that were affected by water ingress are being checked for possible damage, according to a press release. On the U4 in the Kettenbrückengasse area, for example, the ballast under the tracks is being checked. The damage to lines 40 and 41 was repaired last night and trains are running again as usual.