About this journey

České Budějovice station is the starting point of an international corridor running south from Prague to Linz in Austria. Its current Neo-Renaissance building, designed by Gustav Kulhavý, opened in 1908 — the same structure from which this journey departs. The railway connection between these two cities is among the oldest on the European continent: a horse-drawn line between České Budějovice and Linz opened in 1828, long before steam traction reached the region.

Heading south, the route crosses the Czech–Austrian border and continues onto the Summerauer Railway, the cross-border line whose Austrian terminus is Linz Hauptbahnhof. That station first opened in 1858 with the arrival of the Western Railway from Vienna, and its current building dates from a reconstruction completed in 2004. The journey ends at one of Austria's most significant rail hubs: with 40,800 passengers daily recorded in 2018/2019, Linz Hauptbahnhof is the busiest station in the country outside Vienna, integrating mainline services with three tram lines running through its basement. The route therefore connects two stations of considerable age and character — one a preserved early-twentieth-century landmark, the other a thoroughly modern interchange — across a corridor with roots stretching back nearly two centuries.