About this journey

Gmünd NÖ station sits at the Austrian-Czech border, where the Franz-Josefs-Bahn crosses the Lužnice river before connecting onward toward České Velenice and routes to Prague and České Budějovice. The station also serves as a junction for the narrow-gauge Waldviertler railways reaching Groß Genungs, Litschau, and Heidenreichstein, making it a meeting point of two very different railway worlds.

The Franz-Josefs-Bahn stretches 163.1 kilometres from this border crossing south to Vienna, and its history reaches back to the Emperor Franz Joseph Railway, which opened the first section from Vienna to Eggenburg in 1870. Today the line is owned and operated by ÖBB. Heading south, the route follows the Danube before crossing it at Tulln an der Donau, then traces the west bank of the Donaukanal into the capital.

The journey ends at Wien Franz-Josefs-Bahnhof, a terminus whose historicist Ringstraße-style building was constructed from 1872 and completed six years later. Damaged during World War II, it was nonetheless the first of Vienna's main railway stations to resume operations after the war, and a new station building incorporating office facilities above the tracks was inaugurated in 1978. The ride thus moves from a quiet border crossing through open river country to one of Vienna's most historically layered termini.