About this journey

Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof, opened in 1853, serves as the junction of five major routes, among them the Mittenwald Railway, which this journey follows northward toward the Austrian border station at Scharnitz. The line was built between 1910 and 1912 by engineers Josef Riehl and Wilhelm Carl von Doderer, opening on 28 October 1912 — completed, despite demanding mountain terrain, in roughly two years. It was among the first lines in Central Europe to operate on high-tension single-phase AC power, and its influence shaped electric railway standards across the region.

The engineering challenges the builders faced are visible throughout the route. The line's maximum gradient of 3.8 percent is steeper than both the Arlberg Railway at 3.1 percent and the Brenner Railway at 2.6 percent, with a minimum curve radius of 200 m. Between its lowest point near Hötting at 580 m and the Seefeld saddle at 1,184 m, the railway climbs across 19.2 km of mountain terrain. The longest tunnel, the Martinswand Tunnel at 1,810.23 m, passes through the rock face between Kranebitten and Hochzirl. Near Scharnitz, the line crosses the Schlossbach on a 66 m iron arch truss bridge some 60 m above the water, before arriving at the border station where the Austrian S-Bahn designation gives way to the cross-border RB 6 service continuing toward Mittenwald.