About this journey

Kleinreifling sits at the heart of the Rudolfsbahn, timetable route 130, the line threading the Ybbs and Enns valleys between Amstetten and Selzthal. Construction began in 1868 under the Klein brothers' Mährischen Eisenbauunternehmen, with Otto Thienemann as chief engineer, and the main line was complete by 1873 — making the Rudolfsbahn Austria's third north–south Alpine crossing, after the Semmering and Brenner railways.

The operating company, the KRB, did not survive long in private hands. The economic crisis of 1873 weakened its finances, administration was imposed in 1880, and nationalisation followed in 1884. Under state ownership the Amstetten–Kastenreith branch was upgraded to carry Vienna–Carinthia traffic alongside the Western Railway. Today the line sees hourly regional services, though the ÖBB 4024 Bombardier Talent unit on this journey has become less common on the corridor as Siemens Desiro class 4744 units take over more workings.

Northward from Kleinreifling the route runs toward Amstetten, where the Rudolfsbahn meets the Western Railway — a main line opened in 1858 and now rated for traffic at up to 230 km/h. From Amstetten the journey continues into Linz an der Donau Hbf, closing a run that spans one of the older rail crossings of the Austrian Alps and ends at a major interchange on Austria's busiest long-distance corridor.