About this journey

The journey departs from Salzburg Hauptbahnhof, a station rebuilt from 2008 under the ÖBB-Bahnhofsoffensive at a total budget of 270 million Euros, replacing bay platforms with through platforms and positioning it as a key node on the German–Austrian border. The line it joins heading northwest — the Rosenheim–Salzburg railway — was first proposed by Friedrich List in September 1828 and opened on 12 August 1860 in the presence of King Maximilian II and Emperor Franz Joseph, with celebrations lasting three days. Because no private company could raise sufficient funds, the Bavarian state built it at government expense, at a final cost of 10,204,649 guilders.

The double-track electrified main line crosses the Saalach river near Freilassing at the border, then passes west of the Chiemsee before negotiating a gradient of 1:100 at Übersee, where it crosses the Tiroler Ache. Electrification was completed in stages between 1927 and 1928, with power drawn partly from the Walchensee Hydroelectric Power Station. The Orient Express used this corridor from 1897, having previously taken the longer route via Mühldorf and Simbach. The route concludes at München Hauptbahnhof, a terminal station opened at its current site in 1849 and today served by 32 mainline platforms — a striking contrast to the alpine borderlands through which the journey begins.