About this journey

Selzthal is a junction of considerable railway significance: the Enns Valley Railway meets the Pyhrn railway line here, making it a natural starting point for services running south toward Graz. The Pyhrn line takes its name from the Alpine pass it crosses, and near this junction the 4,767-metre Bosruck tunnel carries the railway beneath the Bosruck mountain — one of the more striking pieces of Alpine engineering on this corridor. The line between Selzthal and Graz Hauptbahnhof has long carried InterCity services linking Linz to Graz, and the entire Austrian network runs on 15 kV 16.7 Hz AC electrification, a system whose rollout began in 1912.

At the far end of the route, Graz Hauptbahnhof has a layered history. A first station opened on the site in 1847; its 1876 successor was destroyed in Allied bombing raids in 1945, and the current structure was completed in 1956 in the architectural style of that decade — its main ticket hall now carries listed-building status. Substantial rebuilding began again in 2010 under the Project Hauptbahnhof 2020 programme, extending platforms and adding regional capacity. The station is the most frequented in Austria outside Vienna, and the forthcoming Koralm Railway will add a direct connection to Italy via Klagenfurt, deepening its role as an international hub.