About this journey

St. Pölten Hauptbahnhof became the western terminal of the Mariazell Railway in 1907, and the narrow-gauge line that departs from there has defined the region's rail connection to the Alps ever since. Construction began in 1896 under the Lower Austrian State Railway Office, directed by Engineer Josef Fogowitz, following the Lower Austrian State Railway Law of 1895. The line was then electrified between 1907 and 1911, exploiting the mountainous region's hydroelectric resources — an approach that was a world first for a mainline railway of such length.

Beyond Laubenbachmühle, the railway's character shifts decisively. An elongated double horseshoe curve climbs out of the Nattersbach valley onto the mountain section, where the alignment was engineered to a minimum curve radius of 80 m to negotiate the Alpine terrain. The route crosses the Saugrabenviadukt, the line's highest viaduct, before reaching Annaberg station on a saddle, and then enters the 2 km Gösingtunnel, whose interior holds the route's highest point at 891.6 m above sea level. Mariazell station itself sits approximately 1 km north of the pilgrimage centre, in the municipality of Sankt Sebastian — a calm, understated arrival that contrasts with the sustained engineering effort of the mountain section the NÖVOG E10 has just descended.