WESTbahn

WESTbahn Management GmbH (a subsidiary of RAIL Holding AG) is an open access railway company operating express train services on Austria's Western Railway (also known as Westbahn) since 11 December 2011. The French railway company SNCF has a 26 percent stake in WESTbahn.

WESTbahn Management Gmbh
Franchise(s)Open Access operator
Main region(s)Salzburg, Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Vienna
Fleet size7 Stadler KISS + 10 Stadler KISS (7+1 6 car sets and 9 4 car sets by end of 2017)
Stations called at8
Parent companyRAIL Holding AG
Technical
Length317
Other
Websitewww.westbahn.at
Route map
 km
hour
 0 Wien Westbahnhof
 0:00
 6 Wien Hütteldorf
 0:06
 30 Tullnerfeld
 0:17
 60 St. Pölten Hbf
 0:30
 126 Amstetten
 0:53
 190 Linz Hbf
 1:19
 215 Wels Hbf
 1:32
 246 Attnang-Puchheim
 1:45
 317 Salzburg Hbf
 2:28

Times shown are fastest timetabled journey from Wien Westbahnhof as in timetable 2015.

Connection map. WESTbahn service shown in bright blue.

Associated company WESTbus, became part of the Flixbus network.[1]

Services
Westbahn train at Wien Westbahnhof

WESTbahn operates one service between Vienna and Salzburg in competition to the government-owned ÖBB. The trains run in one-hour intervals. This service calls at Wien Westbahnhof, Wien-Hütteldorf, St. Pölten Hbf, Amstetten, Linz Hbf, Wels Hbf, Attnang-Puchheim and Salzburg Hbf. From its start of operation until September 2013 the service continued to Salzburg Taxham Europark and Freilassing due to the rebuilding of Salzburg Hbf.[2][3]

The fleet consists of 7 Stadler KISS bilevel trains, each with six coaches, a total length of 150 metres, a top-speed of 200 km/h, acceleration of 0.85 m/s² and a capacity of 501 leather seats.[4] The passengers are able to use WLAN for free on the trains.[5] Every coach is serviced by an attendant. 85 percent of WESTbahn's 200 employees are on-board staff.

Each train also has a dining car with 8 seats and vending machines for cold and warm beverages. Snacks are available for purchase as well. One of the coaches is reserved for premium passengers and is called WESTbahn Plus.

In December 2014 WESTbahn ordered 10 additional Stadler Rail double-deck electric multiple-units. The €180m order would cover nine four-car Stadler KISS EMUs and one six-car unit. [6]

RAIL Holding AG

On 5 June 2012, the CEO Stefan Wehinger, a former ÖBB director, resigned on diverging views about the company's strategy. He was replaced by Erich Forster, who was promoted from the position of sales manager.[7]

Board of Directors includes Benedikt Weibel (Chairman), Hans Peter Haselsteiner, Erhard F. Grossnigg and Frank Bernard

Ownership (as of November, the 15th, 2018) Haselsteiner Family-Private Foundation (49,9%), Augusta Holding (Switzerland) (32,7%) (Augusta is held by Haselsteiner, Wehinger and company Oldro AG), and SNCF (France) (17,4%) [8]

References
  1. Flixbus.at website, viewed 2020-01-22
  2. About us at WESTbahn website
  3. "Westbahn nicht mehr bis Freilassing". Bahn-Report (in German). Interessengemeinschaft Schienenverkehr e.V., Rohr (5/2013): 32. ISSN 0178-4528.
  4. KISS electrical double-deck railcar – for Westbahn Management GmbH, Austria Archived 2013-01-24 at the Wayback Machine data sheet (PDF) from Stadler Altenrhein AG
  5. "ÖBB-Konkurrent "Westbahn" startet mit kostenlosem Wlan" (in German). Der Standard. 21 June 2011. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  6. [cite web|url=http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/traction-rolling-stock/single-view/view/westbahn-to-order-more-trains.html]
  7. http://derstandard.at/1338558747528/Personalrochade-Fliegender-Wechsel-bei-der-Westbahn
  8. http://rail-holding.at/konzern/shareholder/
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