The Baltic-Adriatic corridor and the measures of the ÖBB to upgrade the Südbahn line / Die baltisch-adriatische Achse und die Maßnahmen der ÖBB im Rahmen der neuen Südbahn

The Baltic-Adriatic Corridor, one of the most important north-south routes in Europe and the easternmost crossing of the Alps, connects the Baltic with the Adriatic. 455 km of the Baltic-Adriatic Corridor runs through Austria. Currently it only meets the requirements of an efficient international long distance transport connection in a few stretches. This is due above all to topography: in Austria, the corridor crosses the Alps. In addition, large sections of the line date from the era of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and only a few sections have been updated since then. Three bottlenecks on Austrian territory in particular massively limit the efficiency of the corridor: the Vienna hub, the crossing of the Semmering and the Neumarkter Sattel, a mountain pass where the railway line bypasses the Graz region in a big loop. To eliminate these bottlenecks in the corridor, Austria is currently pushing ahead with three key projects as well as a number of other construction plans: the Vienna Central Railway Station as a through station, the Semmering Base Tunnel and the Koralmbahn line. But further projects on the Baltic-Adriatic Corridor are also of great importance for Austria: the Terminal Inzersdorf, the upgrading of the Pottendorfer line, the repair of the line from Mürzzuschlag to Bruck/Mur and the improvement from Bruck/Mur to Graz.