The 26 km base tunnel is a complicated structure. One branch of its forking eastern end creates a connection towards Vienna's future main station (Hbf on the map below, adapted from Thorsten Büker), the first platforms of which open this year too. To connect with the old Westbahn, near half-distance between the portals, there is a cut-and-cover underground junction with an (also new) 2 km tunnel running parallel to and under the old line. So the two bored sections of the base tunnel have separate names: Lainzer Tunnel and Wienerwald Tunnel.

My photo diary traces the line rather than following a chronological order, starting in the station beyond the underground junction, Unter Purkersdorf. While local trains use the old surface line that connects to the south side of the station, the extra two tracks along the old line, presently used by through trains, emerge from the 2 km cut-and-cover tunnel on the north side of the station. An ICE–T semi-high-speed electric multiple unit (EMU) of German Railways DB, en route to Frankfurt, passes rail employees collecting rubbish – the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) still values clean infrastructure.

The line then crosses the core of Purkersdorf, a town dominated by the healthcare sector, full of pensioners. On this section, there are three levels of local passenger transport; this Bombardier Talent runs in the shortest, the S-Bahn (suburban rapid transit) service which only reaches Rekawinkel.

The line then starts to climb the valley side on a long section walled in by noise barriers, which end at the modernised but still picturesque stop of Unter Tullnerbach, where I caught another Talent before a rain started.

Next to the walkway to the station, a funny local nailed ÖBB-style signs on the crossbeam of his garage, claiming the sheds to be train platforms:

Looking downvalley from a spot a bit further up, a Stadler KISS of open-access operator WESTbahn climbs the grade in front of the high valley side:

At this point there is a reservoir on the Wien river. In the background of the bridge over the fish ladder, a Siemens EuroSprinter ES64U2 "Taurus" climbs the slope with a freight train probably carrying coal:

At the upper end of the reservoir, the valley side is low but steep. Another "Taurus" is on the descent to Vienna with a normal IC train:

The line climbs higher on the valley side, crossing side valleys on ever higher earthen dams in a scenery increasingly dominated by villas and hotels and sanatoriums of the pre-WWI era and weekend bungalows of the post-WWII era. (The complex on the hillside on the left is the Sacre Coeur Pressbaum, an originally girls-only Catholic boarding school established in 1892.) A two-trainset railjet (ÖBB's "flagship" long-distance passenger trains, the ones facing the WESTbahn competition) passes Tullnerbach-Pressbaum station, en route from Munich to Budapest:

Further up, a limited-stop REX train (the third level of local trains, running well beyond St. Pölten) crosses another side valley to arrive in Pressbaum, with the back of the Sacre Coeur in the background. This is an odd composition with both singe-deck and double-deck cars and two class 1144 locos.

At the time, workers were just finishing a new underpass. The connected bike road struck me as odd in this mountainous area, but it already had users. (The one negative I saw in all the station renovation work was the elimination of station toilets.) Also on the photo from the opposite side of the tracks, another of the bi-hourly ICEs to Frankfurt (this time an ICE–T owned by ÖBB).

I abandoned my lunch on the south platform when this Bombardier TRAXX (class 185 of the German Railways DB) came with a cement train – on the 'wrong' track (to enable the passing of a faster train). The cement cars created such an air turbulence that the sandwitch and fruit juice making up my lunch was gone...

Some distance from Pressbaum, there is an odd level crossing: it is closed by default, but there is a signal button (on the orange box) to request its opening from train dispatchers. The bent table to the right suggests the next underpass as alternative, except it is of limited height.

The next side valley crossing (also shown above the fold) is part of a wide S-curve, which ends in the S-Bahn-only stop of Dürrwien. Here a "Taurus" with a normal IC train climbs it:

On the descent is this lightly occupied piggyback train (the German name, Rollende Landstraße or short RoLa, is funnier: it means rolling country road), in the tow of a Hungarian State Railways MÁV class 470 "Taurus":

The valley bottom "catches up" with the rail line at the entrance of summit station Rekawinkel. Below, a rail traffic jam caused by a little delay of a fourth train not visible, something bound to happen on this busy line:

• the Talent on the left is an S-Bahn about to return to Vienna, waiting to cross to the Vienna-bound tracks;
• it is held up by the loco-pulled train in the distance, a St.-Pölten-bound R train (second level of local trains), which is waiting to cross to the 'wrong' tracks (to let a fifth, express train overtake it),
• the R train is in turn held up by the late WESTbahn train, which itself was delayed by a railjet which is scheduled five minutes before it.

Also notice the wagonload freight traffic on the right edge.

A century ago, Rekawinkel used to be a place of weekend escape and climatic health resort for Vienna citizens – the representative and (for its present low passenger usage) oversized station building and the closed belle epoque hotel above it are the mementos of this era. The longer train headed by an older class 1142 (but with fresher paint) and a newer class 1144 loco is a REX.

Another KISS enters the short summit tunnel at the western end of Rekawinkel station:

The second part will portray the descent on the eastern side of the Wienerwald mountains.

:: :: :: :: ::

Check the Train Blogging index page for a (hopefully) complete list of ET diaries and stories related to railways and trains.