Missed connections

Commuters in despair: Timetable “drowned” in water

Many train connections for commuters have literally fallen through at the moment.

(Bild: Jönsson Kerstin/AP)

Commuters from the St. Pölten area are being put to the test of patience: Up to five hours for the journey to work is no longer a rarity! ÖBB is striving for punctuality and hopes to be able to offer more stability and predictability again with the new timetable from October 10.

Even if there are promises of improvement from October 10, the daily journey to and from work is currently a lottery for rail commuters. Andreas Vass from St. Georgen am Steinfelde is one example of many: "In the current timetable period, I need around four hours a day to get to and from work due to the difficulties caused by the roadworks. Due to the flooding, it's currently even taking me more than five hours a day to commute." According to the official timetable, it should be three hours.

Delays put commuters' nerves to the test (symbolic image)

(Bild: P. Huber)

The past few days have been the last straw for the Mostviertel resident. After all, missed connecting trains due to delays can be nerve-wracking. For example, the journey from Vienna to the provincial capital on October 1: departure with the REX from Westbahnhof at 16:53.

Driven away under the nose
Scheduled arrival in St. Pölten at 17:54, departure of the connecting train to Hainfeld at 18:06. The REX has to "pause" in Pottenbrunn to give the Railjet right of way. The result: eleven minutes late. "The connecting train left without us. And 100 meters before we could board," says Vass angrily. So once again it was a case of: please wait!

It's worse on the way back from Vienna. Trains run right in front of you.

Andreas Vass, Pendler aus dem Mostviertel

Often, not even the support of dedicated conductors, who inform the connecting train of the delay by telephone, is of any use. "I first have to walk through the whole station, then the train drives away right under my nose," says the commuter. This happens regularly. It feels like it gets worse every year, so Vass has already lodged a complaint with ÖBB.

ÖBB wants to enable seamless continuation of the journey
"We are aware that the current situation is particularly challenging for commuters. We hope that the new timetable from October 10 will allow us to offer more stability and predictability again," says ÖBB. Local trains would wait up to three minutes for delayed feeder trains, long-distance trains would not.