A historical Railway
The first entry in a blog called "Alps by Train" could not have a more typical topic than the "Semmering Bahnwanderweg". (Semmering railway-hiking-trail) The Semmering is a mountain in Austria that is somehow in your way, if you want to travel from the capital city Vienna to south western parts of Austria, including Styria, and to Italy.1841 was a time when Austria was still a monarchy and Vienna was still - as we Austrians believe - the centre of the whole world. In that year Karl Friedrich Kübeck, state minister of the Austrian emperor, gave the order to build a railway across this mountain to connect Vienna to the southern parts of the Monarchy and the Adriatic Sea. It was a turbulent time in Europa after the revolution of March 1848, when the construction of the railway across the mountain Semmering was started in the same year. In May 1854, the Austrian emperor and his wife where the first (who count) to ride a train across the Semmering.
Covering over 400 meters of height, building this railway was a great technical challenge in the 19th century that was mastered in a way fitting beautifully into the mountain landscape of the Semmering. Thus this railway is UNESCO World heritage since 1998.
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| A view from the Wolfsbergkogel. |
From Semmering to Klamm/Schottwien
The hiking trail "Bahnwanderweg" runs through the scenic landscape of the Semmering and allows for great views of this historic railway that until today is part of a major train line in Austria.While the hiking trail covers the whole distance from Mürzzuschlag in Styria to Gloggnitz, I will only describe the most beautiful part in the centre of the mountains.
Starting at the station Semmering on 970m above sea level, the well marked trail starts to run parallel to the railway, passing a train themed playground. While the train then takes a shortcut through a tunnel, we have to longer route outside to the station Wolfsbergkogel.
Then our trail leads us away from the rails to the Doppelreiterwarte and the "20-Schilling Blick", two viewpoint on a small mountain overlooking the railway.
From there the way leads us down to the "Adlitzgraben Viadukt" where we can cross under the railway, before we continue uphill. We pass by old hotels that where once popular, when the Semmering was the favorite place for vacation among noble Viennese residents.
Finally, the last part of our hike takes us through green meadows where farmers grow the grass for their cows from the railway station Breitenstein to the station Klamm/ Schottwien over the mountain Kreuzberg. Here, parts of our way are on a road that is infrequently used by cars. The view of the castle ruins near Klamm/ Schottwien are the last highlight on our trip.
In Klamm/Schottwien we can take a regional train towards Payerbach-Reichenau, Wienerneustadt and Vienna or back to the station Semmering and from there via Mürzzuschlag to Graz.
The whole hike covers 15.5 kilometres and maximal height differences of no more than 100 meters of heights. It can be managed in less than 3 hours (plus the time used to enjoy the view or wait for a train to compose the perfect picture).
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| Until today the Semmering railway is one of the main railways in Austria. |
Practical Information
How to get there
- From Vienna or Wiener Neustadt: From Vienna Main Station (Wien Hauptbahnhof) or Vienna Meidling (Wien Meidling) take the fast intercity trains (Railjet) towards Villach or Graz. Some of these trains will stop directly at Semmering, especially on weekends. Otherwise you need to get off already at Wiener Neustadt Hauptbahnhof, where you can change to the regional train towards Payerbach-Reichenau. There you change to another regional train to Semmering.
- From Graz or Bruck an der Mur or Leoben: From Leoben take the train to Bruck an der Mur. In Bruck an der Mur catch the Railjet (Intercity) from Graz to Vienna (Wien) or to Praha via Wien. However, check first the timetable or ask at the counter, because not Railjet trains will stop at Semmering.
Difficulty
- Ascents: no more than 100m of height.
- Distance: 15.5 km
- Hiking time: Less than 3 hours
- Type of paths: wood paths
- Overall difficulty:easy
Further information (external links)
- semmeringbahn.at/bahnwanderweg.php (only German). Click "Infofolder zu den Bahnwanderwegen Herunterladen" for a pdf with a detailled hiking map.
Video
Further images
Only the following images are licensed under a CC-BY 4.0 license. Feel free to use them for whatever work you like, as long as you give appropriate credit to me. |
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| Autumn Leaf | Ruined Castle |
 Autumn Leaf and Ruined Castle by Bernhard Thiel are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. |
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