The Austrian railway group ÖBB today opened the the start of freight traffic on the new railway line Koralm, the important route between the cities of Graz and Klagenfurt which is part of the European Baltic-Adriatic corridor. Earlier opening up to passenger traffic, the Rail Cargo Group (RCG), the cargo subsidiary of the ÖBB Group, will therefore use the new railway line of 130 kilometres, of which 50 in tunnels, between Carinthia and Styria.

Clemens Först, Managing Director of RCG, highlighted that "the start of freight transport on the Koralmbahn marks the beginning of a new chapter for rail freight transport in Austria. Thanks to the new Koralmbahn - he specified - we can offer our customers shorter transport times and greater capacity for eco-sustainable logistics". Thanks to the new infrastructure, in fact, the trains that connect Villach Süd with Graz will no longer have to carry out detours via Knittelfeld, Leoben and Frohnleiten and the new line will allow convoys to transport loads heavier weight, amounting to an additional weight of 250-280 tonnes per train.

Passenger train traffic on the new line will be inaugurated on December 14th.