I cannot describe how much I’ve waited for this! Since last Sunday there is finally a direct train connection between Graz and Klagenfurt, the capitals of Styria and Carinthia in Austria respectively. Ever since I moved to Graz I’ve pretty much had three options to get back to Klagenfurt in order to visit my parents or enjoy a summer vacation at Wörthersee:
- A combination of regional trains and Railjets which takes around 3 hours.
- A combination of regional trains only which makes transporting bikes easier but takes more than 4 hours.
- A direct intercity bus which takes around 2 hours.
With all of those I got to drive through nice countrysides but they just took far to long compared to going by car (about 1h 40m).
Now everything is different! 41 minutes (or 38 if you travel with our president)! That’s quick enough to just use it for a quick visit or a late return trip, something that I did this Wednesday when I needed to get to Graz since I had some tickets for the new Avatar movie but was in Klagenfurt during the day due to logistics.
Since then I went back and forth one more time just to receive a delivery. It’s hard to overstate hoe much this connection will make my life easier over the years to come ❤️
That whole project itself has a long, weird, and highly political history. If I remember correctly, even my grandfather was involved in the early planning phases in the second half of the twentieth century. Since then he and later my dad always told their children: “I might not see it, but hopefully you will!”. Unfortunately my parents died recently, just before they could use the new connection. I’m sure they would have loved it.
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