The Austrian Federal Railway Company (Ö BB) announced that the second and final phases of the expansion project for the Vienna Southern Multimodal Transport Terminal will officially begin this month. As one of the most important freight nodes in Austria, this project will increase the annual handling capacity of the terminal from 380000 TEUs to 547000 TEUs, an increase of 44%, providing strong support for the efficient operation of the cross European freight network.

This expansion focuses on three core upgrades: firstly, adding new track and switch systems to optimize train scheduling processes and improve facility throughput efficiency; Secondly, introduce a brand new automated gantry crane and upgrade the existing two cranes to fully automatic operation mode to achieve intelligent loading and unloading operations; Ultimately, the terminal will form a large-scale layout of eight 700 meter long loading tracks. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2026 and put into operation after debugging in 2027.

Since its initial construction from 2013 to 2016, the terminal has connected three cross European freight corridors with the intersection of the Vienna Outer Ring S1 highway and the Potdendorf railway line, becoming the core hub for handling containers, interchanges, and unaccompanied semi trailers among the seven Ö BB freight stations operated by the Austrian Port Authority (TSA).

Johann Pluy, a member of the Ö BB Infrastructure, Markets, and Digitalization Board, emphasized, "This expansion continues our growth strategy on the path of innovation and digitization. By investing in more efficient production processes, we not only strengthen our competitiveness, but also fulfill our commitment to sustainable development with green logistics solutions. In the future, we will continue to focus on customer needs and promote the intelligent upgrade of multimodal transport services

As a key part of the strategic layout of Austrian Federal Railways, the expansion of Vienna South Station not only responds to the continuous growth of demand for multimodal transport services, but also consolidates its hub position in the European green logistics network through technological iteration and capacity expansion, setting a benchmark for cross regional trade and environmentally friendly transportation.Editor/Cheng Liting