Rail transport in Austria is mainly owned by Austria's national rail company, ÖBB. The railway network consists of 6,123 km, its gauge is 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge and 3,523 km are electrified.
The history of Austrian rail transport starts with the Reisszug, a private, horse-drawn funicular serving Hohensalzburg Fortress. Built at the end of the 15th century and first documented in 1515, it is the oldest known funicular in the world, and possibly the oldest existing railway line.[2][3]
Following the Anschluss of Austria to National-socialist Germany in 1938, the BBÖ were taken over by the Deutsche Reichsbahn. After the end of World War II, the Austrian federal railways were re-installed in 1945, soon under the name of Österreichische Bundesbahn (ÖBB).
In 1998 the market was liberalised and had one of the highest degrees of market openness in the EU according to the 2011 Rail Liberalisation Index, although the market share of ÖBB remains above 90% for passenger rail.[5]
The Austrian network, aside from the principal rail system, also enfolds some funiculars, rack railways and lot of heritage railways mainly derived from part of disused lines. Some secondary lines are set up in narrow gauge.