Mariazell Railway

The Mariazell Railway is a narrow-gauge line that links Sankt Pölten in Lower Austria with Mariazell in Styrian foothills. It runs for 80 kilometres through valleys and over viaducts, climbing from 270 metres to 850 metres above sea level. The route was built between 1898 and 1907 to serve pilgrims and local industry. Engineers chose a 760-millimetre gauge to match military railways elsewhere in the old empire. Stations such as Laubenbachmühle and Gußwerk sit beside rushing streams and steep wooded slopes. The railway once carried steam locomotives designed by Josef Fogowitz, including powerful Mh and Mv classes built by Krauss in Linz. Passenger coaches matched standard-gauge comfort of the early 1900s, and freight included timber and ore from nearby mines. By 1911 it became the world’s first long-distance electric mountain railway, using hydroelectric power from the region’s own stations. Engineer Eduard Engelmann junior overcame scepticism to install single-phase alternating current, setting standards later copied across Europe. Today visitors find electric trains still running on the original alignment. The line passes through tunnels cut in the 19th century and crosses steel viaducts that rise above the Pielach valley. Stations retain their original signs and simple wooden shelters. From the carriage windows passengers see alpine meadows, dense forests and distant peaks. The journey ends beneath the great basilica of Mariazell, where pilgrims have arrived by rail for more than a century.