Franz Josef Railway

The Franz Josef Railway is an Austrian railway line originally named after Emperor Franz Joseph.

It was built after the War of 1866 as a connection between Prague and Vienna. In 1872, Vienna Franz Josef Station was built as the first terminal station inside the former Linienwall in the district of Alsergrund, inside the Gürtel. It crosses the Danube at Tulln and extends from there to Krems and to the border at Gmünd. In Bohemia, it continued through České Budějovice, Tábor and Benešov to Prague. Prague's present main station originally belonged to Franz Josef Railway. Various district capitals are only connected to it by bylines. A new station at Gmünd had to be built in 1919, after part of the town had become part of Czechoslovakia (České Velenice). After World War II, the line lost a lot of importance because of the Iron Curtain. However, trains to Prague and Berlin used it through the mid-90s. Today, the Franz Josef Railway is only used for regional trains, as trains to Prague leave at Vienna South Station.

Lines built by Franz Josef Railway lying in today's Czech Republic

• České Budějovice - Plzeň (1868)
• Austria/Czech Republic border - České Velenice - České Budějovice (1869)
• České Budějovice - Tábor - Benešov - Prague (1871)
• Plzeň - Cheb (1872)