One of the best ways to visit the capital of Austria and discover its most interesting corners is to use the Vienna subway (U-Bahn Wien in German): This urban rail network of more than 83 kilometers in length connects the city center with all the important neighborhoods on both sides of the Danube.
Currently, the Vienna Metro has five lines and 98 stations. Its services are used by more than 450 million passengers per year. In other words: it is used by an average of 1,2 million people a day.
History of the Vienna Metro
The first urban railways in Vienna date back to the year 1840. At first it was about small steam trains what they did short tours with radial routes from the city center to the towns and suburbs. The network grew steadily and at the beginning of the XNUMXth century it was already fully electrified.
The bombing of the city during World War II almost completely destroyed the urban train and tram network. It was in the mid-50s when the Austrian capital city council approved the first plans for the city's new metro. A new layout was designed, called Grundnetz or basic network. This consisted of three lines that added up to a total of about 30 kilometers of routes.
The works culminated on February 25, 1978, with the maiden voyage of U1, five stops between Reumannplatz and Karlsplatz. Only a few years later, the Vienna Metro already had four operational lines (U1, U2, U4 and Line G, which circulated on the surface) as well as forty-four stations in service.
Vienna subway
In the second expansion phase, between 1982 and 2000, two new lines were built: U3 and U6, adding another 38 new stations to the network and serving new districts of the city.
Vienna Metro lines
Currently the Vienna Metro has six main lines:
- U1 (red color): Oberlaa - Leopoldau 19,2 km.
- U2 (purple color): Karlsplatz - Seestadt 16,7 km.
- U3 (orange): Ottakring - Simmering 13,5 km.
- U4 (green line) Hütteldorf - Heiligenstadt 16,5 km.
- U6 (brown line) Siebenhirten - Floridsdorf 17,4 km.
For the visiting tourist, the metro is a good way to reach those places of interest that are outside the historic center of the city. For example, to access the Prater amusement park and its famous wooden Ferris wheel we can use line U2 (Prater-Messe stop) or U1 (Praterstern stop). On the other hand, the U4 will take us directly to the spectacular Schönbrunn Palace and the U1 leaves us at Südtiroler Platz, from where you can easily access the Belvedere Palace.
The Viennese metro runs every day from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m. Trains run every 5 minutes at the most normal times. In addition, there is a 24-hour service on weekends. A single metro ticket costs € 2,20.
Main stations
Of the almost one hundred stations in operation that the Vienna Metro has, there are some that are especially notable for their location, modern facilities and beauty. These are the most useful and interesting for the traveler:
Karlsplatz
It is a very central station, next to the Vienna State Opera and the church of Karlskirche. Lines U1, U2 and U4 converge on it. It was inaugurated in 1978 as part of the Grundnetz plan. Its galleries and platforms house important works of art. Karlsplatz station is connected to the city tram and eight bus lines.
South Tyrol Platz
Line U1 has a stop at this station that connects directly with the new one Central Station from Vienna (Wien Hauptbahnhof), inaugurated in 2012. From there, trains depart and arrive from various Austrian cities and also from foreign destinations such as Berlin, Amsterdam, Budapest, Rome, Prague, Warsaw, Frankfurt. Munich, Amsterdam and Brussels, among many others.
Meidling Bahnhof
Connect line U6 with Meidling railway station, from which numerous regional trains depart to different destinations in the country. The station is also connected to six tram lines. It was opened in 1989 in the Mediling district, south of Vienna's Old Town.
landtsrasse
The importance of this station lies in the fact that it has a direct connection to the airport of the city by CAT (City Airport Transport). Lines U3 and U4 pass through it, also having various tram connections. Many of the travelers who visit Vienna pass through this station.
schottenstor
What makes this station, located along the U2 line, especially interesting is its central location and the existence of numerous shops and shopping centers inside. It is one of the liveliest in the Vienna underground station network.