Hiking along the Semmering railway

One of the great joys of visiting family in Styria is the Semmering railway, which is the most scenic train in Austria. When the railway was completed in 1854 it was the first mountain railway built with standard gauge and used to connect Vienna to the port in Trieste. On Easter Sunday we decided to not just travel over Semmering, but get off and hike the railway trail. The trail starts at the Semmering station and passes by various stations, which allows hikers to choose their preferred distance. We choose to hike until Payerbach-Reichenau (21 km), the other stations are Breitenstein (9 km), Klamm (15 km), and Gloggnitz (23 km).

This is quite a long hike, but it is relatively easy (if the ground is dry), there are only a couple of steep passages. If you start at Semmering the trail goes up and down, but mostly down. The trail is superbly marked and there are quite a lot of plaques explaining the history of the Semmering railway. However, we were hiking the trail quite early in the season and we did not see a single open inn along the way. We didn't even encounter a drinking fountain anywhere on the 21 km track.

On this years Easter Weekend half of Europe was covered in Sahara dust, this gave the scenery a surreal look, but it is beautiful in any way. There is definitely a reason why after the railway was built Semmering became a major tourist destination and multiple grand hotels were built. It's just a bit sad that they seem mostly empty now and are falling in disrepair. However, nature still delivers with its views. The one depicted in the third photo was even depicted on the 20 Schilling banknote for a couple of years.

On the left a hiking trail leading towards a forrest, right next to it three train tracks next to each other and a bit bag a white house next to the tracks — Rails near the trail head at Semmering station

A rock face with train tracks going through a tunnel, on top of the rock face are trees and the picture is taken from across the valley looking down to the rock face — Semmering railway passes through Pollereswand

In the foreground a densly forrested rock face with train tracks leading through a tunnel and across multiple viaducts and in the background are taller mountains that are still covered in snow — 20-Schilling-Blick: Viaduct across Kalte Rinne with Rax behind

View through a gap in the trees to a viaduct which has a freight train currently travelling over it, in the background hills covered trees — Freight train travelling over Adlitzgraben-Viadukt

Train tracks leading through a mountains area, on the left is a rock face with trees on top of it — Tracks of Semmering railway near Adlitzgraben

A red and black passenger train is passing over a viaduct that spans a valley, in the background we see a forrest — RailJet passes over Adlitzgraben-Viadukt

Picture taken from an embankment down to the tracks, the embankment is covered in alpine low-growth plants, behind the tracks there are trees

A two story train viaduct from below surrounded by trees and rock walls — Krauselklause-Viadukt

Train tracks leading into a tunnel on a very step mountain side, in the background forest-covered hills — Tunnel near Breitenstein

A meadow with hills covered in forrest in the background, larger mountains loom in the background