AUSTRIA: A plan for the electrification of the 91 km Graz-Köflacher Bahn network at 15 kV 16·7 Hz by December 2025 was announced by Director-General Franz Weintögl on May 6.
GKB operates routes from Graz to Köflach and Wies-Eibiswald, diverging at Lieboch. It currently carries around 6 million passengers a year, which it hopes to double once electrification has been completed.
GKB envisages that electrification of the 133 track-km network would start in 2021, and be finished in time for the full opening of the Koralmbahn which meets the GKB network at Wettmannstätten. The scope would include double tracking a 1·2 km section of the route in Graz to enable services to run at 30 min headways.
The €120m cost of the project would be funded by the federal government and from GKB’s own funds.
