ON DECEMBER 2 the city of Wien celebrated the opening of a 3·1 km extension of metro Line U3. The capital’s Mayor Michael Häupl and Wiener Linien Director-General Günther Grois were joined by other politicians and Austrian pop stars for the celebrations, which also featured the inaugural public run of the prototype Siemens MoMo metro trainset.
Running from Erdberg to Simmering, the extension serves the industrial area along the south bank of the Danube, with intermediate stations at Gasometer, Zipperstrasse and Enkplatz. It takes Line U3 to a total length of 13·5 km, with a journey time of 25min between Ottakring and Simmering.
The city is currently seeking government approval to start work on further metro extensions, which would see Line U2 extended under the river to Donaustadt, and Line U1 continued further north. Line U6 would be extended north from Heiligenstadt to Stammersdorf, and Line U1 south from Reumannplatz to Roth-Neusiedl. n
