The Western Railway () is a two-track, partly four-track, electrified railway line in Austria that runs from Vienna to Salzburg via St. Pölten and Linz Hauptbahnhof and is one of the major lines of Austria. It was originally opened as the Empress Elisabeth Railway in 1858 (Vienna–Linz). The line is owned and operated by Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB). Routes The Western Railway consists of the double-track Old Western Railway (Alten Westbahn, line 1) and the double-track New Western Railway (Neuen Westbahn, line 30). For operational reasons the Western Railway is supplemented by the suburban track (line 23) from Vienna Hütteldorf to Unter Purkersdorf and the relief track (line 3) from Pottenbrunn via St. Pölten to Prinzersdorf. History The line was opened from Vienna Westbahnhof to Linz on 15 December 1858 and was extended to Salzburg on 1 August 1860. The continuation to Munich was opened on 12 August 1860. The line was built by the k.k. privilegierte Kaiserin Elisabeth-Bahn ("Imperial and Royal privileged Empress Elisabeth Railway", KEB) company under Hermann Dietrich Lindheim. In addition to the Vienna–Salzburg line, it also built the Wels–Passau Railway (1861) and the St. Valentin–Summerau–České Budějovice line (1872). Opening The line was authorised under a treaty contracted by Bavaria and Austria in 1851. The Vienna–Linz section was completed in 1858 and the rest of the line to Salzburg was opened for traffic in 1860. The trip from Vienna to Salzburg initially took nine hours. A few weeks before the official opening Empress Elizabeth used the line to travel to her home in Bavaria. Emperor Franz Joseph and Maximilian II of Bavaria were present at the official opening on the line on 12 August 1860. Nationalisation In 1884 the railway was nationalised. The extension of the railway line on Austrian territory, the Salzburg-Tyrol Railway ("Gisela Railway") via Zell am See to Wörgl (owned by the KEB since 1875) was also nationalised. Upgrading Duplication of the line was completed on 14 August 1902; it had been gradual: Linz–Wels on 7 August 1870, St. Valentin–Linz on 22 August 1874, Wels–Lambach on 1 November 1898, Lambach–Attnang-Puchheim on 14 August 1899 and Attnang-Puchheim–Salzburg on 14 August 1902. As a result of Austria's loss of coal reserves at the end of the First World War under the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, it was decided to electrify the line, starting from the west. Electification was completed to Steindorf on 3 October 1938, to Attnang-Puchheim