Lines Valley Line (Talstrecke) The Mariazellerbahn begins at the St. Pölten Hauptbahnhof railway station. Right after leaving the station, the line passes through a tunnel under the Leobersdorfer Bahn, another railway serving St. Pölten. The Alpenbahnhof that comes right after that was, until the construction of the new Laubenbachmühle operating centre, the railway's main operational center. The rolling stock sheds, workshops, and extensive freight facilities are now largely used for storing surplus rolling stock. Next, the railway quickly leaves the town and passes through hilly, farmed land for the first few kilometers, south of St. Pölten from the Traisen valley into the Pielach valley. The route quickly reaches the biggest station on the line at Ober-Grafendorf, which includes the junction with the abandoned branch line. The mainline follows the Pielach valley through Hofstetten-Grünau, Rabenstein an der Pielach, the main center in the valley, Kirchberg an der Pielach, and on to the station at Loich, which was once of special importance to freight operations. The tunnel further along was built with only the railway's own loading gauge in mind, making freight transport by transporter wagons impossible. From here, the valley narrows considerably, and shortly before the next station, Schwarzenbach an der Pielach, the line passes through the Weißenburgtunnel, thereby leaving the Pielach valley and coming out into the Nattersbach valley, which narrows rather like a gorge. The line reaches first Frankenfels, and then the station at Laubenbachmühle. The large new station and depot at Laubenbachmühle, designed to blend into the surrounding landscape, is now the line's main operating centre. It also marks a change in the nature of the line, which after this point is known as the "Mountain Line" (Bergstrecke). Mountain Line (Bergstrecke) From Laubenbachmühle, an elongated double horseshoe curve climbs out of the Nattersbach valley. After passing by stations at Winterbach and Puchenstuben, the line reaches the longest tunnel, the 2-km-long Gösingtunnel, which with an altitude of 891.6 m above sea level is the line's highest point. The line exits the tunnel into the Erlauf valley, which it then follows until just before the end. After the tunnel comes Gösing station, about 350 m above the settlement of Erlaufboden. The 1893 meter-high Ötscher is visible from here. This panorama and the ease of reaching the spot on the newly built railway led to the building of a hotel just across from the station when the railway was first opened.