Background

The railway line between České Budějovice, the capital city of South Bohemia, and Linz, the provincial capital of Upper Austria, is single track only and allows for speeds between 70 and 100 km/h. The route is neither designed for a larger number of trains, nor can particularly long or heavy trains be used on this section – the operational limits are reached rather quickly here.

Even in a best-case scenario, the travel time between České Budějovice and Linz is roughly two hours, although the bee-line distance is only 77 kilometres. To the north of České Budějovice, in the direction of Prague, the line has already been upgraded to allow for up to 200 km/h over longer sections and is set to be further modernised. In order to keep up with this development and ensure a consistently efficient rail link between important hubs, the connection between Linz and České Budějovice needs to be expanded.

Project Content

For upgrading the TEN-V corridor Alpen-Westbalkan (i.e., trans-European transport connection between the Alps and the Western Balkans), the section from Linz to České Budějovice lends itself to closing a gap. This is why this section needs to be modernised. Although the railway infrastructure providers in Austria and the Czech Republic are aware of the corridor’s significance, no concrete measures have been implemented as yet.

In 2025, the railway infrastructure operators Správa železnic (SŽ) and ÖBB Infrastruktur AG commissioned a preliminary study to develop and assess the potential and the possible route for a new high-speed rail link between České Budějovice and Linz. The project “LOWERMO - Low Emission Regional Mobility” aims at evaluating the regional and cross-border aspects in the context of a potential new rail line České Budějovice – Linz in detail.

Results

The project will…

• analyse previous studies and suggestions made by the public in the region
• analyse the transport needs of different groups of the population as well as obstacles to cross-border mobility
• survey the mobility behaviours and needs of the regional population
• survey local freight transport needs
• define design parameters of regional hubs in terms of capacity needs and timetable parameters
• analyse possible further functions of the remaining existing line on both sides of the border
• determine parameters for connections between the new high-speed line and the existing rail line České Budějovice – Linz or regional ancillary lines
• develop a regional mobility concept for the way to work, school, services, or leisure activities and for improving the accessibility of tourist destinations including timetables
• propose pilot solutions for cross-border public transport solutions
• evaluate the suggested solutions in economic terms

Funding