City Airport Train (CAT) - Vienna

...the 21st century with the City Airport Train (CAT) - although as I have pointed out, CAT also stands for Coital Alignment Technique - 16 minutes of which is guaranteed pleasure for all concerned. The project to build the CAT link into Vienna’s Wien Mitte station has taken a long time to complete, but was completed on time and after years of Schnellbahn trains at erratic intervals you can finally really get the train to the airport, or rather the ...
...validate the ticket as per city travel passes. Please note though that your City Travel Card is not valid for the service. I have also been informed that if you are in a massive hurry you can buy tickets on the train – although for a surcharge – EUR 10 for a single ticket.

As with the Heathrow Express it is possible to check-in at Wien Mitte in a similar way to the way which one can check-in for a flight at Paddington. The somewhat ... more

For the last three and a half years the path to Vienna’s Schwechat airport has been one I have frequently beaten – either taking a taxi (EUR 35 a pop on average) or the underground and then a bus or the underground and then a train (EUR 6 and EUR 1.50 a pop respectively). As a notorious last minute traveller, the taxi has often proven to be an expensive but reliable method – although the motorway to Schwechat is notorious for spontaneous ghoulish rubber-neckers gatherings to see what the latest case of roadkill looks like on the other carriageway. The bus is reliable but can be prone to being stuck in traffic and the train, whilst the cheapest way of getting there (provided you have got a travel pass) is far from infrequent.

Vienna has now gone into the 21st century with the City Airport Train (CAT) - although as I have pointed out, CAT also stands for Coital Alignment Technique - 16 minutes of which is guaranteed pleasure for all concerned. The project to build the CAT link into Vienna’s Wien Mitte station has taken a long time to complete, but was completed on time and after years of Schnellbahn trains at erratic intervals you can finally really get the train to the airport, or rather the airport has come to the city – as the operators would like to lead you to believe in their publicity! The project has been a joint venture between Vienna Airport and Austrian Federal Railways – the former supplying the logistical know-how, and check-in facilities, and the latter the platforms and track.

The Schnellbahn used to take a good half hour out to the railway, stopping frequently along the way, and didn’t have that regular a timetable. The CAT on the other hand has a very simple to remember timetable – it goes every half hour at 6 and 36 minutes past the hour from the airport to Wien Mitte and at 7 and 37 minutes past the hour from Wien Mitte to the airport. The first train to the airport leaves at 5:37 and the last at 23:07 – with the last return services being half an hour later. The journey is 16 minutes non-stop. To date even Austrian has not managed to cause me to miss the 23:36 service to Wien Mitte. These times tie in nicely with the underground, which suits me down to the ground – perhaps I’ll have to live near the U4 for a bit longer! The journey is exceptionally smooth – it passes very quickly, and is a lot less painless than the bus journey is.

“In flight” entertainment comes in the form of information – news, sport, cultural events info etc. from Infoscreen, with information in German and English about the latest news, sport, weather and events in Vienna, as well as information about delayed flights etc. There are also a selection of silent animations – the Infoscreens are silent rather than the information being audibly intrusive, and are useful and help the quarter of an hour go by even more easily.

Now I’ll don my trainspotting hat – the CAT uses double decker carriages – as per the WIESEL trains which have being serving commuter routes for a considerable time, although the CAT is lime green and silver rather that ÖBB red and silver as per the WIESEL. Entry is at platform level – the gap between the platform and the train is very small – unlike British Rail and a lot of its trains. Each carriage has two levels of seating – the “ground floor” containing a sizeable vestibule with large luggage racks and seats and then upstairs there is further seating accommodation and more luggage. Toilets are located at either end of the carriages. Its layout makes it easy for wheelchair bound travellers to embark and disembark – which is how things should be of course, but Britain’s pretty antiquated railways seem to forget this fact – although the old Schnellbahn was guilty of having platforms at a different height to the train as well.

Tickets for the CAT cost EUR 9 for an adult single – a return is EUR 16. Purchasing and printing your ticket online via the website brings the cost of a return down to EUR 15 – not much more than the cost of the buses – although of course the buses also go from the Westbahnhof and the Südbahnhof. A child’s ticket costs EUR 5 for a single or EUR 8 for a return, with a child being up to the age of 15. I am unaware of any other concession prices being available. In much the same way that the “carnet” works in London or Paris, there is a discounted rate for ten journeys (one journey equating to a single ticket) of EUR 70. Return tickets are valid for up to one month after departure – this seems a pretty sensible length to allow – most people tend to not be away for longer than one month. It should be noted that an adult ticket also qualifies the bearer to take a child with them for free – not bad really – and the train ride is perhaps the most pain-free way to get small children to the airport. Tickets can be bought from the website using your credit card, of from ticket machines at the CAT departure points. The ticket machines take most common debit and credit cards as well as cash – usually Euro denomination coins can be used. Tickets are checked on the train and you don’t need to validate the ticket as per city travel passes. Please note though that your City Travel Card is not valid for the service. I have also been informed that if you are in a massive hurry you can buy tickets on the train – although for a surcharge – EUR 10 for a single ticket.

As with the Heathrow Express it is possible to check-in at Wien Mitte in a similar way to the way which one can check-in for a flight at Paddington. The somewhat stupid thing is that the check-in area is very close to the entrance/exit doors so you may find it a bit draughty if you have to stand in a queue for a while, although the service doesn’t send to have been that busy.

So it sounds all pretty good up to now, doesn’t it? However, there are a few teething problems which I have encountered – at both ends of the service. The principle problem seems to be one of bad signing – it is not patently apparent where you have to go for the CAT at Wien Mitte – the platform is tucked away from the other platforms – granted that once you know where you have to head, you will not have a problem finding the platform, but currently there is a lack of clear signs as to where to go. Secondly in Wien Mitte, the signs to the taxi ranks are wrong – some cabbies with a bit of savvy now practically wait at the entrance to the platform to ensure that you can’t wander off to the badly signed area – which I did the first time around, but from the platform it is otherwise very easy to head out to a non-existent taxi rank on Marxerstrasse – and in the winter, when it is very cold indeed, you don’t want to be standing out in the cold for very long.

Similarly at Schwechat, if you are arriving in Vienna for the first time you won’t know where to go and there is currently a lack of distinctive green CAT signs – if in doubt follow the signs to the train station at the airport – but don’t take the lift by arrivals, as this will take you to the wrong platform. Hopefully these teething troubles will soon be rectified and the system will work smoothly.

All in all I can only recommend the CAT – and for anyone who has easy access to Wien Mitte, I would advocate this becoming the quickest and most convenient way to get to the airport from the city centre. I would give it only four and a half stars due to the bad signing, but being a touch generous have decided to give it the full five star rating. I have added a few photos from my first trip on the CAT just after it opened to give you an impression of what it is like on-board.

UPDATE: 31/01/04: The signing glitch has been sorted out - the signs are now clearer, the taxi rank signs correct - so the five out of five is definitely well deserved. 

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