Koralmbahn still lacks joint regional climate ticket

Ten months after the Koralmbahn railway line opened, passengers still have no joint regional climate ticket for travel between Styria and Carinthia, ORF reports. Responsibility and funding for a possible solution remain unresolved.

Regional climate tickets are currently valid only in their respective federal state. On the Koralmbahn route, their validity ends at the last station before the state border.

As a result, passengers travelling from Graz to Klagenfurt must buy an additional full-price ticket, even though a joint regional ticket has been proposed several times.

ÖBB said the Verkehrsverbünde, the regional public transport associations, should introduce a ticket for southern Austria. It pointed to the ClimateTicket Austria as the best option for frequent travellers and said the associations could create a ticket modelled on the ClimateTicket MetropolRegion, which is valid in Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland. Such a ticket would require additional funding, ÖBB said.

The office of Mobility and Infrastructure Minister Peter Hanke said responsibility for transport association fares and regional climate tickets lay with the federal states. They would have to agree on fare structures with transport companies and provide the necessary funding.

Styria’s and Carinthia’s state leaders, Mario Kunasek and Daniel Fellner, have called for cooperation but appear frustrated by the dispute. Fellner said a satisfactory solution for Koralmbahn passengers was being blocked by the federal government’s lack of will. Both leaders said at a joint news conference that they would raise the issue at federal level with determination.