Makeover for Vienna airport train
A train service connecting Vienna International Airport (VIA) and the capitals city centre in less than 20 minutes has received an extensive makeover eight years on.City Airport Train (CAT) bosses Doris Pulker-Rohrhofer and Elisabeth Landrichter announced today (Tues) the interior trains operating on the route has been improved.”Customers expect first class service. Thats why we decided to invest around 250,000 Euros,” Landrichter said, adding that new leather seats had recently been installed.The CAT, which operates on the 18-kilometre route seven days a week, registered 1.1 million customers last year, claiming a market share of around 13 to 16 per cent. It competes with individual car traffic, the cheaper but slower regular train service, common taxis and specialised airport cab firms.Around 6.6 million people have taken the CAT since it started operating in December 2003, and polls among passengers have shown that 96 per cent of them were satisfied with the service.A one-way ticket for the green trains 16-minute ride costs 11.50 Euros, more than twice the price of regular train connections between VIA and the Viennese city centre.The CAT railway operations are co-managed by VIA and Federal Railways (ÖBB). Reports have it that the companies are considering setting up a connection between VIA which is Austrias biggest airport, and Bratislava within the next few years. The Slovak capital is just a 45-minute drive from VIA.