Trains racing to and from the Airport!

On Sunday, 17 November, I took a short trip to Wien Zentralfreidhof station on the S7/CAT line. This line isn't the busiest line in the city as S-Bahn trains operate every 30 minutes. However the reason I went to this station wasn't to catch S-Bahn locals, it was to catch the City Airport Train at speed! The City Airport Train, or CAT for short, began non-stop revenue service in 2002 between Wien Mitte-Landstrasse station and Flughafen Wien station. CAT trains make the journey in just 16 minutes compared to 25 minutes by S-Bahn. However there is no such thing as a free lunch. While an S-Bahn ticket from Wien Mitte-Landtrasse to the airport is only €4.20, a CAT ticket on the same route is €12, making it almost three times more expensive.

The trip is worth the €12, in my opinion as the CAT consists of three modified versions of Siemens' double-decker railcars used on Regional trains and are very comfortable and quiet. Motive power for the CAT is a single Siemens ES 64U (EuroSprinter) electric locomotive with custom CAT lime-white-gray paint-scheme.

An Airport bound CAT - 9047 speeds through Zentralfreidhof. (B'Tian Dorsam)

After eating lunch in Floridsdorf and a quick coffee in Handelskai, I took the 14:08 S7 train from Traisengasse to Zentralfriedhof. The trip took 20 minutes.

At Zentralfriedhof, a Floridorf bound S7 train met my train and they both took off in their respective directions. Zentralfriedhof is on the former Aspangbahn right of way and is a few hundred meters east of the Ostbahn mainline. The Kledering Marshaling yard is also close by so the sound of freight train rolling by can be heard. After 14 minutes of waiting, the first CAT train sped by the station headed for the airport. The train, CAT - 9047, departed Wien Mitte-Landstrasse at 14:36 and passed Zentralfreidhof at 14:42. Distance covered by the S-Bahn in 13 minutes is covered in only 6 by the CAT. About three minutes later the second CAT train, CAT - 9046, zoomed by heading for Wien Mitte-Landtrasse. The weather was 8°C and windy and when CAT - 9046 blew by, just 2 meters next to me, I felt a freezing cold wind hit me like a thousand knives.

A Wien Mitte-Landstrasse bound CAT - 9046 train speeds pass Zentralfreidhof. (B'Tian Dorsam)

After the two CATs passed I quickly put my camera in my bag and put my freezing hands in my pockets. It took about 5 minutes for them to warm up.

After waiting for about 10 more minutes, I boarded the 14:56 S7 back to the city which happened to consist of two Siemens Talent EMU sets, instead of the standard Class 4020 EMUs, a nice treat.