The Austrian railway company Westbahn actually wanted to extend the existing route between Vienna and Salzburg to Munich from December 12, 2021. Nothing will come of this - at least for the time being - because the Stadler sets have not yet been approved in Germany.

The aim is now to start journeys to Munich in April 2022. Initially, four daily course pairs will then be offered. In August 2022, the Westbahn wants to increase to six daily connections. Upon request, a spokeswoman confirmed the plans and said: “The start of the continuous connections to Munich is postponed. The reason for this is that the manufacturer of our trains (Stadler) was unable to complete the approval for Germany on time. We currently estimate the situation in such a way that we will start with the connections to the Bavarian capital in April. "

In contrast to its competitors, the Westbahn does not want to make a stopover between Salzburg and Munich-East. As a result, according to the current planning status, the travel time between Vienna-Hütteldorf and Munich-East will be around three hours and 43 minutes. From the last-mentioned station, Deutsche Bahn AG offers high-frequency S-Bahn connections to Munich Airport.

For holders of the Austrian climate ticket, flying from Munich - despite the travel time - could be more attractive, because the network card is valid up to the national border. A ticket can therefore only be purchased for the German section of the route and the S-Bahn. In any case, the Westbahn wants to start selling tickets for the Munich route in March 2022. The preliminary timetable is provided as PDF under this link.