The Köflach railway line () is a standard gauge railway line in the province of

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

in Austria. It runs from a junction with the Southern railway line at

Graz Hauptbahnhof Graz Hauptbahnhof, abbreviated Graz Hbf ( German for Graz Main Station; sometimes translated as Graz Central Station.), is the main railway station in Graz, the capital of the Austrian federal state Styria. The station is located some west of th ...

Köflach Köflach is a small city in the district of Voitsberg (district), Voitsberg in the Austrian state of Styria, at the foot of the Stubalpe mountain. The town has a federal stud in the village of Piber that supplies the Lipizzaner horses to the famous ...

. (GKB) owns and operates the line.

History

The () was established in 1856 to construct a railway line from

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

. The line opened for goods traffic on 3 April 1860; passenger service began on 1 November. The , which branches off south from the line at

Lieboch Lieboch () is a municipality in the district of Graz-Umgebung in the Austrian state of Styria. Population Infrastructure Lieboch has two stations, Lieboch and Lieboch Schadendorf, on the Köflach railway line, which runs between Graz Hauptbahn ...

, opened on 8 April 1873. Ownership of the line was transferred to

ÖBB The Austrian Federal Railways ( , formally or () and formerly the or ''BBÖ'' ), now commonly known as ÖBB (), is the national railway company of Austria, and the administrator of Liechtenstein's railways. The ÖBB group i ...

in 2024 as part of plans to electrify and modernize both lines.

Route

The line originates at

, on the west side of Graz, and runs south to Lieboch, where the Wieserbahn continues south. The line then turns west and follows the Kainach river to

Bärnbach Bärnbach is the smallest city of the district of Voitsberg in the Austrian state of Styria. The city is popular for its church (designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser), manual glass manufacturing and coal mining (surface mining). Today the coal ...

. At Bärnbach, it crosses the Kainach and follows the tributary to Köflach.

Operation

(GKB) operates two services of the

Styria S-Bahn The Styria S-Bahn (), initially also known as "Graz S-Bahn", is a local transport project that connects the metropolitan area of Graz and the central region of Upper Styria of the Austrian States of Austria, state of Styria. "Warum heißt es eig ...

over the line. The S7 operates hourly, with additional service on weekdays, over the entire line between Graz and Köflach. The S61 provides additional service via Lieboch to via the Wieserbahn.

Stations

Notes

References

External links

*
Graz-Köflacher Bahn und Busbetrieb GmbH
{{Authority control Railway lines in Austria Railway lines opened in 1860