Classic route
Brenner Railway
Innsbruck → Verona · Austria · Italy
- Distance
- 275 km
- Fastest time
- 3 h 30 min
- Top speed
- 200 km/h
- Operator
- ÖBB & DB
- Train
- DB-ÖBB EuroCity Railjet
- Countries
- Austria, Italy
- In service since
- 1867
- Runs
- every 2 h
- Highest point
- 1,371 m
The first railway over the main Alpine crest (1867) still tops the open pass at 1,371 m — no summit tunnel, just a station straddling the border.
Carl von Etzel’s 1867 line was the first railway over the main Alpine crest, and it still crosses in the open air — the border station at Brenner sits at 1,371 m with no great tunnel beneath it, at least until the Brenner Base Tunnel opens in the 2030s. DB-ÖBB EuroCity Railjets climb the Sill valley out of Innsbruck, top the pass, then fall through the Eisack gorge to the vineyards of Bolzano and the Adige orchards. It remains the busiest freight crossing of the Alps, so the window show includes an endless parade of trains.
Along the way
- Sill gorge out of Innsbruck
- Wipptal climb beneath the Europabrücke
- Brenner Pass station (1,371 m)
- Franzensfeste fortress
- Eisack gorge into Bolzano
- Adige valley to Verona
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