Vienna
metro, light metro, interurban and tramway

The Vienna (Wien) subway opened in 1898, part of which was a private railway for the Kaiser.  It ran old steam trains, much in the fashion of the London tube. It was electrified in 1925, but much of the system was destroyed in the second world war. Technically, wien's U-Bahn opened for business in 1976, however, when actual tunnels were dug and sections of the streetcar system and the Kaiser's private railway were integrated into the new subway.
 
The system currently is 74.6 km long, with 5 lines and 101 stations. All lines are heavy metro except for line U6, which is light rail. Tram lines 6, 62, 18 and 65 and the Wiener Lokalbahn, a interurban-style light rail line also known as the Badner Bahn, all share a 1.2 km tram tunnel. Vienna's airport also includes a subway station which is served by a local commuter train.

Three extensions totaling nearly 15 km are under construction. There is also considerable talk of resurrecting a former tram line to Bratislava.

Links

Vienna Subway by Horst Prillinger
Vienna Subway Official Site
Urban Transit Vienna
Wiener Lokalbahnen Home Page
Urban Rail's Vienna metro
Detailed map
Vienna tramways site
Tramway movie
Vienna by Tram
Trams of Wien

Address:
Wiener Stadtwerke Verkehrsbetriebe 
Erdbergstrasse 202 
1030 Vienna. Austria 
Phone: + 43 1 7909-100

 
Weiner Lokalbahnen
Wien tramway


Photos courtesy Gerald Kempel, trams at the Ustrab at Kliebergasse

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A cab ride on Vienna streetcar line 65