The CAT (City Airport Train): jet style, comfort and speed

CAT: the fattest airport connection in jet style

Vienna offers a number of inexpensive and rapid connections to Schwechat airport, the hub of air traffic in Central Europe. The quickest is known as CAT (City Airport Train). Passengers have the option of checking in their luggage in Vienna and can travel to the airport in a fast hyper-modern train that has just been refurbished with first-class seats and info-screens displaying the latest updates.

Train running profitably

As the name already says the CAT (City Airport Train) is an (urban) train. Its operating company was founded at the end of February 2002 as a joint subsidiary of Flughafen Wien AG and the ÖBB (Austrian Railway Service), with the airport company holding a share of 50,1% and the Austrian Railway Service 49,9%. According to a statement issued by the management the CAT transported more than a million passengers a year in 2009 and 2010 and reported profits. Last year about 1.1 million travellers reportedly used the train service. According to media reports posted on the CAT homepage the City Airport Train presently holds a market share of 13 to 16 per cent of Vienna’s airport transportation. The Viennese paper Wirtschaftsblatt writes that in 2009, following a difficult fiscal year, CAT reported a turnover of 8.718 million € (after 8.775 million in 2008) with 1.05 million passengers and a profit of 89,140 €. That year the company was thus operating profitably for the second time since its first full fiscal year of 2004.


The CAT offers luggage-free transport to the airport and entertaining info-screens

Complete refurbishing

CAT underwent a complete refurbishing so that it would show a bit more verve on the tracks and become more popular with air travellers. The specialized Viennese company “Spirit Design” was put in charge of redesigning the CAT on the inside and outside and furnished with state-of-the-art technology. On the inside the leather seats, upholstery, carpets and glass partitions were completely renovated, and on the outside the dominant green was even more strongly accentuated. The costs per car: 250,000 euro. The design conveys a quick jet ambiance in ecological green, the seats offer high comfort and the entire atmosphere is a mix of cultivated relaxation and rapid train connection. Interesting news and entertaining programmes are also shown on info-screens.
The new look in green should symbolize environmental awareness. The CAT is the first train in the Austrian Federal Railway network to be completely converted to green electricity and now it only travels with hydraulic and wind energy. From 2012 all trains of the Austrian Federal Railway Service will be powered with zero-emission, environmentally friendly train electricity.

Rapid train transit

In terms of construction the CAT is a double-decker train. It can travel the approx. 19 kilometres between Vienna’s city centre and airport in just 16 minutes. It is thus the most rapid connection from and to the airport. Direct, non-stop, environmentally sound, with no congestion and stress. The first train leaves for Schwechat at 5:38 a.m. and the last one departs the airport at 11:35 p.m.

For many travellers, being able to check in at the Vienna station is one good reason to use the CAT

Check-in at Wien Mitte

The CAT travels from the Wien Mitte train station to Schwechat. This key train station in Vienna’s third district is presently undergoing extensive renovation and modernization. CAT passengers will also be offered special service there. Up to 75 minutes prior to departure they can check in at an extra city counter serving a large number of airlines. They will receive their boarding card and only a few minutes later they arrive at the airport. Their luggage is checked through to their aircraft and delivered at the destination airport. At Schwechat airport the CAT can also be easily accessed on arrival, only a few steps away from the baggage carrousel.

Tickets

A one-way ticket costs € 9, and round-trio tickets € 16. Tickets can be purchased on the CAT homepage or at the ticket machines at CAT vending points. Tickets are one euro cheaper when purchased over the website. A co-operation with the Wiener Linien (Vienna Public Transport Company) makes the tickets even less expensive. At more than 300 ticket machines operated by the Wiener Linien a combi-ticket is available for 11,50 euro, which can also be used as a ticket within all of Vienna. Recently, Viennese hotel receptions have also started selling CAT tickets.

CAT-CAB

The CAT-CAB is a relatively new extra service. Here travellers are picked up at their office, at home or at their hotel with a separate rental car painted in frog-green and brought to the CAT station at Wien Mitte. From there the travellers can continue with the CAT to the airport. Pickups are possible anywhere in Vienna. A CAB can take up to four passengers. Tickets are offered as a combination package. According to the CAT homepage adults pay an additional 26 euro (1st – 9th districts) or 30 euro (10th – 23rd districts) with their 9 euro ticket for a one-way CAT + CAB ticket and 52 euro (1st 9th districts) or 60 euro (10th – 23rd districts) for a CAT+CAB return ticket. Tickets can also be booked online. CAT+CABs have to be reserved by 9 p.m. one day prior to departure. Details can be found on the CAT homepage.


CAT tickets are available almost everywhere at all vending points of Vienna’s public transport system; CAT-CAB is offered as an additional service

Mostly business travellers

About 60 per cent of the CAT users are tourists and the rest are locals. About half travel for business. Their main reasons for choosing CAT are fastness, direct city connection and high comfort. According to the operators surveys since 2007 have confirmed a “high degree of total satisfaction” of the CAT passengers.

Info:
Alternatives to public transport: Vienna – airport – and back
The City Airport Train may be fastest but it is not the only way to reach Vienna’s Schwechat Airport or to travel from the airport to the city. Alternative options are a commuter train (regional train) of the Austrian Federal Railways, the S7 (commuter train) line, and several Postbus lines. The S7 travels in the same direction as the CAT from Wien-Mitte Landstrasse but stops everywhere along the way and thus takes about 25 minutes. The S7 also travels to Floridsdorf on the other side of the Danube. Similar to the CAT the commuter trains run in half-hour intervals from about five in the morning until shortly before midnight but use different parts of the train station both in Wien Mitte and at the airport. The S7 is clearly the most inexpensive means of transport from Vienna to Schwechat and back. A ticket costs 3.60 euro (price for two zones; in addition to the core zone Vienna, also an outside zone). It is valid for a single trip to all destinations in Vienna with the possibility of switching lines.

Airport bus: The second-cheapest public means of transport from Vienna to the airport and back are the three lines of airport buses run by the “Vienna Airport Lines”. There are buses traveling at half-hour intervals to the city to Morzinplatz right off Schwedenbrücke on Donaukanal. Travel time is about twenty minutes, i.e., four minutes longer than the CAT and five minutes faster than the S7 commuter train line. According to the postbus webpage a trip costs seven euro, a round-trip ticket 12 euro. There is a further bus that travels to the Vienna Meidling train station and to the Westbahnhof every thirty minutes. Transit time is 30 and 45 minutes, respectively. Another bus that goes to Kagran and the UNO city every hour.