On January 28, Snälltåget departed south on its maiden voyage to the Austrian Alps, after a festive inauguration ceremony at Malmö C. During the sports holiday weeks, it offers Scandinavian travelers a direct connection from Malmö to popular Zell am See and other ski resorts, creating both a sustainable and convenient way to get to Austria for a ski trip with friends or family.
Starting today, Snälltåget offers a direct line on the historic connection between Scandinavia and Austria for the first time, with destinations at seven different stations such as Zell am See and Salzburg. This was celebrated today with a festive opening ceremony at Malmö C, where the Marketing Director of SalzburgerLand Tourismus, Yvonne Rosenstatter, presented a giant train ticket to Marco Andersson, Deputy Business Manager at Snälltåget, as a symbol of the train connection that will now unite Scandinavia and SalzburgerLand.
”We are seeing a lot of interest in sustainable travel for ski trips to Austria. The night train is a perfect way to travel – passengers can socialize in the evening, eat well in the restaurant car, play games and enjoy the journey in their compartments before it is time to curl up and get a good night’s sleep. In the morning you wake up in a beautiful and snowy alpine landscape – ready to hit the slopes.”, says Marco Andersson, Deputy Business Manager for Snälltåget.
The express train departs to Austria once a week during weeks 5-11 from 28 January to 18 March. It covers both the Swedish and Danish sports holidays, and the departures have been scheduled so that passengers can book accommodation for a week Saturday-Saturday in the Alps. During week 9, when it is sports holidays in Stockholm, the train runs directly from there and during the other weeks you can buy connecting tickets from various Swedish towns to Malmö. By changing trains or transferring, it is also easy to get on to a long list of other ski resorts, including Obertauern, St. Johann in Salzburg and the large winter sports area Skicircus Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang Fieberbrunn.
The train can carry up to 600 passengers and despite the pandemic, many of the departures are already fully booked. The focus is on offering a climate-smart journey with excellent comfort for passengers. The fast train uses renewable electricity through hydro, wind and solar power, which means that a round trip between Malmö and Zell am See only generates emissions of as little as 1.2 kg of CO2 per passenger.
”We are very pleased about Snälltåget's new direct line between Scandinavia and family-friendly SalzburgerLand, which makes it easier for more Swedes and Danes to experience our ski destinations, with over 2000 kilometers of slopes in all levels of difficulty. SalzburgerLand aims to become one of the most sustainable tourist destinations and this new direct train is an important step in the right direction, giving our guests the opportunity to reduce their CO2 footprint”", says Yvonne Rosenstatter, Marketing Manager at SalzburgerLand Tourismus.
