In a few years, the commissioning of the Koralmbahn should shorten the travel time between Graz and Klagenfurt to about 45 minutes. Although the route runs underground close to Graz Airport, no stop is planned. That could still change.

The curiosity that the airport should not be connected to the new high-speed line goes back to former governor Jörg Haider. As a condition for the approval of the state of Carinthia, this stipulated that Graz Airport would not be stopped. The politician, who has since died, feared that Klagenfurt Airport could become superfluous. From today's point of view, this led to the planning, which is not very comprehensible, that the route would pass under Graz Airport, but not stop.

The Austrian Federal Railways emphasize that it is quite possible that an underground station can be built later. Christopher Drexler (ÖVP), Governor of Styria, criticized on Sunday that no airport train station is currently planned. Since the Ministry of Transport, headed by Leonore Gewessler (Greens), is opposed to this, which is hardly surprising given the fact that the minister rarely makes a secret of her aversion to aviation.

In his speech, Drexler announced that he was looking for a confrontation with Gewessler and that he wanted to support the construction of the Koralm airport railway station. Among other things, he said: “Of course, it cannot be that we re-lay one of the most important rail connections on this continent, have a new southern railway, open up a new economic area and manage to run a track past an airport and not stand there being able to stay".

To put it simply, Gewessler's office says that due to the regular interval timetable between Klagenfurt and Graz, only a limited number of stops can be made. It is pointed out that the Koralmbahn will enable more S-Bahn trains to reach Graz Airport in the future. You can't really get anything out of this "solution" at the Styrian Chamber of Commerce either.

Speaking to the Austrian broadcaster, Graz airport manager Jürgen Loeschnig said, among other things: “Thank God we have the regional train station, but it only connects regional traffic, and this Koralm train station would be an important concern for us. We see a huge area of ​​opportunity in the future because a lot will change in the direction of rail.”

A detailed analysis of the Koralmbahn at Graz Airport can be found under this link at Aviation.Direct.