24-hour railway strike brings trains to standstill across Austria

A 24-hour railway strike has brought trains to a standstill across Austria, as railway workers demand a pay rise for the sector.

The strike grounded to a halt all rail traffic from midnight on Monday, affecting some 8,000 connections and around one million passengers, as workers are protesting over pay.

The strike impacted transport at all levels in the European country, from public transport to regional services and long distance night trains. Rail freight lines were also affected.

According to the head of Austria's rail network, services would be more or less back to normal on Tuesday.

"I don't want to rule out the possibility of irregularities on one train or the other, but in general, I expect that we will be back to serving our customers with the usual quality as of Tuesday," said Andreas Matthae, the chief of the ÖBB corporation, which is  Austria's largest mobility services provider.

The central European country is an important hub for Europe's rail travel as it is wedged between eight countries, including Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

MG