Just in time for the start of the new school year, Vienna’s new tram line 12 began operating on 1 September 2025: It runs from Josefstädter Straße (U6) via Franz-Josefs-Bahnhof, Friedensbrücke (U4), Jägerstraße (U6) and Dresdner Straße to Traisengasse S-Bahn station and further on via the Nordbahnviertel to Vorgartenstraße (U1) to Hillerstraße terminus. It connects four districts of Vienna (8th, 9th, 20th, 2nd) and offers connections to the U1, U4 and U6 underground lines at five stops, as well as connections to the S-Bahn at two stops. In future, the U5 will also be connected at Arne-Karlsson-Park in the ninth district.
The new line reduces the journey time from the Nordbahnviertel to Dresdner Straße from around 10–14 minutes to 7 minutes, and the journey to the Donauzentrum will take 11 minutes instead of the current 18 minutes. During peak hours, the new line will run every 7.5 minutes. Of the 25 stops along the entire line 12, five new stops have been built in the 2nd district. To this end, line 12 runs from Taborstraße along a 2.2-kilometre-long new section from Rebhanngasse via Bruno-Marek-Allee, where it connects to tram line O, which was extended to this point in 2020, to Hillerstraße, with the rest of the route running on existing tracks. It replaces line 33, which previously operated in the western section and whose future remains uncertain anyway. The newly opened section of line 12 is mainly constructed as grass track.
The next opening, expected in October 2025, will be the extension from Prinzgasse to Aspern Nord (Nelson-Mandela-Platz) to be served by line 27 Strebersdorf – Floridsdorf – Aspern Nord.
A network scheme of Vienna’s tramlines can be found here:
https://www.urbanrail.net/eu/at/vienna/tram/wien-tram.png
