Austria to invest €300m in public transportation

Austria has unveiled a new €300 million Austrian government investment package in public transport. Austrian Finance Minister Gernot Blümel and her government colleague Leonore Gewessler presented the investment package which is designed to create or maintain 53,000 jobs.

€150 million of the total is intended for the construction and expansion of transport infrastructure, especially the construction and modernization of regional railways, while a further €150m is to improve the supply of public transport. An additional €250m must also be put into the modernization of existing railway stations, said the ministers, adding that new ones would have to be built as well. They said up to 80 percent of the orders should be awarded to small and medium enterprises.