Railways in Liechtenstein

I really should say “railway” in Liechtenstein, since there is only one and it just passes through the country.

The Austrian Federal Railway operates the line, which runs between Buchs, Switzerland and Feldkirch, Austria. As you can see, it is a well maintained track with concrete sleepers (ties), and overhead carrying 15 kV AC current.

There are four train stations in Liechtenstein, three of which are used at present by regional/local trains passing through the country. Higher speed trains like the Nightjet pass through without stopping, and freight trains use the line as well.

My wife took these photos as we drove through Schaan en route to a castle. I was surprised to see any tracks at all in Liechtenstein, a country far smaller than Prince Edward Island and even smaller than the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon.

Although Liechtenstein has no trains of its own, it does have public transit in the form of buses, like this one in Balzers.

We went to Liechtenstein because we were on vacation in the Bavarian region of Germany, and it was “right there” as my wife said. We visited Lindau, Germany on beautiful Lake Constance, then drove south through bits of Austria and Switzerland to reach Liechtenstein.

Truth be told, it was really easy to accidentally cross the border into Switzerland as we were driving around in Liechtenstein. It’s so small! Since most of Europe is in the Schengen Area, borders are open and freely crossed.

We stayed for one night in the capital, Vaduz. During our brief visit, we saw the outside of Vaduz Castle (under renovation) and photographed this one, Gutenberg Castle.

I didn’t see any trains during our brief visit, but I was happy to have caught even a glimpse of their tracks.

The peculiar building in the background was designed by architects indra+scherrer and was nominated for “Best Workspaces 2022” according to their web site.