The Deutsches Eck ("German Corner") is the name given to the shortest and most convenient road and railway link between the Austrian metropolitan region of Salzburg and the Tyrolean Unterland with the state capital Innsbruck.
Due to the mountainous landscape and the irregular course of the border, the main transport routes to the western Austrian states of Tyrol and Vorarlberg pass through the territory of the German state of Bavaria. While an alternative, albeit longer, all-Austrian Salzburg-Tyrol Railway exists, there is no continuous, intra-Austrian motorway route between the states of Salzburg and Tyrol.
A larger railway and autobahn (motorway) link runs from Salzburg westwards along the northern rim of the Chiemgau Alps to the Bavarian town of Rosenheim, then turns south through the Inn valley to reach the Tyrolean border at Kufstein.
Since the conclusion of an 1851 treaty between the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Bavaria, [1] so-called "corridor trains" of the Austrian Railways (ÖBB) use the Rosenheim–Salzburg and Rosenheim–Kufstein railway lines maintained by the German Deutsche Bahn company against payment of a regular fee. At the Rosenheim rail junction a direct connection (the Rosenheimer Kurve) was erected in 1982 to allow express trains to pass quickly without a stop at Rosenheim station.
The parallel German Bundesautobahn 8 links the Austrian West Autobahn at Salzburg with the Inntal three-way interchange near Rosenheim, from where the southern Bundesautobahn 93 leads to the border crossing at Kufstein and the Tyrolean Inn Valley Autobahn. The road connection to Tyrol on Austrian highways via Bischofshofen and Zell am See or Saalfelden is considerably longer.
A smaller highway connection leads from the southwestern outskirts of Salzburg at Wals-Siezenheim over the border on the German Bundesstraße 21 along the Saalach river via Bad Reichenhall to Unken and Lofer in the Austrian Pinzgau region. As in Austria, studded winter tyres are admitted (while prohibited in the rest of Germany) to avoid drivers having to change tyres.
Since Austria joined the Schengen Area in 1997, all border controls have been abolished, allowing travellers to move freely between both countries.
Tyrol is an Austrian federal state. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical Princely County of Tyrol. It is a constituent part of the present-day Euroregion Tyrol–South Tyrol–Trentino. The capital of Tyrol is Innsbruck.
Kufstein is a town in the Austrian state of Tyrol, the administrative seat of Kufstein District. With a population of about 20,000 it is the second largest Tyrolean town after the state capital Innsbruck. The greatest landmark is Kufstein Fortress, first mentioned in the 13th century. The town was the place of origin of the Austrian noble family Kuefstein.
Landeck is a city in the Austrian state of Tyrol, the capital of the district of Landeck.
Bundesautobahn 94 is an autobahn in southern Germany. When completed, it will connect Munich with Passau. Currently, only the parts Munich-Burghausen, and a small section in Malching have been built. Between Burghausen and Simbach am Inn, there is a 14 kilometer, two-lane section that is signed as Bundesstraße 12. Provisions for an upgrade to A 94 exist here.
Lofer is a market town in the district of Zell am See in the Austrian state of Salzburg.
The Austrian autobahns are controlled-access highways in Austria. They are officially called Bundesstraßen A (Bundesautobahnen) under the authority of the Federal Government according to the Austrian Federal Road Act (Bundesstraßengesetz), not to be confused with the former Bundesstraßen highways maintained by the Austrian states since 2002.
The Brenner Autobahn refers to a major European truck route that connects Innsbruck in Austria to Verona in northern Italy.
Kuchl is a market town in the Hallein district of Salzburg, Austria.
The Bavarian Maximilian Railway was as an east–west line built between the Bavarian border with Württemberg at Neu-Ulm in the west via Augsburg, Munich and Rosenheim to the Austrian border at Kufstein and Salzburg in the east as part of the Royal Bavarian State Railways. The Munich–Augsburg section of the line had already been built by the Munich-Augsburg Railway Company and opened in 1840. The line was named after the reigning King of Bavaria from 1848 to 1864 Maximilian II.
Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station in Innsbruck, the capital city of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol. Opened in 1853, the station is a major hub for western and central Austria. In 2019, it was the 8th-busiest station in the country, and the 2nd-busiest outside of Vienna after only Linz Hauptbahnhof, with 315 train movements and 38,500 passengers daily.
Rosenheim station is the main railway station in the city of Rosenheim in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seventh largest passenger station in Bavaria and an important railway hub between the Munich–Rosenheim railway line and the lines to Salzburg, Kufstein/Innsbruck and Mühldorf, as well as the Mangfall Valley Railway. Rosenheim is operated by DB Station&Service, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn AG, and is classified as a Category 2 station
The Lower Inn Valley Railway is a two-track, electrified railway line that is one of the major lines of the Austrian railways. It was originally opened as the k.k. Nordtiroler Staatsbahn. It begins at the German border near the Austrian city of Kufstein as a continuation of the Rosenheim–Kufstein line and runs in a generally south-westerly direction through Tyrol along the Inn valley to Innsbruck. The line is part of the Line 1 of Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T). The line is owned and operated by Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB).
The Rosenheim–Kufstein railway is a 32 kilometre-long double-track main line of the German railways. It connects the Munich–Rosenheim and the Rosenheim–Salzburg lines at Rosenheim with the line to Innsbruck, thus connecting Germany, Salzburg and eastern Austria with Innsbruck and the Brenner line to Italy and the Arlberg line to far western Austria. The line is part of the Line 1 of Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T). It is electrified at 15 kV, 16.7 Hz.
The Munich–Rosenheim railway is a 65 kilometre-long double-track main line of the German railways. It connects Munich Hauptbahnhof with Rosenheim station, where it connects with the Rosenheim–Salzburg railway, which connects with the line to Vienna at Salzburg, and the line to Kufstein, which continues to Innsbruck and the Brenner line to Italy. The line is part of the "Main line for Europe", connecting Paris with Bratislava and Budapest and the almost identical line 17 of Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T). It is part of the line 1 of TEN-T. It is electrified at 15 kV, 16.7 Hz. It was opened between Munich and Rosenheim in 1871.
The Inn Valley Motorway or Inntal Autobahn A12 is an autobahn in the Austrian federal state of Tyrol and part of Euroroutes E45 and E60.
The Salzburg-Tyrol Railway is a main line railway in Austria. It runs through the states of Salzburg and Tyrol from the city of Salzburg to Wörgl and belongs to the core network (Kernnetz) of the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB). The section between Salzburg and Schwarzach-Sankt Veit is part of the Salzburg S-Bahn urban railway network.
Kufstein railway station serves the city of Kufstein, in the Kufstein district of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol. Opened in 1876, it is an Austrian-German border station, close to the border between Tyrol and Bavaria.
Tyrol is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, from its formation in the 12th century until 1919. In 1919, following World War I and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, it was divided into two modern administrative parts through the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye:
The Rosenheim–Salzburg railway is a continuous double track and electrified main line railway almost entirely within the German state of Bavaria. It is an international transport corridor, linking Rosenheim to Salzburg in Austria.
The Austria–Germany border has a length of 815.9 km (507.0 mi) or 815.0 km (506.4 mi) in the south of Germany and the north of Austria in central Europe. It is the longest border of both Austria and Germany with another country.