| RPO Austria |
| Attention: If you want to go back to the preceding page, please cancel this page |
| For
over a century most mail was transported by passenger trains in special
postal carriages. To save time and to avoid sending packages back and
forth, the mail was sorted during the journey. After World War Two the
idea was born to use separate postal trains. Only three of these are
still operating today: the "250" between Vienna and Villach,
the "300" between Vienna and Innsbruck and the "306"
from Vienna to Wolfurt and back.
Better cars driving directly to the addressee and modern motorways as well as substantial price reductions for transport by air forced the rail companies to decrease journey times. Ideally this is achieved by minimising the time taken for loading and unloading at the stops. Large fluctuations in the amounts of transported goods pose a problem because loading times cannot be standardised in accordance with the train timetables. Transportation by road, however, is not an environmentally-sound alternative. Following up on an idea by the CEO of the Philately Society Erich Bober, postal trains are documented as stamp motives on the Day of the Stamp. This year the last of the stamps in this series features the modern Siemens M 320 normal track wagon, which has been operating since its inception by the post and telecommunications administration in 1987. The 10 wagons are designed for a maximum velocity of 160 km/h. |