Austrian Authorisation For Class 380s

In the second half of October ČD’s Class 380s were finally granted conditional authorisation by ÖBB-Infrastruktur, enabling all 20 of them to operate in Austria. The approval is conditional, valid until 30 June 2014, and the 380s are limited to a top service speed of 160 km/h and to operate individually only, not in multiple. After 30 June 2014 it is hoped to obtain a five-year approval, this being the standard practice followed by Austrian legislation. ČD supposes now to use the 380s for the regular haulage of two pairs of EC services daily linking Praha and Wiener Neustadt as of December 2013 timetable change. ÖBB drivers therefore started receiving training on the 380s - the first photo shows 380 002 on 3 October 2013 at Herzogenburg, west of Wien. The second view, taken on 22 October, is of the same machine passing the boundary stone (on the left of the track, with red and white chevrons) which marks the physical position of the Polish border between Poland and Germany, on the Berlin to Warszawa main line, between Frankfurt (Oder) and Rzepin, during test runs to monitor the transition between ATPs.