Annual Report 2025 – ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG

ÖBB-Infrastruktur Aktiengesellschaft Group Management Report | Consolidated Financial Statements 14 The Brenner Base Tunnel (BBT) Towards the end of 2025, three main construction lots were active, two on Austrian territory and one on Italian territory. More than 206 km of the 230 km tunnel system have already been excavated. On 22.08.2025, the breakthrough within Austria was celebrated in the West Main Tunnel section. On 18.09.2025, the breakthrough of the exploratory and future service tunnel marked the first time an underground link had been established between Italy and Austria. Planning for the railway infrastructure is currently underway and will move into the implementation phase once the structural work is completed in 2027. Migration of further sections to the five operations control centres In addition, the control areas of the five operations control centres (BFZ) were significantly expanded again in 2025. For example, the stations at Rekawinkel, Hutten, Penzing, Sigmundsherberg, Hötzelsdorf-Geras, Imfritz, Göpfritz, Allentsteig, Schwarzenau, Vitis, Pürbach and Schrems were incorporated into the BFZ in Vienna Stadlau; the Kirchdorf a. d. Krems and Micheldorf stations to the BFZ in Linz; Gröbming, Öblarn, Haus, Braunau and Werfen to the BFZ in Salzburg; and Messendorf, Scheifling, Arnoldstein and Thörl-Maglern to the BFZ in Villach. This means that approx. 76% of the main network of ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG is now controlled by the five operations control centres. The BFZ contingency plan describes how operations can be maintained at a high level of quality as quickly as possible in the event of a disruption or incident, and how disruptions to national and international train services can be kept to a minimum. The contingency plan provides for the BFZ systems and control stations to be seamlessly taken over by other BFZ locations, which significantly facilitates operations management in the event of a disruption. In this context, the new construction of the BFZ Vienna Stadlau and establishment of regional replacement workplaces (EAP) in Wörgl and Spittal with a geo-redundant IT server landscape were planned and partially implemented. Implementation of the EAP site in Wels for the Operations Control Centre (BFZ) Linz and the Operations Control Centre (BFZ) Salzburg began in the 2025 financial year and is expected to be completed by 2028. ETCS – European Train Control System The ETCS contributes to the harmonisation of the European railway system and thus to interoperable and cost-optimised access to the railway system. This will strengthen the position of the railway system in relation to other modes of transport in the long term. Implementation of the ETCS migration plan will enable and guarantee interoperability on the basis of European specifications. This will bring about compliance with legal requirements in terms of both technology and timing. Close coordination with the FSO programme is ensured in any case. This will ensure the necessary safety, punctuality and quality in increasingly dense and complex rail operations and enable customer requirements to be met in the best possible way. In conjunction with the need to revise the National Implementation Plan for ERTMS (European Rail Traffic Management System) for the European Commission in June 2024, a strategy for expanding the current national train control system PZB was developed in collaboration with the BMIMI and communicated to the railway companies. Digitalisation at ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG is using digitalisation and automation to achieve its strategic goals of increasing capacity and efficiency. Success criteria such as punctuality, safety and customer satisfaction form the basis for assessment. To that end, the direction of digitalisation was defined as part of the INFRA mobility transition. These initiatives implement methods of automation and digitalisation in the railway system to improve capacity, cost-effectiveness and quality through greater efficiency. In order to make effective use of international insights and developments in the field of digitalisation to further develop rail operations, ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG is collaborating with SBB within the Reference CCS Architecture and Systempillar working groups. In addition, ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG has been a member of EULYNX since 2019 and a founding member of Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking to actively promote the further development of signal box technology and anchor the advantages of digitalisation. In view of future requirements in the area of capacity management, work is underway with RailNetEurope to address the requirements set out in the Capacity Regulation and the TAF / TAP / TSI Telematics. ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG is evaluating the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in rail operations. All use cases are considered, from ordering a train path to its construction and planning to the execution of the train journey. For the specific case of traffic control, an initial prototype has already been developed in the form of an advisory system for train dispatchers. This uses artificial intelligence to support scheduling decisions and assess their impact on traffic.