I don't think there is absolutely nothing to complain about the westbahn... it's crowded, messy, the POS for credit cards never work, and it's a first-come-first serve for the seats (absolutely not recommended if you plan to travel with many friends or big family) but hey, for a ticket which is half or 1/3 the price of a normal ticket... good enough for poor people like me.
If you want a better service as always you just pay some more

Forgive me if this has been mentioned before but it has just occurred to me: uniforms of Westbahn staff and Inernational Rescue. Some parallels?

The new train service has a smoking section apparently. If that's of interest to anyone...

Westbahn are, I happen to know, currently working on agreements with the Verkehrsverbunde but these will take time. St Pölten-Wien commuters do get special rates on season tickets through, and VOR for example already includes Westbahn services in its timetabling, indicating that they clearly intend to co-operate.

It would be illusional to expect that promotional fares (i.e. the introductory EUR 7 fare) are transferrable - and not possible when you consider how ticketing prices are calculated and to whom various amounts go. The introductory fare is nothing more than a loss leader.

One of the main arguments being made about the market liberalisation is that the incumbent provider has to effectively subsidise the loss-making local routes while new entrants are free to cherry-pick their routes and stick to the profitable ones - the Westbahn is definitely the most profitable route, while a lot of the local routes are far from profitable, but are maintained by the ÖBB and Postbus services.

With regards to accepting tickets: I was hoping that they (ÖBB and West) accept each others ticket. In case one service is delayed for whatever reason the passengers can take the next available train. But this works only if there is something like a "Verkehrsverbund" in the area around Vienna. In Germany the Metronom accepts "Nahverkehrstickets"
http://www.der-metronom.de/tickets/alle ... ahrkarten/
In Lower Saxony you can take any train with the Nahverkehrsticket between Bremen and Hamburg for example
I wonder if this will ever happen in Austria, They could for example make the distance between St Pölten and Vienna a Nahverkehrsarea for commuters so that the commuters can buy their tickets and use any train. This would be progress for the consumer.

Regarding the ticketing issue, you'd not expect them to support the competition's tickets initially on the one route they serve... After all this is a business not a charity they are running. Re: luggage, they're also charging for bulky cases (it's part of the business model no doubt!) Overhead luggage space is likely to be limited since they operate double decker carriages. I'm intending to wait for the opening hype to die down before I try the service - the experience will be more representative - and any "opening day nerves" and teething troubles should have been resolved by then.

Hi,
I tested this last Sunday, did a day trip to Salzburg at the very special price of 7 Euros per journey.
Downside: no tables between the fourseaters (two rows opposite), i. e. no possibility to play cards as group/family (used to this sight in German railways) or get your food and drinks out and sharing them - really odd! Tables are only in the single rows facing one direction (attached to the seats in front). For the extra convenience of having a proper table you need to book the WEST Club lounge cars (costs 75% more I was told).
Poor catering service. There was food available but only in the last half hour of the four hour journey passengers in my car were asked if they had any wishes ..
There is hardly any room in the upper compartment for luggage overhead (just enough for coats and briefcases) but there seems enough room for middle-sized suitcases under each chair, which is not known by many travellers.
I attempted to visit the buffet part of the carriage first thing but there was a group of young loud male passengers (at 7 am on Sunday morning!), one of them had bared his upper body and they were heavily arguing and shouting "Du alte Schwuchtel". I did not fancy to get into the middle of a fight with them and returned to my seat. The staff did not handle the situation well. I would have thrown them off at the next station. Fortunately it calmed down a bit and the eventually left.
No combined ticket policy with ÖBB. You have to buy entirely different tickets. I wonder how this works out in the long run. ÖBB season tickets are accepted only during the first fortnight, then Westbahn travellers need their own tickets.
Positive: nice leather seats, clean toilets (still), buffet style seats and tables in every carriage with vending machines (however don't know if it is self service or operated by staff, no explanations on the machines, no service staff available).
Seats are extremely good, on the way home I dosed off and it felt really comfortable.
Staff are very polite and try to be very friendly and accommodating
I think I'd prefer to travel Westbahn for the moment, but I wondered how long everything will be so nice and clean if they start transporting soccer fans, the seats will not last long.