Austrian Railways suspends Hungary services due to migrants

Austrian Railways on Thursday suspended services to Hungary as it struggled to cope with thousands of migrants arriving from over the border after travelling up through the Balkans.

"Because of the massive overcrowding of trains coming from Hungary, OeBB has to suspend train services to Hungary temporarily," the company said in a statement.

The suspension covers both Railjet intercity trains between Vienna and Budapest and regional cross-border services, it said.

Hungary's train operator said meanwhile that its trains were only running as far as Hegyeshalom near the Austrian border.

An AFP reporter at Budapest's Keleti main station said that at the time of the Austrian announcement, around 500 migrants were held back by police from entering the platform where Railjet trains to Vienna had been departing all morning.

Earlier, police reported around 2,000 migrants were in Keleti -- the scene of high tensions last week with thousands stuck in a makeshift refugee camp unable to board trains -- trying to board trains to the Austrian capital.

Austria's rail company also called on volunteers and bus companies to stop bringing some of the thousands of people who had walked over the border to train stations.

"The flow (of people)... and the large numbers of people waiting at stations to travel onwards has outstripped available capacities since this morning," OeBB said.

The announcement came after 3,700 people crossed the border on foot from Hungary overnight, many of whom were then taken to stations in Vienna on trains and buses to board trains to Germany.

Several hundred more arrived by train from Hungary, while a further 1,000 crossed the border on foot on Thursday morning, according to police.

Police said that some 2,500 migrants arrived at Vienna's Westbahnhof train station on Thursday. Another 3,000 were still at the Nickelsdorf border crossing point.

"We are doing everything possible, but this is no longer enough," OeBB spokesman Michael Braun told the Austria Press Agency.

He also said that for now -- unlike last weekend when some 15,000 passed through bound for Germany -- no special trains for Germany were planned, and that in regular trains to Germany only a limited number of migrants were allowed to board.

Interior ministry spokesman Karl-Heinz Grundboeck said that the situation "is like last weekend, with the difference that this time we have limited rail capacities."

Source: AFP