If you search for a regular train ticket on the OBB website for Linz to Vienna, many options will appear, but the regular price for tickets are 34 Euros/person! That is a lot of money for a short distance! Fortunately, after doing some searching on the web (here is a great website with tons of great info: www.passportchop.com) we discovered the Einfach Raus Ticket (ERT).
Here is some info directly from their website:
All arguments are in favour for an Einfach-Raus-Ticket!
• Costs only 28,- Euro
• 1 ticket for groups from 2 to 5 people
• Monday – Friday between 9 am and 3 am
• All day on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays (0 am – 3 am next day)
• Valid in all regional passenger trains of ÖBB*:
The key is to make sure your destination can be reached on regional passenger trains. You can do a specific search for this on the OBB website. Under ‘Products’ choose ‘Einfach-Raus-Ticket’ – then your search results will only show routes where the tickets are valid.
You can find more information about this ticket at the OBB website, where you can also purchase tickets: http://www.oebb.at/pv/en/Travelling_cheaper/Groups/Einfach-Raus-Ticket/index.jsp
What’s really great about these tickets is the price and notice that you can have up to 5 people in your group and still only pay 28 Euros! There were 2 of us so it’s still 14 Euros apiece, but still way better than 34 Euros/person!
Our train departed from Linz Hauptbahnhof at 17:53 on a Sunday evening and we only had to make one train change at 18:18 at St. Valentin. The next train departed 3 minutes later on the opposite platform so the 3 minutes were plenty of time. Just make sure you are ready to go! I recommend that you write down all the information from the website so you know exactly where and when you need to change trains.
Also, the ride was very nice, super smooth and the train was practically empty for most of the 3 hour journey into Vienna. Very Nice :)!