OBB Part 1: Zurich to Vienna

Arriving from St Gallen at Zurich Main Station at 9PM we strolled to platform 7 for the train to Vienna. 

EN467
Zurich Main Station – Vienna Main Station
Sunday, Mar 8 2015
Depart: 9:40PM
Arrive: 7:51AM (+1)
Travel time: 10hr 11min

We are booked on the 9:40PM EN467 from Zurich Main Station to Vienna Main Station. As the train passes Buches in St Gallen, it would actually it would have been more convenient to board the train from Buches, though to be conservative we boarded from Zurich instead.

I immediately regretted booking the seats instead of a sleeping couchette. While the seats were featured as recliner seats, they turned out to be compartment seats. The lumbar support was really limited and it was clear that we could not get a good night's rest.

Thankfully apart from a small stretch between Innsbruck and Salzburg, we only had to share the compartment with another passenger and could hence take turns to stretch out on the row of three seats.

The train stopped for more than an hour at Salzburg, from 3:23AM to 4:38AM.

We woke up finding the train approaching St Pölten, an hour out of Vienna and the sun was beginning to rise up from the horizon.

As we were having breakfast, daylight began shining on the farmlands along the tracks.

We arrived at Vienna Main Station on time at 7:51AM

We bade farewell to our train and strode off to the tram station for the quick ride to our hotel.

Conclusion
The train ride was the most efficient way to travel from Zurich to Vienna. Although the faster Railjet trains cut down the ride from 10 hours to 8 hours, the Railjet trains only operate during daytime, effectively wasting an entire day on the road.