Matthias von Schönerer

Mathias Ritter von Schönerer (9 January 1807 – 30 October 1881) was an Austrian engineer.

He built the Südrampe or South Ramp on the Budweis–Linz–Gmunden Horse-Drawn Railway and its extension to Gmunden by the Traunsee lake.

After the dismissal of Franz Anton von Gerstner, Mathias Schönerer completed the first railway on continental Europe, the horse-drawn Budweis–Linz–Gmunden wagonway, despite financial and technical difficulties.

In 1841 he was responsible for the construction of the first Austrian railway tunnel (165 m) at Gumpoldskirchen, whose northern portal bears Schönerer's motto Recta sequi in large antiqua letters.

For his services to railway construction he was elevated to the Austrian nobility in 1860 by Emperor Franz Joseph which entitled him and his descendants to the style of Ritter von in the case of male and von in the case of female offspring.