privilegierte Kaiserin Elisabeth-Bahn ("Imperial and Royal privileged Empress Elisabeth Railway", KEB) company.

It runs from Wels in Upper Austria to Passau in Bavaria and is part of the core network of the Austrian Federal Railways (Österreichischen Bundesbahnen, ÖBB).

Until the accession of Austria to the European Union in 1995, there was a station at the end of the line in the Austrian part of Passau, where the necessary border and customs checks were carried out.

Since the timetable change in December 2007, the international long-distance services between Frankfurt and Vienna have been operated in cooperation between DB and ÖBB using ICE T trains with tilting technology only.

The line begins in Wels station, where it runs to the northwest, separating from the Western Railway, which continues to the southwest.

First, the line runs through the wide Traun valley and the Wels heath near Puchberg and follows the course of the Trattnach river from Bad Schallerbach to Taufkirchen.

The line runs in a wide curve to avoid gradients through the local Asbach valley to Zell an der Pram.