The Erzbergbahnbahn was a 20km long standard gauge rack railway from Eisenerz to Vordernberg, the primary purpose of which was to provide a direct connection between the ironstone quarries at Erzberg and the steelworks at Donawitz, south of Vorderberg.
Steam operations over the rack slowly declined during the 1970s with the final steam powered ore train running on 30th September 1978, the operation of the passenger services having been given over to railbuses some 3 years earlier. The rack fitted diesel was also withdrawn later that same year making the rack rails redundant. Ore transport over the line using adhesion only diesel locomotives continued until 1986 when a new ore loading facility was opened on the west side of the quarry at Krumpental just south of Eisenerz. All ore being shipped using electric power westwards through Selzthal from this time, a practice that continues to this day (2025) with some 3 million tonnes being produced annually.

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