While going home late at night, waiting for your U-Bahn to arrive at the station, have you ever asked yourself – where do all those trains actually go to sleep? Do they sleep at all? And if they sleep, do they dream of electric sheep?
To answer all those burning questions of yours, we went on a secret mission and snuck into some of the busiest U-Bahn stations, before they open. Well, to be honest, the folks at Wiener Linien were kind enough to let us in (we just felt this story could use a touch of drama). Oh, and we also got to photograph that place where the U-Bahn goes to sleep.
Here are 15 photos of Vienna’s underground subway, like you’ve never seen it before:
This is where the U-Bahn is parked for the night. But not all of them; with over 100 trains running on the network, it would get pretty tight inside. This is the Erdberg depot, while other depots like this can be found all over the city – at Spittelau, Heiligenstadt and at Michelbeuern.
Those grand halls are also used for repairs and secret underground train driver rave parties.
We can’t confirm the latter though.
Karlsplatz
Even outside of regular operating hours, there is still traffic on the U-Bahn tracks, mainly for maintenance work.
Schottentor
Stephansplatz