Planning for an underground railway can be traced back to the 1840s.
Since then, there have been numerous plans and concessions to build such a project, making Vienna the city with the most subway planning.

The concession request of the engineer Heinrich Sichrowsky dates from 1844 with the idea of an atmospheric railway based on the system of Medhurst and Clegg.
The trains would have been advanced by means of air pumps stationarily stationary steam engines in a pneumatic manner.
Sichrowskys route should lead from the Lobkowitzplatz below the Vienna Glacis on to the Wien River to Hütteldorf.
Although such trains had been built in London and Paris, it found in Vienna no investors for its stock company, so this idea was rejected.
The connecting railway project of Julius Pollak (1849) was also conceived as an atmospheric system.

Sichrowsky's request was the starting point for a series of plans that, however, were mostly not approved and could not be implemented.
For example, in 1858 the city planner Ludwig Zettl proposed to make an overburden of the former moat instead of filling it, and then to set up a railroad tram in this enclosed ditch, which would bypass the city.
This would have created a connection between the central station and the market halls, while at the same time the gas-lit tunnels were to serve as warehouses for food.
By 1873, at least 25 planning for a municipal railway traffic came on, only the Verbindungsbahn, which already appeared in the much larger overall plan by Carl Ritter von Ghega in his project for Vienna's urban expansion of 1858, was later implemented as part of the mainline railway line.
Incidentally, Ghega had already worked out a belt railway project along the line wall in 1845.
The first planning for a subway in deep-seated tunnels by Emil Winkler dates back to 1873, in which it is also remarkable that the planning proposals were also based on the first systematic traffic census in Vienna.

Another wave of public transport projects developed in the sign of the completion of the ring road.
Apparently, the conception of the British engineers James Bunton and Joseph Fogerty convinced, since this was approved in 1881; This was already the 30th planning ever.
The route should lead in each case partly as elevated train, laid in the tunnel and in the open incision.

In 1883, the project of an "electric secondary railway" of the company Siemens & Halske provided a small profile rail with three lines.
The construction failed due to the concern of the city council, the inner city business life could be affected, especially since the project for the first time ever included a tunneling of the city center.

The first system to be constructed was a four-line Stadtbahn railway network (which had been planned to have three   main and three local lines) using steam trains.
Ground was broken in 1892, and the system was opened in stages between 11 May 1898 and 6 August 1901.
At Hütteldorf, the Stadtbahn connected to railway service to the west, and at Heiligenstadt, to railway service on the Franz Josef Line, which then ran eastwards within the Austro-Hungarian Empire to Eger.
Some of the Jugendstil stations for this system designed by Otto Wagner are still in use.
However, the Stadtbahn proved inadequate for mass transport, less successful than the tramway.
Starting in 1910, plans were considered for an underground system, but were interrupted by the First World War, which also necessitated closing the Stadtbahn to civilian use.
After the war, the economic situation of a smaller and poorer country ruled out continuing with the plan.
However, starting on 26 May 1924 the Stadtbahn was electrified, something that many had called for before the war, and from autumn 1925 it was integrated with the tramway rather than the railways.
The frequency of trains tripled.
Plans for a U-Bahn dating to 1912–14 were revived and discussions took place in 1929, but the Great Depression again necessitated abandoning planning.

Both in 1937 and after the Anschluß, when Vienna became the largest city by surface area in the Third Rei
Planning for an underground railway can be traced back to the 1840s. Since then, there have been numerous plans and concessions to build such a project, making Vienna the city with the most subway planning.
The concession request of the engineer Heinrich Sichrowsky dates from 1844 with the idea of an atmospheric railway based on the system of Medhurst and Clegg. The trains would have been advanced by means of air pumps stationarily stationary steam engines in a pneumatic manner. Sichrowskys route should lead from the Lobkowitzplatz below the Vienna Glacis on to the Wien River to Hütteldorf. Although such trains had been built in London and Paris, it found in Vienna no investors for its stock company, so this idea was rejected. The connecting railway project of Julius Pollak (1849) was also conceived as an atmospheric system.
Sichrowsky's request was the starting point for a series of plans that, however, were mostly not approved and could not be implemented. For example, in 1858 the city planner Ludwig Zettl proposed to make an overburden of the former moat instead of filling it, and then to set up a railroad tram in this enclosed ditch, which would bypass the city. This would have created a connection between the central station and the market halls, while at the same time the gas-lit tunnels were to serve as warehouses for food. By 1873, at least 25 planning for a municipal railway traffic came on, only the Verbindungsbahn, which already appeared in the much larger overall plan by Carl Ritter von Ghega in his project for Vienna's urban expansion of 1858, was later implemented as part of the mainline railway line. Incidentally, Ghega had already worked out a belt railway project along the line wall in 1845. The first planning for a subway in deep-seated tunnels by Emil Winkler dates back to 1873, in which it is also remarkable that the planning proposals were also based on the first systematic traffic census in Vienna.
Another wave of public transport projects developed in the sign of the completion of the ring road. Apparently, the conception of the British engineers James Bunton and Joseph Fogerty convinced, since this was approved in 1881; This was already the 30th planning ever. The route should lead in each case partly as elevated train, laid in the tunnel and in the open incision.
In 1883, the project of an "electric secondary railway" of the company Siemens & Halske provided a small profile rail with three lines. The construction failed due to the concern of the city council, the inner city business life could be affected, especially since the project for the first time ever included a tunneling of the city center.
The first system to be constructed was a four-line Stadtbahn railway network (which had been planned to have three   main and three local lines) using steam trains. Ground was broken in 1892, and the system was opened in stages between 11 May 1898 and 6 August 1901. At Hütteldorf, the Stadtbahn connected to railway service to the west, and at Heiligenstadt, to railway service on the Franz Josef Line, which then ran eastwards within the Austro-Hungarian Empire to Eger. Some of the Jugendstil stations for this system designed by Otto Wagner are still in use. However, the Stadtbahn proved inadequate for mass transport, less successful than the tramway. Starting in 1910, plans were considered for an underground system, but were interrupted by the First World War, which also necessitated closing the Stadtbahn to civilian use. After the war, the economic situation of a smaller and poorer country ruled out continuing with the plan. However, starting on 26 May 1924 the Stadtbahn was electrified, something that many had called for before the war, and from autumn 1925 it was integrated with the tramway rather than the railways. The frequency of trains tripled. Plans for a U-Bahn dating to 1912–14 were revived and discussions took place in 1929, but the Great Depression again necessitated abandoning planning.
Both in 1937 and after the Anschluß, when Vienna became the largest city by surface area in the Third Rei
Vienna U-Bahn