Austria: Trains departs Vienna as refugees head to Munich

A train exclusively carrying refugees departed Vienna’s Hauptbahnhof on Sunday heading for Munich. Other trains bound for the Bavarian city will depart as per the normal Sunday schedule. The passengers on the Munich-bound trains are expected to mainly comprise refugees, as they continue to arrive in Vienna on trains from south-eastern Europe. Refugees were met by volunteers, who passed out essential supplies, as well as members of the public who clapped as the refugees arrived at the station. Some 5,000 people arrived in Austria on Saturday, crossing the border from Hungary. Many went on to take trains to Munich. However due to overcrowding, thousands were left stranded in Vienna until the morning with many sleeping in the train station overnight. In the meantime, volunteers set up a camp at the station distributing food and medical supplies to those in need. Thousands of refugees set off on foot from Budapest on Friday evening, after being refused access to westbound Hungarian trains. The group walked for hours before a convoy of buses, sent by the Hungarian government, took the refugees to the Austrian border from where they were transported to Vienna. Hungarian authorities had taken radical measures in early September to deal with the unprecedented numbers of people crossing their borders, many without documentation. Firstly, they closed the main station, shutting off access to trains leading to Austria, Germany and other European destinations. This led to a temporary encampment being set up around Keleti station, housing around 3,000 refugees. When the station re-opened, many boarded trains that were destined for processing and detention camps, not other countries as they thought.