Railjet is – since 2005 – a registered trademark belonging to ÖBB Personenverkher, the passenger subsidiary of the Austrian ÖBB group. The idea came from an in-house marketing workshop whose moderator, the head of a communications company, registered the name a few days later! ÖBB had to pay 180,000 euros to get it back…

As part of its restructuring, the ÖBB Group had set itself the objective of increasing its competitiveness. The basic idea was to renew the rolling stock of the Intercity and Eurocity, long-distance trains that run on an hourly timetable, a concept that has been tried and tested by the Austrian state-owned company. It was also necessary to make a lasting impression with a strong identity celebrating the novelty and dynamism of the public company, since Europe was authorising competition in the long-distance segment by 2010. Finally, the Intercity, Eurocity and Express brand names had to be put in order, and rolling stock and on-board services had to be standardised as far as possible.