At the beginning of the Railway Age, in the early years of the 19th century, railway lines were laid out for use by horses, hauling wagons and coaches along fairly level track. In the same way as the canals which predated them, early railways had short, sharp inclines to gain height over an obstacle, for instance a mountain. A stationary steam engine, winding a cable, hauled the vehicles up (and lowered them down) the incline. As railway locomotives came into use, and particularly as they became stronger, the use of stationary engines decreased, and the railway lines were rebuilt or bypassed. However, the funicular was a specialist type of incline, and are still being built today.

There are a number of different types of funicular. Most funiculars have one or two passenger vehicles, which are hauled up an inclined plane by a motor situated at the top. If there are two vehicles, they may be operated as a counterbalanced pair, so that one descends whilst the other ascends. In this case, there will be a passing place at the halfway point.

Inclines can be very steep, typically steeper than 1 in 1, but it is possible to build a funicular which is nearly level – an example of which is the funicular at Surfers, which runs under the village main street.

Funiculars are generally very safe, since there is no motor on the funicular vehicle itself. However, as the accident at Kaprun in 2000 showed, they are not infallible.

There are a number of funiculars in Austria (and also in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire). Whilst ARG members have visited several, their very nature means that many of them are not in or near main centres of population. Details are not complete, therefore, but a list is provided here in an attempt to show where many of them can be found. This list is not exhaustive, nor does it show goods funiculars - which may even just serve a single house or hamlet. Where more information is available, a link is shown to another ARG web page. .