ABOVE: The United Nations Refugee Agency’s (UNHCR) Hungary spokesman Erno Simon called the situation in the town of Roszke “very, very alarming” on Friday as migrants and refugees continued to stream in from Serbia amid worsening weather conditions.
VIENNA – Thousands of people hoping for asylum in western Europe are trekking to Vienna from Austria’s main border crossing point with Hungary, after rail traffic was suspended due to overcrowding.
The Austrian Federal Railways Press department says it no longer has the capacity to deal with the thousands of people at the Nickelsdorf crossing wanting to board trains daily to the Austrian capital. Once in Vienna, most have travelled on to Germany and other Western EU nations.
Rail service between Vienna and the Hungarian capital, Budapest, was already suspended Thursday. With no trains running, thousands of people set out Friday on the expressway linking the Nickelsdorf border crossing with Vienna, 60 kilometres (40 miles) away.
Austrian police official Hans Peter Doskozil says 7,500 people crossed into Austria at Nickelsdorf on Thursday.
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