The Mariazell Railway is an electrically operated narrow-gauge railway which connects the Lower Austrian capital of Sankt Pölten with the Styrian pilgrimage centre of Mariazell. The line was opened in stages between 1898 and 1907, and had a, now closed, branch to Wieselburg an der Erlauf. The railway is operated by NÖVOG, which is owned by the provincial government, and is a part of the Verkehrsverbund Niederösterreich-Burgenland.

Sankt Pölten, mostly abbreviated to the official name St. Pölten, is the capital and largest city of the State of Lower Austria in northeast Austria, with 55,538 inhabitants as of 1 January 2020. St. Pölten is a city with its own statute and therefore it is both a municipality and a district in the Mostviertel. Due to its cultural status, it has recently enjoyed an increase of visitors passing through Sankt Pölten on their way to Vienna.