The ceremonial opening of the Wiener Stadtbahn took place on May 9, 1898 with the participation of Emperor Franz Joseph I, the Vienna Archbishop Anton Josef Cardinal Gruscha, the Minister of Railways. Heinrich Ritter von Wittek, the Lower Austrian Landmarschall Baron Joseph Freiherr von Gudenus and the Vienna Mayor Karl Lueger in Michelbeuern instead. On that day the monarch drove with the k.u.k. Hofsalonzug, which consisted of his saloon car and three other cars, from there via the belt line to Heiligenstadt, then on the suburban line and the Westbahn to Hütteldorf-Hacking, continue on the upper Wientallinie to Meidling Hauptstraße and finally on the waist line to the stop Alser street, with which he traveled all sections completed so far. In the last car of the special train, the emperor had an observation platform at his disposal, only there he was spared the smoke of the steam locomotive. From this ceremony the following quotation of the emperor is handed down: