New daily record as 3,650 migrants arrive by train to Vienna

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A new daily record for migrants arriving by train to Vienna has been set after police confirmed 3,650 people arrived in the Austrian capital yesterday.

Many of those who traveled by train from Budapest in Hungary to Vienna in Austria immediately boarded trains onward to Germany leading to calls from German Chancellor Angela Merkel for fellow EU countries to share the burden of the influx of migrants.

According to local news agency MTI Budapest's main railway station has since been closed leaving hundreds of migrants waiting.

Migrants arriving in Munich had to wait at the train station to register their arrival in the country Credit: REUTERS/Michael Dalder

Many arriving at Munich station could be heard chanting "Germany, Germany".

Eighteen-year-old Mohammad al-Azaawi said he had abandoned his engineering degree and fled Syria after being wounded by a car bomb

His brother Ahmed said they had paid up to 3,000 euros ($3,365) to make their way to Germany via Turkey, Greece, Madedonia, Serbia, Hungary and Austria. The family had had to sell their house to raise the money.

"We escaped death in Syria. We want to stay here for a better future," he said.

Hundreds of migrants boarded trains at Vienna station in Austria bound for Germany Credit: APTN
Migrants gather to board train to Austria at Budapest station in Hungary Credit: Reuters
Migrants board train at Budapest station in Hungary Credit: APTN

Speaking in Berlin, Merkel said: "Europe as a whole must move and its states must share the responsibility for refugees seeking asylum.

"Universal civil rights so far have been closely linked with Europe and its history - it was one of the founding motives of the European Union.

"If Europe fails on the question of refugees, this close connection with universal civil rights ... will be destroyed and it won't be the Europe we want."

Merkel, whose country expects some 800,000 migrants this year, said if Europe was not able to agree on how to share out the responsibility for refugees, the Schengen area of 26 European countries that have removed border checks between each other would be under threat.

"If we don't succeed in fairly distributing refugees then of course the Schengen question will be on the agenda for many."