The eight railcars of the ET 10 series were manufactured by Krauss in Linz from 1928 for use on the Salzkammergut Railway and on the valley sections around Innsbruck. For cost reasons and to keep maintenance low, electrical components from the class 1170 electric locomotives were used. With two traction motors per car, an hourly output of 500 kW was achieved, but this resulted in an axle load that was too high for some routes. For this reason, an additional carying axle was built into each bogie, resulting in the wheel arrangement 3-A1A. The approximately 20.5 meter long cars held 62 passengers and reached a speed of 80 km/h with nose-suspended motors.

Four-axle 4041.05 in 1984 at the ÖBB open day

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With the integration into the Reichsbahn they became ET 83 01 to 08, from 1953 they were given the number 4041.01 to 08 by the ÖBB. With the increase in the permissible axle load, the middle axles were removed from the bogies and the wheel arrangement 2-B was created. Multiple controls were also installed during repairs and the front sides were redesigned. In the 1950s they were used as a shuttle train in Vienna, where the railcars ran “wrapped” between passenger cars, but were soon replaced by electric locomotives. The vehicles were decommissioned in 1973 and three were retained as preheating systems for the Floridsdorf repair shop. Thanks to this fact, they were later restored and one example could be used for special trips until the end of the 1990s.

The BBÖ ordered two railcars from Simmering for fast direct traffic to tourist destinations, which were delivered in 1936. They used the car bodies of the VT 42 series diesel railcars purchased at the same time in order to reduce development time and costs. Like the ET 10, they had a powered bogie, but due to the significantly lighter construction, a total of four axles were sufficient. With the reduced continuous output compared to the ET 10 and the higher speed at the same time, the tractive effort was no longer sufficient to pull trailers. However, since they were only used on low-traffic connections anyway, this was not a problem.

Shortly after they were put into service, they were assigned to the Reichsbahn, where they got road numbers ET 42 01 and 02. At the ÖBB, they became 4042.01 and 02 and were used up to 1966 on high-speed connections with low passenger numbers. This was followed by a sale to the Steiermärkische Landesbahn, which used them for a full 30 years. They were given the numbers ET 11 and ET 12 and a yellow/red color scheme. Then they came to the association “Nostalgiebahnen in Kärnten”, where one of the vehicles has been in working order again since 2014.

After the ÖBB realized that the class 4130, which was derived from a commuter multiple unit, was rather unsuitable for international “Transalpin” service, the class 4010 was developed. These were five or six-car trains, with a power car and a control car at each end. They were popular with passengers especially because of their generous space, although only some of the cars were air-conditioned. The use in international services only lasted until the end of the 1970s, after which they were still used in intercity traffic within Austria. By 2008 they were eventually completely replaced. Some were subsequently sold without a power car in order to use them on the Hamburg-Cologne Express. Although these had been refurbished, they were not used anymore.