Kalte Rinne Viaduct Austria - The Semmering Railway was the first mountain railway in Europe built with a standard gauge track and connects the Austrian capital of Vienna over the Semmering Pass to Graz and Klagenfurt.
 
It is considered the first true mountain railway in the world given the difficult terrain and was therefore included on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
 
But since 2012 construction has begun on a gigantic railway tunnel under the mountain range which would cut off around half an hour of train journeys and would allow freight trains to be driven by one locomotive instead of two on the old and steep railway line.
 
Christian Schuhboeck, founder of the Alliance for Nature, has been protesting against the construction of the tunnel saying the whole project was "not properly and legally tested for natural compatibility."
 
He decided to use the behinds of attractive women for his initiative "Semmeringbahn statt Tunnelwahn" (Semmering Railway instead of Tunnel Delusion) as according to him "sex sells".
 
Schuhboeck said, "The campaign has served its purpose and provided numerous media reports. The campaign is known throughout Europe and even in Russia. Even the newspaper who campaigned for the tunnel did not fail to depict our naked shots."
 
The nature conservationist said that his unusual campaign raised quite a few eyebrows, including railway bosses.
 
Yet he vigorously defends the style of the campaign.
 
Schuhboeck said, "In today's fast-paced world even large environmental problems are easily forgotten, especially when substance, problems, and jurisprudence are very complicated and difficult to convey."
 
And even though the work on drilling the tunnel has been going on for quite a while already, Schuhboeck refuses to give up.
 
Because of the tunnelling project, the International Council for the Preservation of Monuments (ICOMOS), which advises UNESCO, already classified the Semmering Railway with its surrounding landscape as a "Heritage at Risk".
 
Schuhboeck explained, "If the Semmering Railway is actually replaced by a base tunnel, this could lead to the decommissioning and in the worst case to the decay of this important mountain and landscape railroad. An entry on the red list of endangered world heritage would be the result."
 
He also warned that the tunnel crosses a protected natural area under the EU's Natura 2000 act and that the inhabitants of Vienna get a large portion of their drinking water from the area.
 
Schuhboeck still thinks he has a legal path to stop the tunnel as he explains that in Austria construction projects are often started without waiting for court procedures and thus "create a done deal situation."
 
He and his organization have filed an appeal at the Austrian Administrative Court, which has yet to decide on the case.
 
Tom Evans.