As economic interest in the Balkans grew during the monarchy, the owner of the Wiener Neustädter Canal, the First Austrian Shipping Canal Company, sought a railway concession. Together with the Société Belge des chemins de fer, the k.k. private railway Vienna-Aspang was established, and the Aspang station was built in a historicizing Renaissance style by 1881. At the same time, construction began on the approximately 85-kilometer railway line. The boundary stones erected bore the initials W.S.B. for Vienna-Saloniki Railway, which would have corresponded to the original plan. Between 1939 and 1943, tens of thousands of Austrian Jews were deported from Aspang station and did not return. During the occupation period after World War II, Aspang station served as a terminal for the British occupying forces. Railway operations continued until the station was closed in 1945.