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Thousands of migrants have crossed into Austria, after Hungary's surprise move to take them by bus to the border.
For
days the government had blocked them from travelling by train, but it
relented after many began walking towards the border on Friday.About 4,000 people arrived in Austria, with many moving on to Germany. Meanwhile a second group has set off on foot from Budapest towards the border.
Austria says the migrants can apply for asylum there or carry on to Germany.
The move comes as European Union countries are struggling to agree on how to deal with a surge of asylum seekers - many of whom have fled conflict in Syria.
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Hungary's government eased restrictions on transit after many frustrated migrants overwhelmed police cordons.
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Vehicles were also sent to take those who had decided to walk along a motorway to Austria.
On Saturday Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs told the BBC there would be no more buses or trains to take the migrants on to Austria.
He said the transport had been arranged as a one-off, because of fears for the migrants' safety.
But the BBC's Ben Brown reports from Budapest that the government's move seems to have encouraged migrants who later streamed into the station.
The second group of about 1,000 migrants is now on its way to the border.
Austrian Red Cross workers at a makeshift centre greeted the migrants with blankets and tea.
"I feel [at] home," said Ayaz Morad, one of the first to arrive. "This is a great land - nice people, nice government."
The migrants were being taken to Vienna by bus and rail. Special trains to the capital are leaving the Austrian border town of Nickelsdorf every half hour.
Many immediately boarded trains for Germany. Several hundred arrived at Munich station later on Saturday.
The German government has said anyone coming from Syria can apply for asylum. It expects about 6,000 people to arrive over the weekend.
'Exhausted, but smiling': Bethany Bell, BBC News, Austrian-Hungarian border
There were children and at least one man in a wheelchair.
They were exhausted. Some of them were limping, but many were smiling broadly - relieved to have finally left Hungary.
"Where are we?" one man shouted. "Austria," I replied. "Good," he said.
Germany has said it expects to take in 800,000 asylum seekers this year.
Austria's Chancellor Werner Faymann said that after talks with his German counterpart Angela Merkel, they would allow in the migrants.
But he said he expected Hungary to respect any EU quotas for asylum seekers - something Hungary, along with the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia, has rejected.
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The Hungarian parliament on Friday approved tougher border controls and penalties for migrants, underlining divisions within the EU on how to tackle the crisis.
Also on Saturday, EU foreign ministers discussed the crisis at an informal meeting in Luxembourg.
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said they had agreed to strengthen co-operation in five areas:
- Protection of asylum seekers
- Border controls
- Fighting trafficking networks, particularly at sea
- Helping transit countries outside the EU deal with the influx
- Addressing the root causes of the crisis, notably instability in Libya and the Syria conflict.
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