Rail transport in Slovakia

The ŽSR railway network.
A train of Railways of the Slovak Republic

Rail transport in Slovakia began on 21 September 1840, with the opening of the first horse-powered line from Bratislava to Svätý Jur (at that time in Kingdom of Hungary). The first steam-powered line, from Bratislava to Vienna, opened on 20 August 1848.

The modern Železnice Slovenskej republiky company was established in 1993 as a successor of the Československé státní drahy in Slovakia. Until 1996 it had formal monopoly on railroad transportation in the country, which remained a de facto monopoly until the advent of private operators entering the network in the early 2010s. Private passenger service operators include RegioJet, which operate trains between Prague (Czech Republic) and Košice, Žilina and Košice, Žilina and Bratislava and on the Komárno - Dunajská Streda - Bratislava route.[1] There are plans to win more tenders in Slovakia.[2]

Since 2002 a law divided the company: ŽSR was left with infrastructure maintenance and passenger and cargo transport was moved into company "Železničná spoločnosť, a. s." (ZSSK). In 2005 this new company was further split into "Železničná spoločnosť Slovensko, a. s." (ZSSK)[3] providing Passenger transport services and "Železničná spoločnosť Cargo Slovakia, a. s." (ZSSK Cargo)[4] providing cargo services. Freight transport is operated by ZSCS and around 30 private companies.

Slovakia is a member of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The UIC Country Code for Slovakia is 56.

Intermodal Traffic from China

In 2017 a trial container service from Dalian in China to the SPaP port on the River Danube in Bratislava arrived in the Slovak capital on November 13, after a 17-day journey via Russia and Ukraine. The 41 containers carrying goods worth more than US$3m including electronics and machine parts were transhipped between gauges at the Manzhouli/Zabaykalsk crossing between China and Russia and at Dobrá on the Ukraine/Slovakia border, where the freight facility has two gantry cranes and a transhipment capacity of up to 200 000 containers per year.[5]

Companies

A train of RegioJet

Statistics

Data taken from Year bulletin of ŽSR 2006 (in Slovak)

  • Total length of lines: 3,658 km (2,273 mi)
  • 1,520 mm (4 ft 11 27⁄32 in) broad gauge: 99 km (62 mi)
  • 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge: 3,509 km (2,180 mi)
  • Narrow gauge: 50 km (31 mi)
    • 45 km (28 mi) of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) gauge; 5 km (3.1 mi) of 750 mm (2 ft 5 1⁄2 in) gauge)
  • Electrified: 1,577 km (980 mi)

As of December 31, 2010

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Railway Gazette: Slovak passenger market starts to open". Retrieved 2011-02-13.
  2. ↑ "Czech Republic, Slovakia: RegioJet to operate more routes in Slovakia?". Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
  3. ↑ "ZSSK Slovakrail Hlavná stránka". Archived from the original on 2007-10-08.
  4. ↑ "ZSSK Cargo".
  5. ↑ Dalian to Bratislava freight service arrives
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