Tatra Electric Railway

The Tatra Electric Railway ( _sk. Tatranská elektrická železnica), colloquially Tatra Railway, is an electrified (1500 V DC) single track narrow gauge railway (1000 mm) in the Slovak part of the Tatra mountains. It consists of two parts:

* Poprad - Starý Smokovec - Štrbské Pleso (29,1 km)
* Starý Smokovec - Tatranská Lomnica (5,9 km)

History

After the completion of the Košice-Bohumín Railway in 1871 and of Poprad - Kežmarok in 1892, the High Tatras were easier to access, and tourists started to come, which entailed the need of good accessibility.

In 1896, a rack railway from Štrbské Pleso to Štrba was built.

Finally, it was decided to build an electrified, narrow gauge railway from Poprad to Starý Smokovec.Construction started in 1906 and the track was opened in 1908. The leg from Starý Smokovec to Tatranská Lomnica was opened in 1911 and a final part from Starý Smokovec to Štrbské Pleso was opened in 1912. At that time, the railway was used for passenger, as well for cargo transport.

In 1948, the railway was nationalised, from 1950 to 1992 it was managed by the Czechoslovak State Railways and since 1993 by the Railways of the Slovak Republic.

In the second half of 1960s, the railway underwent major reconstruction during preparations for the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in 1970 and since 1970 only a passenger service is provided.

At the beginning of the 21st century, the old trains built by ČKD the 1960s were replaced by new Stadler GTW railcars (ŽSSK Class 425).

External links

* [http://rail.sk/arp/slovakia/history/map/tatrmap.gifMap of the network]
* [http://www.mestskadoprava.net/index.php?mod=staticpages_view&page_id=84 About the Tatra railway] sk icon

Gallery