Illustrative stock photo (source: Sme)
The new schedule for train transport in Slovakia will become effective on Sunday, December 12. Travellers can look forward to several new connections, such as trains between Bratislava and Prievidza, Zvolen and Košice.
Trains will not run from Bratislava to Banská Bystrica after 20:00. Changes will also be made to long-distance and international trains.
South route Bratislava – Zvolen – Košice
There will be no more direct trains on the Bratislava – Zvolen – Košice route with the exception of the night train Poľana. The Bratislava – Zvolen – Banská Bystrica route and Zvolen – Košice route will be connected by fast trains. Several connections will change over at the Zvolen train station.
Two more pairs of fast trains will operate between Zvolen and Košice, bringing the total to six.
The evening train from Bratislava to Banská Bystrica, which often served as the last daily connection, will be shortened to Levice. The morning express will not go in the opposite direction.
National Carrier ZSSK wants to lessen delays and better utilise the engines and staff by implementing these changes.
Changes on Bratislava – Prievidza route
There will be two new pairs of regional express trains; their number during the workdays will go up from four to six.
They will not be exchanged for locomotives in Leopoldov, so the set will travel with the diesel locomotive on the electrified section from Bratislava to Leopoldov.
The overall travel time will be prolonged by three minutes to two hours and 53 minutes.
International trains
ZSSK also plans to renew three commercial InterCity trains from Bratislava to Košice and back (there is only one pair currently). It will widen the offer of trains between Košice and Budapest which are run in cooperation with the Hungarian railway company.
Instead of two EC trains, a total of seven pairs of international EC trains will be dispatched from Košice every two hours between 6:01 and 18:01 and arrive in Košice between 9:59 and 21:59. The train connection between Košice – Miskolc – Budapest will thus be significantly improved, ZSSK claimed.
Trains between Bratislava and Split, Croatia with car transport will be introduced in the 2022 summer season. Between June 3 and September 23, the train will run twice a week, leaving Bratislava on Tuesdays and Fridays at 15:51. It will reach Split at 9:50 the next day.
From Split to Bratislava, the train will run on Wednesdays and Saturdays between June 4 and September 24 and will reach the Slovak capital at 10:49 the following day. The trains will include carriages with beds and seats and others for car transport.
