Slovakia’s state-run passenger rail company, Železničná Spoločnosť Slovensko (ŽSSK), is considering cancelling passenger transport on eight lines which would involve the termination of 70 train connections, the SITA newswire wrote, adding that an additional 150 train connections on continuing lines could be cancelled.
"Reductions on some stretches are also being prepared, which would mean shortening some lines compared to the recent situation. And then we identified some lines where there will be time restrictions, which means that [the trains] will not operate seven days a week, but only several days. This should bring savings altogether of 1.6 million train-kilometres," ŽSSK spokesman Alexander Buzinkay told SITA on February 15.
When selecting the lines where transport will be halted, the current occupancy rate as well as the possibility of using buses instead was taken into consideration, Buzinkay said, adding that the measures are part of a revitalisation plan for the railway sector.
ŽSSK denied the information in the Hospodárske Noviny daily on February 14 that the company planned to cancel 348 trains and 48 lines.
ŽSSK plans to lay off around 200 employees, first 90 to 106 administrative workers and later another hundred operating employees as the company believes its passenger volume will decrease by 5 percent this year. ŽSSK currently employs approximately 5,000 people.
Slovakia’s freight railway operator, Cargo Slovakia, told SITA on February 11 that it will lay off 400 of its 1,500 administrative workers as of April 1. The railway infrastructure operator Železnice Slovenskej Republiky (ŽSR) is planning layoffs in their administrative workforce and 19 operating employees will also be laid off.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
