The interior of Bratislava's main railway station. (source: Sme/Marko Erd)
Passengers in Slovakia face cancellations of up to a third of train lines if the Finance and Transport Ministries do not agree. National carrier ZSSK will start reducing lines on weekends as early as 12 June.
The reason is lack of funding for the state-owned carrier. The company asked for €354 million, but received only €330 million.
The missing sum was to enable full operation for the whole year. Thus not only temporary but also permanent cancellations are on the table.
Even busy lines might be affected
So far, fewer trains will run only on weekends and holidays. The regions of Považie (around the river Váh), Gemer (south-eastern Slovakia), even cities like Nové Zámky in the south will be affected.
If both ministries do not agree, even busy lines might be affected later, including lines such as the Zvolen - Košice, Nové Zámky - Zlaté Moravce, or Bratislava - Komárno with more than four million passengers a year.
According to Transport Minister Andrej Doležal, transport in the public interest cannot be done without money. The minister hopes that it will not come to cancellation of lines.
"The European Commission sent us a letter and wants us to take action to be less dependent on Russian oil and gas. We were advised to invest or give more attention to public passenger transport," Doležal said.
He also noted that in Germany the public is given unprecedented discounts on transport tickets so that people do not drive.
Exact opposite
"It will be a disaster, the exact opposite of how the whole civilized world is going. It would be an irreversible process, because if we cancelled a third of the lines, we would have to lay off train crews, train drivers. We will no longer find them on the labour market, it is a dangerous thing," the minister explained.
Doležal also said that there could be no trains in areas where it makes no economic sense and buses will operate instead. The ministry is preparing a law on public transport in this context.
