Poprad-Tatry railway station ( sk, Železničná stanica Poprad-Tatry) is a

break-of-gauge With railways, a break of gauge occurs where a line of one track gauge (the distance between the rails, or between the wheels of trains designed to run on those rails) meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock generally cannot ...

junction station ''Junction station'' usually refers to a railway station situated on or close to a junction where lines to several destinations diverge. The usual minimum is three incoming lines. At a station with platforms running from left to right, the minimum ...

serving the

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

Poprad Poprad (; hu, Poprád; german: Deutschendorf) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. It is the biggest town of the Spiš region and the t ...

, in the

Prešov Region The Prešov Region, also Priashiv Region ( sk, Prešovský kraj, ; hu, Eperjesi kerület; uk, Пряшівський край) is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions and consists of 13 districts (okresy) and 666 municipalities, 23 o ...

, northeastern

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

. Opened in 1871, the station forms part of the standard gauge

Košice–Bohumín Railway The Košice–Bohumín Railway ( cs, Košicko-bohumínská dráha, sk, Košicko-bohumínska železnica, pl, Kolej koszycko-bogumińska, german: Kaschau-Oderberger Bahn, hu, Kassa-Oderbergi Vasút) can refer to: *originally: A private railway com ...

, and is the junction between that line and the Poprad-Tatry–Plaveč railway, a standard gauge branch line. Poprad-Tatry is also the southern terminus of the metre gauge

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 in the Slovak part of the Tatra mountains. It consists of two connected lines: * P ...

, and, as such, is a gateway to the

High Tatras The High Tatras or High Tatra Mountains ( Slovak: Vysoké Tatry; pl, Tatry Wysokie; rue, Высокі Татри,'' Vysoki Tatry''; hu, Magas-Tátra; german: Hohe Tatra; french: Hautes Tatras), are a mountain range along the border of norther ...

mountain range, a popular tourist destination. The station is currently owned by Železnice Slovenskej republiky (ŽSR); train services are operated by

Železničná spoločnosť Slovensko Železničná spoločnosť Slovensko, a.s. (ZSSK) ('' en, The Railway Company of Slovakia'') is a Slovak state-owned passenger train company based in Bratislava. In 2002 a company Železničná spoločnosť was established as a successor of pe ...

(ZSSK).

Location

Poprad-Tatry railway station is situated at Jiřího Wolkera, at the north western edge of the town centre.

History

The station was opened on 8 December 1871, together with the rest of the

Žilina Žilina (; hu, Zsolna, ; german: Sillein, or ; pl, Żylina , names in other languages) is a city in north-western Slovakia, around from the capital Bratislava, close to both the Czech and Polish borders. It is the fourth largest city of ...

–Poprad section of the

. Only four days later, upon the inauguration of the section to

Spišská Nová Ves Spišská Nová Ves (; hu, Igló; german: (Zipser) Neu(en)dorf) is a town in the Košice Region of Slovakia. The town is located southeast of the High Tatras in the Spiš region, and lies on both banks of the Hornád River. It is the biggest tow ...

, it became a

through station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing such ...

. With the commissioning of the first part of the Poprad-Tatry–Plaveč railway in 1889, the station was transformed into a

junction Junction may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Junction'' (film), a 2012 American film * Jjunction, a 2002 Indian film * Junction (album), a 1976 album by Andrew Cyrille * Junction (EP), by Basement Jaxx, 2002 * Junction (manga), or ''Hot ...

. The metre gauge connection with the High Tatras was achieved on 20 December 1908, via Starý Smokovec. On 25 March 1942, the first deportation of Slovak Jews left Poprad station for the Auschwitz death camp. The train that departed that day was carrying about 1,000 Jewish girls and young women. Most of the subsequent transports of Slovak Jews similarly departed from Poprad. By the end of 1942, when the transports were halted, over 58,000 Jews had been deported from Slovakia to Poland. Following a renovation in the 1980s, the station reached its present form as a two level

interchange station An interchange station or a transfer station is a train station for more than one railway route in a public transport system that allows passengers to change from one route to another, often without having to leave a station or pay an additiona ...

. An SKK 858 million modernization and extension of the 1980s renovations was carried out in 2006–2007.

Train services

Poprad-Tatry railway station is the junction of the following Slovakian railway lines: *180 Košice–Žilina (part of the Košice–Bohumín Railway) *183 Poprad-Tatry–Starý Smokovec–Štrbské Pleso (part of the Tatra Electric Railway) *185 Poprad-Tatry–Plaveč Line 180 forms part of

Pan-European Corridor Va Pan-European can refer to: * Pan-European identity * Pan-European corridors ** Pan-European Corridor X ** Pan-European Corridor Xa * Pan European Game Information * Pan-European Institute * Pan-European nationalism * Pan-European Oil Pipeline ...

, which runs from

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

in Italy to

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

in Ukraine, via

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

, Košice and

Uzhhorod Uzhhorod ( uk, У́жгород, , ; ) is a city and municipality on the river Uzh in western Ukraine, at the border with Slovakia and near the border with Hungary. The city is approximately equidistant from the Baltic, the Adriatic and the ...

Interchange

The station offers interchange with local buses.

Services

References

External links

Poprad-Tatry railway station on vlaky.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poprad-Tatry railway station Poprad Railway stations in Prešov Region Railway stations opened in 1871 Buildings and structures in Prešov Region Holocaust locations in Czechoslovakia