Railways of the Slovak Republic ( sk, Železnice Slovenskej republiky,

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

: ''ŽSR'') is the state-owned

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

infrastructure company of

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 ...

. The company was established in 1993 as the successor to the

Czechoslovak State Railways Czechoslovak State Railways (''Československé státní dráhy'' in Czech or ''Československé štátne dráhy'' in Slovak, often abbreviated to ČSD) was the state-owned railway company of Czechoslovakia. The company was founded in 1918 a ...

( sk, Česko-slovenské štátne dráhy) in Slovakia following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. It had a formal monopoly on railroad transportation in Slovakia until 1996, and while other rail transport companies have since been allowed to operate in the countryfor example, RegioJet, a private provider, has been operating passenger rail lines since 2012, it has retained a

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

monopoly. In 2002, the Slovak parliament passed a law dividing the company. ŽSR was tasked with infrastructure maintenance, while passenger and freight transport was moved to Železničná spoločnosť. In 2005, this new company was further split into

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 ...

,Slovak rail ZSSK
which provides passenger services, and

Železničná spoločnosť Cargo Slovakia Železničná spoločnosť Cargo Slovakia, a. s. (ZSSK CARGO, VKM: ZSSKC) is the Slovak state-owned freight train operator based in Bratislava. It was established on 1st January 2005 by separating Železničná spoločnosť into two different co ...

,ZSSK Cargo
/ref> which provides freight services.

Bodies

The governing bodies of ŽSR are the Management Board and General Director.

Management board of ŽSR

The Management Board is the top body of the railways. It has nine members—six members of them are experts from the transport sector, finance, banking, economics and law, three are elected as representatives of the railway employees. Board members are appointed and dismissed by the Minister of Transport, Posts and Telecommunications of the Slovak Republic, three of them are appointed and dismissed by the proposal based on the election of the employees. Office of the Management Board of ŽSR provides administrative and technical operations. General inspection SR ŽSR performs inspection and control of organizational units of ŽSR and provides tasks associated with improvement of the management system and compliance with legislative regulation, monitors implementation of decisions of ŽSR and gives suggestions for their implementation.

General director

The general director manages the activities of ŽSR and is responsible for its performance and the results to the Management Board. The general director is a statutory body of ŽSR. He represents the company externally and is acting on its behalf in all matters except the matters that are in the exclusive competence of the Management Board or the Ministry of Transport, Posts and Telecommunications. The general director is represented by four agents responsible for specific departments of ŽSR. The general director is appointed and dismissed by the Minister of Transport, Posts and Telecommunications.

Deputies of General Director

The general director manages the Department of Director General and has four deputies who are in charge of handling the activity in other departments. Sections and branches associated with the departments are subject to the deputy.

Organizational structure

Railways of Slovak Republic is further divided into Headquarters and Management and maintenance of railway infrastructure.

Headquarters

Departments of Director General: * Department of Deputy Director General for Development and IT * Department of Deputy Director General for Economy * Department of Deputy Director General for Operation * Department of Deputy Director General for Human Resources All departments are located in the capital city, Bratislava.

Management and maintenance of railway infrastructure

Management of railway infrastructure

This section has two local departments. The first one is situated on the West of the Slovak Republic in Trnava and the second location is on the East of the Slovak Republic in Košice.

Maintenance of railway infrastructure

Maintenance of railway infrastructure is divided into two regional headquarters and two divisions. *Regional Headquarters in the locality of Zvolen *Regional Headquarters in the locality of Žilina *Bridge Division in Košice *Bridge Division in Bratislava

Representation abroad

Railways of Slovak Republic are represented in international organizations in Brussels, Belgium and Warszawa, Poland. * CER - Community of European Railway; Brussels,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

OSJD The Organization for Cooperation of Railways (OSJD or OSShD) (russian: Организация Сотрудничества Железных Дорог or ОСЖД), was established as the equivalent of the International Union of Railways (UIC) to ...

– Organization for Cooperation of Railways; Warszawa,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

Passenger transport

Detailed information about pricing is published on the websites of individual companies providing passenger transport: * "

, a. s." (ZSSK) * " RegioJet (RJ)

Notes

References

Official websiteAnnual report 2008Slovak rail ZSSKZSSK Cargo
*© ŽSR - Železničné telekomunikácie na základe publikácie: Dejiny železníc na území Slovenska, Ing. Jiří Kubáček CSc, History of railways of Slovak Republic

External links

Official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeleznice Slovenskej republiky Railway companies of Slovakia Railway infrastructure managers