The Tatra Electric Railway ( sk, Tatranská elektrická železnica), colloquially Tatra Railway, is an electrified (1500 V DC) single track

narrow gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller struct ...

in the Slovak part of the

Tatra mountains The Tatra Mountains (), Tatras, or Tatra (''Tatry'' either in Slovak () or in Polish () - '' plurale tantum''), are a series of mountains within the Western Carpathians that form a natural border between Slovakia and Poland. They are the hi ...

. It consists of two connected lines: *

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 ...

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Starý Smokovec Starý Smokovec (; german: Altschmecks; hu, Ótátrafüred; pl, Stary Smokowiec) is a part of the town of Vysoké Tatry in northern Slovakia in the Tatras. Its name is pronounced approximately "Star-EE Smoke-oh-vets", meaning "Old Smokovec". ...

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Štrbské Pleso Štrbské pleso (, german: Tschirmer See, pl, Szczyrbskie jezioro, hu, Csorbató or ) is a picturesque mountain lake of glacial origin and a top tourist destination in the High Tatras, Slovakia. It is the second-largest glacial lake on the Sl ...

(29,1 km) *

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Tatranská Lomnica Tatranská Lomnica (; hu, Tátralomnic, pl, Tatrzańska Łomnica) is a part of the town of Vysoké Tatry in northern Slovakia in the Tatras The Tatra Mountains (), Tatras, or Tatra (''Tatry'' either in Slovak () or in Polish () - ''plura ...

(5,9 km) At Štrbské Pleso, the railway connects to the

Štrbské Pleso–Štrba rack railway The Štrbské Pleso–Štrba rack railway is a gauge narrow-gauge railway in the High Tatras. It was built in 1896 and reconstructed in 1970. At the valley terminus (Štrba railway station), it connects to the standard-gauge main line between B ...

History

After the completion of the Košice-Bohumín Railway in 1871 and of Poprad - Kežmarok in 1892, 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 ...

were easier to access, and tourism expanded, which required accessibility. In 1896, a

rack railway A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with t ...

from Štrbské Pleso to

Štrba Štrba is a village in the Poprad District, Prešov Region, northern Slovakia. It is situated in the Sub-Tatra Basin, which separates the High Tatras and Low Tatras at the European continental divide between the Baltic and the Black Sea. It is ...

was built. Finally, it was decided to build an electrified, narrow gauge railway from Poprad to Starý Smokovec. Construction started in 1906 and the track was opened in 1908. The branch line from Starý Smokovec to Tatranská Lomnica was opened in 1911 and the final extension from Starý Smokovec to Štrbské Pleso was opened in 1912. At that time, the railway was used for passenger, as well as for cargo transport. In 1948, the railway was nationalised. From 1950 to 1992, it was managed by 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 ...

and since 1993 by the Railways of the Slovak Republic. In the second half of the 1960s, the railway underwent major reconstruction during preparations for the

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships is a biennial nordic skiing event organized by the International Ski Federation (FIS). The World Championships was started in 1925 for men and opened for women's participation in 1954. World Championship eve ...

in 1970. Since 1970, the railway provides only passenger service. At the beginning of the 21st century, the old ČSD Class EMU 89.0 trains built by

ČKD ČKD (Českomoravská Kolben-Daněk) () was one of the largest engineering companies in the former Czechoslovakia and today's Czech Republic. It is famous for the Tatra T3, a tramcar that sold 13,991 units worldwide. History ČKD was formed i ...

in the 1960s were replaced by new

Stadler GTW The Stadler GTW is an articulated railcar for local transport made by Stadler Rail of Switzerland. GTW stands for Gelenktriebwagen (articulated railcar). History The Biel–Täuffelen–Ins-Bahn near Bern, Switzerland was looking for a light ...

ZSSK Class 425.95 railcars.

Rolling stock

Network map

Gallery

Image:Tatra's electrical Railways, Poprad 02.jpg, Tatra railway in Poprad Image:Stary_smokovec_train_station.jpg, Railway Station in Starý Smokovec, with old set of trains ( ČSD Class EMU 89.0) Image:Tatranske_Zruby_station_Tatry.jpg, Railway Halt in Tatranské Zruby Image:Strbske_pleso_trainstation.jpg, Railway Station in

, transfer point between the Tatra electric railway and the Štrbské Pleso - Štrba rack railway Image:Tatra-railway004.jpg, Station at Tatranská Lomnica Image:Tatra-railway005.jpg, Station at Starý Smokovec

References

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External links