The

Štrbské Pleso Štrbské pleso (, , , or ) is a picturesque tarn (lake), mountain lake of glacial origin and a top tourist destination in the High Tatras, Slovakia. It is the second-largest glacial lake on the Slovak side of the High Tatras, after Veľké Hi ...

–

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 ...

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 ...

is a gauge

narrow-gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter cur ...

in the

High Tatras The High Tatras or High Tatra Mountains (; ; ,'' Vysoki Tatry''; ; ), are a mountain range along the border of northern Slovakia in the Prešov Region, and southern Poland in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. They are a range of the Tatra Mountains ...

. It was built in 1896 and reconstructed in 1970. At the valley terminus (

Štrba railway station 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 ...

), it connects to the

standard-gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

main line between

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

and

Košice Košice is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of approximately 230,000, Košice is the second-largest cit ...

, and at the mountain terminus (

Štrbské Pleso railway station Štrbské Pleso railway station () is a junction (rail), junction station in the High Tatras. It serves the settlement of Štrbské Pleso, which is part of the Municipalities of Slovakia, village of Štrba, in the Prešov Region, northeastern Slov ...

), it connects to the

Tatra Electric Railway The Tatra Electric Railway (), colloquially Tatra Railway, is an electrified (1500 V direct current, DC) single track narrow gauge railway in the Slovak part of the Tatra mountains. It consists of two connected lines: * Poprad-Tatry railway sta ...

Old rack railway

History

With the completion of the

Košice–Bohumín Railway The Košice–Bohumín Railway (, , , , ) can refer to: *originally: A private railway company established in 1869 in Austria-Hungary. In 1924 the company was nationalised and put under the Czechoslovak State Railways. *nowadays: The main track of ...

in 1871, the High Tatras received their first railway connection. Tourism to Štrbské pleso arising from this led to the opening of hotels, footpaths and mountain huts. Under the management of Emil Várnai, the Košice–Bohumín Railway developed plans for a metre-gauge rack railway connecting Štrbské pleso to the station at Štrba. On 30 July 1895, the railway received a concession from the Hungarian Trade Ministry. Building began quickly and the railway opened on 30 July 1896. The Košice–Bohumín Railway founded the ''Csorbatói Fogaskerekű Vasút'' (, ) to operate the railway. The line was only operated during the summer season between June and September and in winter for the ski season. For more than six months of the year, there was no traffic. From the 1920s there was strong competition from motor transport and the railway was no longer profitable. In 1924 the railway (together with the Košice–Bohumín Railway) was taken over by the Czechoslovak State Railways. The Tatranská elektrická vicinálna dráha (TEVD) was founded in 1927 to operate the Tatra Electric Railway but refused to take over the old and inefficient rack railway. During the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

traffic on the rack railway was ended on 14 September 1932. On 11 December 1936, the concession to operate the railway ended and in the 1940s the line was dismantled.

Technical data

* Gauge: * Rack railway system: Riggenbach * Length: * Maximum

gradient In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar-valued differentiable function f of several variables is the vector field (or vector-valued function) \nabla f whose value at a point p gives the direction and the rate of fastest increase. The g ...

: 12.7% * Traction:

steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

* Year of opening: 1896 * Height difference:

Rolling stock

In 1896 two

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

s were delivered from the Floridsdorf Locomotive Factory,

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, with manufacturer's numbers 1012 and 1013.http://www.pospichal.net/lokstatistik/54807-csorba.htm Four identical locomotives, which are still in service, were later built for the

Achenseebahn The Achensee Railway (, ) is a long metre gauge railway running between Jenbach () and Seespitz () on Lake Achen in Tyrol (Austria). Within its length it rises some in height, with the steeper sections using the Riggenbach rack system. It is ...

. The locomotives were originally numbered 1 and 2 but were renumbered by

ČSD Czechoslovak State Railways (''Československé státní dráhy'' in Czech language, Czech or ''Československé štátne dráhy'' in Slovak language, Slovak, often abbreviated to ČSD) was the state-owned railway company of Czechoslovakia. T ...

as U 29.001 and U 29.002. There were also four passenger carriages and four goods wagons which were built by Ganz in Budapest.

New rack railway

History

In 1968, in connection with the

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1970 The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1970 took place on 14–22 February 1970 in Vysoké Tatry, Czechoslovakia (present-day Slovakia). This was the second time this city hosted the event having done so in 1935. It was the first time an event was ...

in Štrbské Pleso, plans were made for a new rack railway. Two-thirds of the old route was used but the rest of the route was entirely new. In Štrbské Pleso a new joint railway station with the

was laid out, with a track connection for transferring vehicles. At

a new departure hall for the rack railway was built. The new railway was electrified at 1500 V DC, the same system as that used for the Tatra Electric Railway. The new railway was opened on 12 February 1970. On 6 July 2020, the line was closed for renovation, with buses providing alternative connection. The works were expected to finish by 6 February 2021.

Technical data

* Gauge: * Rack railway system:

von Roll Von Roll Holding AG is a Swiss industrial group that operates worldwide that was founded in 1803. As one of Switzerland's longest-established industrial companies, Von Roll focuses today on products and systems for electrical applications such a ...

* Length: * Maximum gradient: 15% * Traction:

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

* Year of opening: 1970

Rolling stock

Three new trains were delivered from

Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works (German Schweizerische Lokomotiv- und Maschinenfabrik; French Société Suisse pour la Construction de Locomotives et de Machines; or for both, SLM) was a railway equipment manufacturer based in Winterthur in Swi ...

for the rebuilt line. The trains consisted of a

driving trailer A control car, cab car (North America), control trailer, or driving trailer (UK, Ireland, Australia and India) is a non-powered rail vehicle from which a train can be operated. As dedicated vehicles or regular passenger cars, they have one or t ...

of ČSD class R 29.0 (now ZSSK class 905.95) and a rack

railcar A railcar (not to be confused with the generic term railroad car or railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coa ...

of ČSD class EM 29.0 (now ZSSK class 405.95). These were operated in regular traffic until 2020. On 14 January 2021 Stadler delivered the first of five GTW 2/6 three-car electric multiple units for the line. The new units, classed as , are capable of running in adhesive as well as rack mode, allowing them to run on the Tatra Electric Railway track as well. The order also includes a universal locomotive class 485.95 and a snow plough, these were delivered on 22 January. The fifth and final EMU was delivered in mid-July 2021. On 2 August 2021 the units were approved for passenger operation.

External links

About the rack railway from Štrba to Štrbské Pleso

The history of Tatra railways (including the rack railway from Štrba to Štrbské Pleso)

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Strbske Pleso - Strba Rack Railway Railway lines in Slovakia Metre-gauge railways in Slovakia Railway lines opened in 1896 Rack railways in Slovakia