Electric Tatrabahn

This article describes the narrow-gauge railway in the High Tatras . For the trams of the same name, see Tatra tram

Štrbské Pleso – Poprad – Tatry Starý Smokovec – Tatranská Lomnica
Course book series (ZSSK) :	183, 184
Route length:	35.060 km
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Power system :	1.5 kV  =
Maximum slope :	65  ‰
Top speed:	60 km / h
Legend Štrba cog railway 0.000 Štrbské Pleso 1.690 Popradské Pleso 6.816 Vyšné Hágy 9.344 Nová Polianka 10.733 Danielov Cathedral 12,324 Tatranská Polianka 13.875 Tatranské Zruby 14.969 Sibír 15.459 Nový Smokovec 16.022 0.000 Starý Smokovec 18,139 Dolný Smokovec 19,068 Pod lesom 20.790 Nová Lesná 24.019 Veľký Slavkov 29.011 Poprad Tatry 0.998 Pekná Vyhliadka 1.636 Horny Smokovec 3.253 Tatranská Lesná 4,400 Stará Lesná to Studený Potok 5.983 Tatranská Lomnica

Railway network in the High Tatras

As Tatra Electric Railway ( Slovak Tatranská elektrická železnica, TEŽ; Hungarian Tátrai villamosvasút ) the electrically-operated are narrow-gauge railways in the Slovak Tatras designated. Built by the kk priv. Kaschau-Oderberger Bahn , the routes should open up the High Tatras for tourism. Today the Tatra Railway is the most important means of public transport in the Slovak part of the High Tatras.

history

The development of tourism in the High Tatras began with the commissioning of the Kaschau-Oderberger Bahn in 1871. With the completion of the Waagtalbahn in 1878, the Tatras moved even closer to Pozsony ( Pressburg ) and Vienna . From Vienna, the journey to the Tatra Mountains was now shorter than that to Tyrol. From 1896 a cogwheel railway ran from Csorba station into the mountains.

To connect the health resorts at the southern foot of the Tatras, the trackless railway Poprad – Starý Smokovec was set up in 1904 , but it had to be closed again in 1906 due to technical and economic difficulties.

In the same year, the Tátrai Villamos HÉV (Tatra Electric Local Railway) began building a meter-gauge electric local railway to Starý Smokovec (German Altschmecks , Hungarian Ótátrafüred ) and Štrbské Pleso and to Tatranská Lomnica ( Tatralomnitz ) from Poprad ( German village ). The regular service with railcars began on November 20, 1908 on the 13.6 km long section from Poprad to Starý Smokovec. Originally, a contact wire voltage of 550 V DC was chosen for this first section . From August 13, 1912, the network was fully operational. From this time on, the electrical systems were modernized and operated with a supply of 1500 V DC. The feed-in separation point was in Starý Smokovec. The railway was supplied with electrical energy from a steam power station in Poprad.

An accumulator with 794 links was also interesting at the separation point in Starý Smokovec . It compensated for voltage fluctuations and also served as an emergency supply in the event of a power plant failure. In such a case, the trains could continue to drive to the next station using the energy of the battery.

In the years 1965–1969, the routes were extensively modernized. 18 new tram-like articulated multiple units of the class 420.95 , which were delivered by ČKD Tatra in Prague , were used in passenger train traffic .

At the end of the 1980s, the line in the urban area of ​​Poprad was re-routed. Since then, the line joins the Poprad-Tatry station at right angles from the north and ends at an elevated platform over the standard-gauge tracks of the main line Žilina – Košice .

With the commissioning of 15 vehicles of the 425.95 series , the old 420.95 series vehicles were retired and scrapped from 2000.

On November 19, 2004, a hurricane destroyed large parts of the forest areas in the south of the High Tatras. Fallen trees made all sections of the route in the forest areas impassable. It was not until Easter 2005 that train traffic was resumed in the Poprad – Starý Smokovec section. On May 27, 2005, all sections of the route were repaired. A total of over 300 catenary masts had to be provisionally erected or rebuilt.

In autumn 2018, new vehicles were ordered from Stadler in Switzerland that can be used both for the Štrba – Štrbské Pleso cogwheel railway and for the network operated in adhesion mode.

gallery

• 

  ZSSK series 425.95 , since 2000

• 

  Class 420.95 , on the Tatrabahn 1967-2003

• 

  historical train in Starý Smokovec

• 

  Strbské Pleso railway station

• 

  Starý Smokovec railway station

• 

  Tatranské Zruby stop

• 

  Starý Smokovec station, class 420.95

• 

  Class 420.95 in Starý Smokovec

• 

  420.95 series, passenger compartment

• 

  Class 420.95, driver's cab

Web links

Commons : Electric Tatrabahn  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Jindřich Bek, Josef Janata, Jaroslav Veverka: Malý atlas Lokomotiv 2. Elektrická a motorová trakce. Nadas-Verlag, Prague 1969, page 94
2. ↑ Stadler wins tailor-made order in Slovakia. In: stadlerrail.com. October 17, 2018, accessed October 22, 2018 .