Prihláste sa na odber noviniek
When you think cargo, you usually think of a specific direction it needs to go. However, this rail freight is literally for any direction, allowing the train to travel anywhere. An unusual part of wagonload transportation in ZSSK CARGO is the transportation of switches.
There would be no railway without switches. Thanks to them, the train goes from one track to another. You turn the steering wheel on the road, and the vehicle goes in a different direction. The rolling stock is at the mercy of switches to change its direction of travel. And this applies to trains and trams in cities alike. The manufacturer of such switches in Slovakia is the company DT – Slovenská výhybkáreň, s.r.o., or DTSV for short, based in Nové Mesto nad Váhom.
Switches Moving the World of Rails
The company DTSV has the production and assembly of switches as its primary business. It manufactures switches, switches structures and spare parts for switches too. It delivers an average of 120 of them annually to customers in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Important customers are, for example, the city transport company in Bratislava or Košice. Together with the Czech parent company DT – Vyhybkárna a strojírna a.s., Prostějov, DTSV can supply a complete solution, including construction boxes. The smooth day-to-day functioning of urban transport in the largest cities of Slovakia and the Czech Republic thus depends on deliveries that start in this town in the west of Slovakia.
How Switches Travel on the Railway
DTSV is a long-standing customer of ZSSK CARGO in the segment of wagonload shipments. Up to 80% of its production is delivered by rail. The business manager for the Bratislava region, Mária Cagáňová, takes excellent care of this client. The shunting of the first wagons of the year is intensified in the spring and lasts until the autumn, i.e. during the primary construction season. Annual production varies, but for a long time, 200 to 300 wagons are placed on the DTSV siding, on which switches are placed, heading directly to the site of construction or reconstruction of a railway or tram line.
After servicing the siding, the wagon or wagons with a load of switches are included in a local mixed freight train that serves Nové Mesto nad Váhom station. It is then heading to the station in Leopoldov, from where it is further sorted into the ZSSK CARGO network of mixed freight trains to reach, for example, Bratislava, Košice, or the border station with the Czech Republic, where colleagues from ČD Cargo take over the mixed freight train.
"At ZSSK CARGO, we do not only see large volumes and large customers. Sometimes, the most valuable thing we have is long-term cooperation, regardless of volume. The fact that customers stay with us for many years is the greatest satisfaction for the entire sales team," says the sales director at ZSSK CARGO, Marek Chachaľák.
So when the next tram or train in which you travel changes direction, remember that ZSSK CARGO also helped with this. And for even the most unusual and exceptional shipments, send us an inquiry at CargoMZ@zscargo.sk.
