Prihláste sa na odber noviniek
Due to their mountainous character, the Kysuce, Turiec, Orava and Liptov regions do not pride with a dense railway network. However, thanks to transit routes and important industrial companies in the region, freight rail transport is still active here. And its untapped potential is even greater.
Kysuce – a Region Dominated by Transit
In the north-western region of Slovakia, there is only one railway line used for freight transport. In Žilina, the east-west branch connects with the north-south branch, and trains heading to the Czech Republic and Poland all pass along the main line up to the Čadca border station, from where they still have to climb the Jablunkovský pass. ZSSK CARGO in Čadca receives and hands over a large number of trains, so there is no lack of traffic of unit trains connecting the Baltic, Adriatic and Black Seas, but also heading to and from Slovak dry ports on the Ukrainian border.
However, regional transport is very weak here. Due to high costs and low throughput (only occasional loading of wood), the handling train on the local line from Čadca to Makov was cancelled. However, customers can still use the general loading and unloading tracks at the Čadca station. If necessary, this station is served by a local train from Žilina.
"To make wood transport competitive with road transport, we use a method of wagons grouping. Loading takes place in Kysucké nové Mesto, Krásna nad Kysucou and Čadca - and groups of wagons are combined into a unit train," explains ZSSK CARGO regional sales manager Ľuboš Mierny.
In addition to the transport of wood, coal from the Czech Republic is also sporadically delivered here in Czech wagons of the Ea series, which are mainly used by customers in villages without gas connections. However, at the moment, like most coal transports, these wagons are in a slowdown mode, as the rising coal prices cannot match the state-subsidized gas prices.
Žilina and its Surroundings – Dominance of Automotive
In Žilina itself, the most active customer is KIA Motors. In addition to providing connecting operations, ZSSK CARGO also operates the siding itself. And not only ready-made cars are transported. ZSSK CARGO also provides service to the Ferona company, where the main task is the separation and gradual supply of the siding with metal coils aimed for cars production in the KIA Motors plant. There is a covered warehouse in Ferona, where it is possible to temporarily store coils. Last mile transfer to the KIA Motors plant is performed in a just-in-time manner by trucks.
The Ferona siding is located on the local line to Rajec. Unfortunately, the transport of uncalcined dolomite to Ostrava has stopped due to problems on the part of the Moravian steelworks. In the meantime, a very strong passenger tact traffic was introduced on the Rajec track, which makes it very complicated to squeeze freight trains in between the passenger ones. Their departure is thus postponed until late at night. Similarly, the transportation of desulphurized limestone from Lietavská Lúčka has been shut, as the transportation of the well-known Ekocell Express stopped at the end of the year due to the end of production at the Nováky coal-fired power plant. Replacements for these transports are currently being sought.
It is important to note that in the second half of 2024, the entire Rajec line will be shut down for about 8 months due to the connection of tracks to the newly built corridor in Žilina. During this lockout, no transport will be operated - neither passenger nor freight. This also applies to potential limestone transport, as well as occasional single wagonloads in the form of wood.
In the city of Žilina, there is also a siding of the Žilinská teplárenská heating plant, where the contract for the import of coal lasts until the end of 2026. But, like the heating plant in Martin, the technology here is also changing to a different combustion system, and it is not certain whether the railway will be able to serve for fuel deliveries of the future. The adjacent siding to the paper mills could not compete with the truck transport. Finished hygiene paper products are very light and the price of rail transport, despite constant attempts, always turns out to be almost double that of road transport. Here it is worth remembering that while trucks only pay for tolled sections of roads, trains must pay for every kilometer traveled anywhere - and it is not a level playing field for business.
Since there are limestone reserves not only in the Rajecká valley but in the entire vicinity of Žilina, not far from the marshalling station in Žilina-Teplička, from where regular mixed trains run to Štúrovo, Bratislava, Zvolen, Košice and Ostrava, there is another active siding. The company Dolvap in Varín loads wagons into mostly unit trains, but also groups of wagons to customers, primarily in the metallurgical industry.
Vrútky and Martin – a Great Potential
Continuing along the main line of the Košice-Bohumín railway to the east, after a series of tunnels, we reach Vrútky and Martin. A regular local train takes mixed cargo from Žilina uphill to Horná Štubňa, where the load of single wagonloads and wagon groups is shared by subsequent local trains in the branch to Prievidza and Nováky and in the direction to Hronská Dúbrava and Zvolen.
The weak connection of active sidings in Turiec does not supply ZSSK CARGO with many single wagonloads. However, the sidings in the Vrútky area have high potential. At the moment, they mainly deal with the transportation of steel scrap. An example is the Hotis Recycling siding, on which ZSSK CARGO will operate the track.
Orava - After Metallurgy, Only Wood Remained
In Kraľovany, the only line of the Orava region branches off from the main line. It ends in Trstená. In the past, the Orava Ferroalloy Works (OFZ) transported large amounts of goods on it. Even though these transports were taken over by private operators, after the energy crisis OFZ completely subsided, and currently the company is only considering which country to move its activities to abroad.
On "Oravka" line, loading and unloading tracks remained in the stations where wood and scrap are loaded. Service here is provided by local trains departing from Lisková near Ružomberok.
The locomotive on these trains could also be used to serve the planned revival of the wood warehouse in Ľubochňa. Slovwood, an important customer of ZSSK CARGO, for whom we transport logistics trains from various corners of Slovakia to the Ružombersk pulp mill, plans to operate the former Lesy SR siding here. ZSSK CARGO could thus carry out the movement and shunting of wagons and the subsequent composition of unit trains on it.
Liptov - the Never-ending Power of Paper and Wood
In Liptov, cargo traffic is concentrated in Lisková near Ružomberok. The local pulp mill Mondi SCP uses the railway not only for the import of logistic trains with wood. Groups of wagons with chemicals from Nováky, or unit trains with calcium carbonate from eastern Slovakia also go to the company. From the finished production, the pulp mill uses the railway to export the pulp in covered wagons. And in addition to logistics trains from the south, east and west of Slovakia, unit trains with wood from the Polish port of Gdynia also arrive here.
The local service serves the Ružomberok station loading and unloading tracks on a shift basis. Here, trains loaded with sand for the local concrete plant supplying the construction of the Ružomberok highway bypass, including the construction of the tunnel, run reliably for a long time. If necessary, the local locomotives also go on satellite handling trains - to the aforementioned Orava region, but also to Upper Liptov.
In Upper Liptov, the sawmill of Rettenmeier Tatratimber is the strongest customer. Wood chip transports have already ceased, but most recently, unit trains with wood from Germany have started arriving with ZSSK CARGO traction, which the Lisková local service crew helps to shunt to the siding of this company.
However, there is potential for exploiting the Upper Liptov local train. For example, there used to be single wagonloads with ethanol to the St. Nicolaus distillery siding, loading and unloading tracks of Liptovský Mikuláš station were used to load wood or scrap, and then there is unused siding of the concrete plant in Liptovská Teplá or the gravel loading site in Kráľová Lehota.
Fotos: Peter Vlček, Martin Zvonár, Matúš Vrška, Jozef Mráček, Nikola Bařinková, Marián Gjer a ZSSK CARGO
