Trains are cancelled in Slovakia

Slovakia plans to close eight railway lines, which would entail cancellation of 70 trains. The plan of the state railway company ŽSSK to reduce the number of railway junctions is reported by the Slovak news agency SITA.

While cancelling the current lines Slovak railway administration took into account two key factors: the workload and the possibility of replacing trains with bus routes.

It is worth noting that ŽSSK will likely to make more massive reduction of its fleet. As expected, in total will be cancelled 150 trains.

According to representatives of the railways, will be cancelled those trains, which suffered from long periods of downtime and were not serviced for a week.

It is worth noting that on Monday, February 14, 2011 the Slovak media reported on the cancellation by the state railway company of 48 lines and 348 trains. The interview of Alexander Buzinkay, the head of ŽSSK, for the news agency SITA served as a refutation of this information.

Railways in Slovakia are experiencing not the best times. According to forecasts of ŽSSK, in 2011 the volume of rail traffic in the country will decrease by 5%.

Reduction of rail lines would entail reduction of Slovak railways staff. ŽSSK plans to fire at least 200 people. Logistics Company Cargo Slovakia, which is one of the key customers for ŽSSK, also announced its intention to cut 400 of its employees.