The new train timetable that will come into effect as of December 11 will bring a 4-percent boost to traffic, a 6-percent reduction in costs and two-minute faster rail connections on average. Rastislav Farkas, an analyst of the Finance Ministry's Value for Money section, told a news conference held on Thursday with Transport Minister Andrej Dolezal in attendance.
According to the analyst, the basic premise of the new train timetable is that it will speed up rail connections. The big advantage of the new timetable is that 4 percent more trains will come into service for the same amount of money. "When we look at passengers, on average 12 percent of them will travel 15 minutes faster on average, with the most time saved on the route from Bratislava to Zilina and on to Kosice," stated Farkas, adding that nothing will change for some 80 percent of passengers, whose journeys will take as long as they have to date. Nevertheless, the new timetable is criticised for the problems it causes in connections of regional local train lines.
Source: TASR
