Slovaks should soon expect a rail journey between the cities of Bratislava and Kosice to be trimmed by an hour within the next five years, two years ahead of the original 2020 target. Jan Počiatek (Smer-SD) from the Ministry of Transport announced this in a Strategic Plan for the development of improved transport infrastructure. When completed the approximately 400 kilometre rail journey is predicted to take around four hours.
Several areas of track are planned to be upgraded in order to safely accommodate the higher speeds. According to Transport Research Institute analyst in Žilina Pavol Kajánek, the faster link should be good for the trucking industry also, as the trains can be modified to accept trucks to drive on as cargo. However, as the head of the Institute for Transport and Economy Ondrej Matej (SDKÚ-DS), who also advised former Prime Minister Iveta Radičová in transport said, it is a very ambitious plan for the transport sector. “If the target for completion is 2020 then thank goodness, as it would be the last chance for us to use EU funds,” he said. The transport department estimates that upgrading the main line by 2020 will cost nearly two billion euro, with most of the money coming from the European Commission.
