Freight Rail Transport in the Záhorie Region

In the flat country to the west of the Little Carpathian mountains lies the Slovak region, which borders both the Czech Republic and Austria - Záhorie. This region is not only known for its sandy soils and pine forests. It is also rich in mineral wealth in the form of oil, gas, and limestone. The logging of wood in the surrounding forests, which is also used by the army as its training area, is not to be neglected either. All this foreshadows the potential of local freight rail transport.

The main artery of the Záhorie region and its local branches

The main traffic artery of the Záhorie region is also an important freight rail corridor crossing Europe. Rail Freight Corridor RFC7 Orient/East-Med connects ports in the north of Germany through the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary with Bulgaria, ports in Romania and Greece. Strong transit freight traffic here in Slovakia is affected by the frequent international passenger trains, commuter trains, and the quality of the railway infrastructure. However, things are changing for the better. In the coming years, the entire line from Bratislava / Devínská Nová Ves to the border with the Czech Republic at Kúty station should be modernised, and the line from Bratislava / Devínská Nová Ves to Marchegg and Vienna should also be reconstructed, and, most of all, electrified.

The first branching of railway lines takes place in the Zohor station. In the past, the line to Záhorská Ves was built here, mainly for the needs of the local sugar factory. However, the main branch line is the route from Zohor to Rohožník.

The second branching from the railway corridor occurs at the Kúty border station. One single-track electrified line goes to Skalica, and the other is "Hump". This is a nickname given by the railway workers to the single-track electrified line that crosses the Little Carpathians and connects Záhorie with Trnava.

Local freight transport on the Bratislava – Kúty line

Putting transit transport aside, there is intensive loading of raw materials, unloading of semi-finished products, and loading of finished products taking place in the Záhorie region. The most intensive hub is Devínská Nová Ves, with the siding to the Volkswagen car assembly, enters, and the station serves as a trains assembly point to head primarily in the direction of Austria and also via Kúty and the Czech Republic to Western Europe. The small capacity of this siding is a big pity since more than a hundred trucks importing steel coils to the car factory daily could otherwise be replaced by trains. This would significantly lighten traffic on the roads in Bratislava and its surroundings.

Iron scrap is loaded into single wagonloads right in the Zohor station, and there is also great potential in the Malacky station. The siding of IKEA Industries, which processes wood material for furniture chipboard production, is served by single wagonloads and groups of wagons with logs. During the summer months, the Pepsi-Cola siding comes alive seasonally, and the RWA grain elevator awaits its untapped potential.

On the main line between Bratislava and Kúty, we can also find a railway siding in Veľké Leváre. Nafta Gbely loads oil and natural gasoline here, a gas concentrate produced during natural gas extraction, into tank wagons for further refinery processing.

Regional trains of ZSSK CARGO from Kúty serve this line four times a week, always on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Freight trains on single-track electrified lines in Záhorie

From the Kúty station, regional trains of ZSSK CARGO with single wagonloads and groups of wagons serve the lines to Skalica and Senica and subsequently to Brezová pod Bradlom. The foothills of the Lesser Carpathian mountains indicate that one of the main commodities here is wood. Loading is possible, for example, on the Lesy SR siding, OZ Karpaty Gbely. On the other hand, on the "hump", the Šajdíkove Humence station is an important point. From the siding of Kerkosand, wagons loaded with high-quality glass sand depart to Slovakia and Europe.

The next station is Senica, where the largest customer, ArcelorMittal Gonvarri SSC Slovakia, imports steel coils for further processing.

There is a potential for service by ZSSK CARGO regional trains on the western side of this line up to Brezová pod Bradlom station. Single wagonloads with Little Carpathian wood are collected during the week at the Bratislava-východné station, and then they are used to form the West Logistics Train – a unit train with wood. After picking up the additional load during a stopover at the Leopoldov station, it heads to Lisková near Ružomberok for processing at the local pulp and paper mill, Mondi SCP.

A regional train to Skalica departs according to need. On the line to Senica, ZSSK CARGO can serve you with regional trains on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Regional trains from Zohor to Rohožník

The most intensive regional freight traffic of ZSSK CARGO in the Záhorie region occurs on the non-electrified line connecting Zohor with Rohožnik. The plan to connect this line with Jablonica was definitively cancelled at the end of the 1940s, so this branch is served one-way from the Zohor station. The most important load here are trains with limestone and cement from Danucem. Exceptional freight transport on this line is the transport of military equipment, which goes to the military training area in Kuchyňa. Then there is also wood loading, for example, at the Jablonové and Rohožník stations.

In addition to unit trains with military equipment and to the cement plant, regional trains usually run here ten times a week, always on weekdays. This line is also the first line where ZSSK CARGO deployed its new locomotive Class 742.6 in 2023. The first two of the twenty modernised locomotives (742 651, and 652) were delivered to the Bratislava depot, from where they also serve sidings and clients of ZSSK CARGO throughout the Záhorie region.

If you would like to transport your goods ecologically and economically by rail to or from Záhorie, contact the sales manager of ZSSK CARGO for the Bratislava region, Mária Cagáňová, by email at caganova.maria@zscargo.sk or by phone at +421 911 540 033.

 

Photos: Marián Dujnič, Martin Mačanga