European Railroad Discussion > A weekend in Kosice

I returned yesterday from a very pleasant weekend in Slovakia's second city, Kosice in the east of the country. Kosice is a very agreeable city to visit, partially thanks to its siting in the lee of a branch of the Carpathian Mountains and partially down to an unspoilt downtown area which escaped destruction in WW2. Getting there is easy thanks to Hungarian low cost airline W!ZZ which fly from London's fourth airport, Luton, about 10 times a week.

Kosice also has a comprehensive public transport network, consisting of trams, buses and trolleybuses although at present all of the trolleybus and part of the tram network is out of service whilst the infrastructure is rebuilt, as a consequence the downtown area is a bit of a building site as tracks are being relaid and the electrical network replaced. It'll be great when its finished!

Some photos:

1: one of the interesting features is the 5' gauge line from the border with Ukraine to the US Steel steelworks at Haniska, south of the city. ZSSK Cargo operate these Skoda built class 125s on the broad gauge line, this loaded train is crossing the standard gauge line on the final stretch of the journey from the border to US Steel

2: In the afternoon I drove the 50 miles to Plesivec, to the west of Kosice, just in time to chase this pair of class 752, the so called Bardotkas (named after Brigitte Bardot), on a tank train along the line towards Zvolen, I caught them three times before returning to Kosice, very satisfying. That's a stork's nest on the pole on the left. Bardotkas have a similar status as do class 37s over here.

3: And finally one of the new kids on the block. Last year there were three overnight trains from Praha to Kosice - Slovakia, Bohemia and Excelsior. In December Excelsior was dropped from the schedule. Today it is sort of back, open access operator Regio jet has started a three day a week service, leaving both cities on Thursday, Friday and Sunday using one of their ordinary ex-OBB day sets, this is the Friday train in the Hornad Valley on the approach to Kosice (arrival is 07:00). It offers competitive rates but of course no sleeping cars.

More pictures here
http://nick86235.smugmug.com/Trains/2015/Slovakia-2015-Part-2/


 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/16/15 23:53 by 86235.

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And here are some trams - all Tatra KT8D5 which are double ended. Five lines are operating R1, R2, 3, 4 and 9; the R prefix indicates services too ad from US Steel over the interurban type line out to Haniska. All except R2 are terminating short of their normal destination.

1: I arrived on Thursday in the middle of a typical Central European summer downpour. Downtown it was still pretty wet but I went out anyway to find the temporary terminus of routes no.3 and 4. That's the Hilton Doubletree in the background where I stayed which is right in the city centre so the trams aren't that far away. I like the junction trackwork which is just installed over the running rails
2: The R2, 3 and 9 terminate in the outer suburb of Nad Jazerom. This R2 is bound for US Steel. R2s run infrequently a handful of times a day normally at shift changeover. The route to Nad Jazerom is on a segregated right of way between the main road (on the left) and the apartment blocks (behind the trees on the right)
3: To cross the main railway line south of Kosice city centre the trams follow the city's ring road, this KT8D5 is in traditional tram livery, looks very dignified. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/15/15 12:23 by 86235.

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Excellent report and pictures, thank you for sharing these!

Two questions:
1) What are the U.S. Steelwork heading gondolas transporting, iron pellets, iron powder, coke, coal or maybe something else needed in the process? This is interesting since I read Ukrainian industry is suffering because part of the production was left to east behind the lines while other parts remain west of the line...meaning neither works effectively. Finding new markets in Slovakia might change this for western Ukraine?

2) Is class 125 actually the same as class 18x of Poland?

McKey Wrote:
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>  Two questions:
> 1) What are the U.S. Steelwork heading gondolas
> transporting, iron pellets, iron powder, coke,
> coal or maybe something else needed in the
> process?
Looks like iron ore, certainly not taconite pellets. I saw a train load of coal/coke for the steelworks which was hauled by a PKP loco in CD Cargo wagons so heaven knows where it came from. The 5' gauge railway also delivers oil products to a Slovnaft depot just west of the border crossing.

> 2) Is class 125 actually the same as class 18x of
> Poland?
Yes, the 125s were derived from the PKP ET40s

That PKP Cargo loco hauled train looks very interesting on your Smugmug site! Maybe from Poland itself (PKP Cargo home country) or Germany? 

I highly recommend everyone bored with most usual European trains to follow the link at the beginning and you will find many unusual vehicles! 

Nick, you have really dug up a treasure as I' suspect many of these locomotives, MUs and coaches will be gone in a few years time.

86235 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> McKey Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >  Two questions:
> > 1) What are the U.S. Steelwork heading gondolas
> > transporting, iron pellets, iron powder, coke,
> > coal or maybe something else needed in the
> > process?
> Looks like iron ore, certainly not taconite
> pellets. I saw a train load of coal/coke for the
> steelworks which was hauled by a PKP loco in CD
> Cargo wagons so heaven knows where it came from.
> The 5' gauge railway also delivers oil products to
> a Slovnaft depot just west of the border
> crossing.

McKey Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That PKP Cargo loco hauled train looks very
> interesting on your Smugmug site! Maybe from
> Poland itself (PKP Cargo home country) or
> Germany? 

Czech Republic I think, all the wagons had the CD Cargo brand

McKey Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nick, you have really dug up a treasure as I'
> suspect many of these locomotives, MUs and coaches
> will be gone in a few years time.

I'm sure if ZSSK had the money they would be investing in new trains. But as I think I've said before by European standards Slovakia is not a wealthy country so investment has to be targeted. There are some new DMUs and EMUs to be seen, built by Skoda and Stadler, but much of the equipment is quite old, which of course is one of the attractions. Unfortunately graffiti is a serious problem, as I've highlighted in a number of pictures but it is nice to stand by the lineside and know that there is a better than even chance that when a train turns up it will be loco hauled and consist of a range of different passenger cars. And of course there's freight traffic which is both heavy and varied.