Train routes in Slovakia
20 routes · classic 12 · night train 1 · scenic 4 · heritage 2 · mountain 1
20 routes cross Slovakia in the World Train Map atlas. The longest is the Railjet at 992 km; the fastest is the RegioJet Night Train, running up to 160 km/h; the oldest line dates to 1848. Every route links to its facts, photo and story, and to the interactive world map.
Open the world railway map →Part of the Europe train map: every route on the continent, one map.
Classic (12)
- ZSSK InterCity
Up the Váh valley, then along the 1872 Košice–Bohumín railway: the High Tatras panorama, crowned by 2,655 m Gerlach, rolls past at Poprad.
- Railjet
Four countries in eleven hours, Danube Bend to Brandenburg by way of Bratislava, Brno and Prague, and through the sandstone gorge of the Elbe on a railway the Saxons and the Austrians opened together in 1851.
- Trenčín Electric Railway (TREŽ)
One of Europe’s oldest surviving interurban tramways: 1950s narrow-gauge electric railcars still shuttle up to a Habsburg-era spa town.
Wikipedia ↗ - REX Wien–Bratislava
Europe’s closest capital pair, an hour apart on the 1848 Marchegg line across the Morava floodplain: two countries, one commuter corridor.
Wikipedia (DE) ↗ - EuroCity Hungaria corridor
The Danube-bend main line: EuroCities every two hours sweeping past Štúrovo and the great river’s knee at Visegrád into Budapest.
Wikipedia (HU) ↗ - EC Hornád
Budapest’s only direct reach into eastern Slovakia: the little EuroCity that grows at Miskolc, bound for Košice’s Gothic cathedral square.
- Bratislava–Komárno railway
Follows the Danube across the Žitný ostrov plain, and in 2012 became the first Slovak line handed over to a private operator.
Wikipedia ↗ - Košice–Prešov railway
Slovakia’s second city reached from its first: the Kaschau–Oderberg company opened the branch on 1 September 1870, north up the Hornád and off the Bohumín main line at Kysak.
- R Urpín
Named for the hill above Banská Bystrica: the southern rychlík route via Levice and Zvolen into the heart of central Slovakia.
- Košice–Humenné railway
Eastern Slovakia’s REX corridor via Trebišov toward the Vihorlat hills; the Humenné sleeper from Prague finishes on the same rails.
- R Zakarpatia
The daily crossing out of Transcarpathia into the European gauge, over the Tisza at Cierna nad Tisou on a line whose last section opened on 22 October 1873.
- Ponitran Prievidza–Bratislava
Down the Nitra valley on the StEG line of 1876 to 1896 and across to the Váh at Leopoldov on the link of 1898 that first gave Prievidza a fast train to Bratislava.
Wikipedia ↗
Night train (1)
- RegioJet Night Train
Open-access yellow night train since 2015: cheap couchettes out of Prague, over the Jablunkov Pass and under the dark High Tatras to Košice.
Wikipedia ↗
Scenic (4)
- Tatra Electric Railway (TEŽ)
Metre-gauge electric cars climb to the High Tatra resort of Štrbské Pleso at 1,320 m, Slovakia’s highest railway station.
Wikipedia ↗ - Zvolen–Vrútky railway
Slovak line 170 through the mountains north of Zvolen: the Banská Bystrica–Dolná Štubňa section alone, built 1936–40, has 22 tunnels totalling 12.2 km.
Wikipedia (SK) ↗ - Margecany–Červená Skala railway
Single track through the Slovak Ore Mountains and along the south-east flank of the Low Tatras, climbing to the spiral and viaduct at Telgárt.
Wikipedia (SK) ↗ - Zvolen–Košice railway
The southern trans-Slovak line: three hours through the karst country via Lučenec, Plešivec and Rožňava beneath medieval mining towns.
Heritage (2)
- Čierny Hron Forest Railway
One of Europe’s last steam-worked forestry railways: its branch to Dobroč runs straight through the middle of a village football pitch.
Wikipedia ↗ - Orava Forest Railway
Built by POWs in 1915–18 to haul timber: the surviving 3.5 km climbs from Tanečník to Sedlo Beskyd on a five-switchback staircase unique in Europe.
Wikipedia ↗
Mountain (1)
- Štrba–Štrbské Pleso Rack Railway
Slovakia’s only cog railway climbs 430 vertical metres up a 15% rack gradient into the High Tatras on hybrid EMUs delivered in 2021.
Wikipedia ↗
Photos via Wikimedia Commons; each route page credits the author & licence
What is the fastest train in Slovakia?
The RegioJet Night Train, running Prague to Košice at up to 160 km/h. It is one of 20 routes in Slovakia in this atlas.
Are there night trains in Slovakia?
Yes, 1 sleeper service in this atlas serves Slovakia: RegioJet Night Train (Prague – Košice).
Can you cross the border by train from Slovakia?
Yes, 6 of its 20 routes continue into another country: RegioJet Night Train (Prague – Košice), Railjet (Budapest – Berlin), REX Wien–Bratislava (Vienna – Bratislava), EuroCity Hungaria corridor (Bratislava – Budapest), among others.
Which is the most scenic railway in Slovakia?
Slovakia has 5 scenic or mountain lines in this atlas. The longest is the Zvolen–Košice railway, 229 km.
Cross-border lines continue into
Train routes in Austria 64 routes
Train routes in Czechia 33 routes
Train routes in Germany 144 routes
Train routes in Hungary 41 routes
Train routes in Ukraine 14 routes