About this journey

The journey begins at Štrbské Pleso, the high-mountain terminus of Line 183 on the Tatra Electric Railway (TEŽ), a metre-gauge network built in stages across the early twentieth century. The first section of the TEŽ opened on 17 December 1908 between Poprad-Tatry and Starý Smokovec, covering 19.4 km, and the line was extended to reach Štrbské Pleso on 13 August 1912. The entire network runs on 1,500 V DC and is laid to 1,000 mm gauge, making every interchange with the standard-gauge national rail system a change of train.

The route passes through Starý Smokovec, the central junction of the TEŽ, set within Vysoké Tatry — Slovakia's major tourist destination outside the capital. The train serving this line is a Stadler GTW 2/6 unit of class 425.95, a dual-mode electric multiple unit capable of running in both adhesive and rack mode. Five such units were delivered between January and mid-July 2021, replacing rolling stock that had operated since 1970.

The line arrives at Poprad-Tatry station, which first opened on 8 December 1871 as part of the Košice–Bohumín Railway, and today sits at the intersection of the narrow-gauge TEŽ and a standard-gauge main line forming part of Pan-European Corridor Va. It is a compact journey that connects a high alpine resort directly to one of central Europe's principal rail corridors.