About this journey

Žilina station, which opened on 8 January 1871 with the inauguration of the Český Těšín–Žilina section of the Košice–Bohumín Railway, is one of Slovakia's principal rail junctions, where the Bratislava–Žilina and Košice–Žilina railways meet to form the country's main east–west corridor. Both lines through this station belong to Pan-European Corridor Va, the long-distance route linking Venice to Kyiv via Bratislava, Košice, and Uzhhorod. Train services are operated by Železničná spoločnosť Slovensko (ZSSK), with infrastructure owned by Železnice Slovenskej republiky (ŽSR).

The line east from Žilina to Poprad Tatry was completed by 8 December 1871, when Poprad-Tatry station opened as part of the same Košice–Bohumín Railway. The station grew into a junction in 1889 with the commissioning of the first section of the Poprad-Tatry–Plaveč branch, and it gained a further connection to the High Tatras on 20 December 1908, when the metre gauge Tatra Electric Railway reached Starý Smokovec. A major modernisation of Poprad-Tatry station, costing SKK 858 million, was carried out in 2006–2007. Today the station serves as the southern gateway to the High Tatras mountain range, offering onward access to the peaks that stand in clear contrast to the broad valley setting left behind at Žilina.