SLOVAK Republic Railways announced in July that it plans to invest SK21bn in modernisation of its rolling stock over the next five years. With 64% of its coaches and 80% of wagons more than 20 years old, replacement or refurbishment is becoming essential.
ZSR is about to call tenders for 20 first and second class inter-city coaches, to operate 160 km/h international services from the end of next year. Another tender covers 35 lightweight diesel railcars to take over rural branch services from mid-2002. A further batch of 26 coaches will be refurbished and fitted with air-conditioning for domestic inter-city routes (RG 4.00 p221), and 41 other vehicles will be partially modernised.
On the locomotive front, all 18 dual-system Class 350 electric locos will be rebuilt with electronic controls and uprated for 160 km/h. The 50 Class 131 twin-unit freight locos for 3 kV DC operation will be modernised, and a further 35 diesel locos of Classes 770 and 771 will be rebuilt as Class 773 with 1300 kW Caterpillar engines and Krauss Maffei traction controls.
