Starý Smokovec | |
Address: | Stary Smokovec 5/30 06201 Starý Smokovec Vysoké Tatry Poprad District |
Country: | Slovakia |
Coordinates: | 49.1392°N 20.2225°W |
Distance: | 19.4km (12.1miles) from Poprad-Tatry |
Elevation: | 1355m (4,446feet) |
Line: | Poprad-Tatry–Štrbské Pleso Starý Smokovec–Tatranská Lomnica (Tatra Electric Railway (TEŽ)) |
Owned: | Železnice Slovenskej republiky (ŽSR) |
Operator: | Železnice Slovenskej republiky |
Map Type: | Slovakia |
Map Size: | 300 |
Map State: | expanded |
Starý Smokovec railway station (Slovak: Železničná stanica Starý Smokovec) is a junction station in the High Tatras. It serves the ski, tourist and health resort of Starý Smokovec, in the Prešov Region, northeastern Slovakia.
Opened in 1908, the station is the focal point of the metre gauge Tatra Electric Railway (TEŽ). It forms the junction between the TEŽ's Poprad-Tatry–Štrbské Pleso main line and its only other line, the Starý Smokovec–Tatranská Lomnica branch.
The station is currently owned by Železnice Slovenskej republiky (ŽSR); train services are operated by Železničná spoločnosť Slovensko (ZSSK).
Starý Smokovec railway station is right in the heart of Starý Smokovec, which forms part of the town of Vysoké Tatry, a conglomerate of separate and different settlements (originally separate villages). The only common feature of the Vysoké Tatry settlements is that they are the main tourist resorts in the Slovak High Tatras, connected through a common railway network, the TEŽ. After the country's capital, Vysoké Tatry is Slovakia's major tourist destination.
The station was opened on, together with the rest of the TEŽ's 19.4km (12.1miles) first stage, between Poprad-Tatry and Starý Smokovec.[1]
On 16 December 1911, Starý Smokovec became a temporary switchback station, with the opening of the 6km (04miles) branch between Starý Smokovec and Tatranská Lomnica.
The station was finally transformed into a junction station on 13 August 1912, when the rest of the TEŽ's main line was completed between Starý Smokovec and Štrbské Pleso.
The station building is an attractive three-storey building of half timbered design. It houses information and ticketing facilities, and a restaurant.
Starý Smokovec railway station is the junction of the following High Tatras railway lines:
The station offers interchange with local buses.