ELBAHU
posted on 9th Apr 2026 18:50
This abbreviation stands for electrification „Elektrifikácia Bánovce nad Ondavou - Humenné“. After more than two years of work on the 33.5 km long line in eastern Slovakia, the work worth 221 million EUR was completed in December 2025. The construction was paid for not only from the Slovak state budget, but also co-financed from the European Union funds, from the Operational Program Transport 2007 - 2013, which covered the majority (95 %) of the costs.
The electrification of the Humenné - Bánovce n. O. line was started by ŽSR on 25 September 2023 with a complete closure of the Humenné - Strážske line section (the following article is an excerpt from the two issues the Czech Railway magazine, issues 2/26 and 3/26.
The original plan to electrify the line only had to be expanded to include extensive reconstruction of the entire section due to its poor technical condition and the need to align its parameters with the TSI, so that the work ultimately included not only the installation of the overhead line and the modernization of the line and station interlocking, but also a comprehensive renovation of the infrastructure. Thanks to the reconstruction, the line speed increased from 100 km/h to 120 km/h, but not completely in the entire section. A 3 kV DC voltage system was used for electrification.
Modernisations to stations and stops
At the stations of Humenné, Strážske and Michalovce, parts of the station buildings were reconstructed and new island platforms were built, which (except for Strážske) have barrier-free access via passenger lifts. The stops of Brekov, Pusté Čemerné, Nacina Ves, Petrovce nad Laborcom, Michalovce zastávka (i. e. Michalovce stop) and Laškovce were built as new with a raised platform of 150 m in length (Brekov 240 m), with new electric lighting and passenger shelters.
An electronic automatic interlocking was installed in the section of Humenné - Strážske - Michalovce. An electronic SIMIS W interlocking from Siemens was installed in the stations of Humenné, Strážske and Michalovce. A crossing protection device with fully automatic operation was installed at a total of twenty railway crossings.
No automatic train protection (ATP) was installed during the construction, so there is no signal transmission to the driver's cab of the train. The reason is the strategy of the Slovak Ministry of Transport and ŽSR, that if there was no ATP on the line before the reconstruction, it is not possible to newly install class B automatic train protection (national ATP) in EU-funded projects, but it is necessary to introduce class A automatic train protection, i. e. ETCS.
The Slovak ÚHP (Útvar hodnoty za peniaze, Value for Money Unit), part of Ministry of Finance, also intervened in the project, which, in addition to the electrification itself, also assessed the intention to introduce remote traffic control. Based on this assessment, it is assumed that the electrification will be followed by a second stage, focused on building remote control of the section in question from Michalovce. The implementation date of this stage has not yet been set, because the project documentation has not yet been completed.
Passenger transport
With the entry into force of the 2026 timetable, transport on the newly electrified line was resumed. In passenger transport, this means that on weekdays there are 10 pairs of regional express (REX) services running daily on the Košice - Trebišov - Michalovce - Humenné line (97 km), which means that ZSSK has expanded its offer by two more train pairs compared to the previous timetable. These are still locomotive-hauled rakes, but with the electric locomotives of Class 362 (mostly) and with Vectrons, instead of the Class 757 diesel locomotives. Most of the trains are four-car rakes with up to 356 seats.
Travel times of REX services have been slightly shortened due to the increase in line speed on the Bánovce n. O. - Humenné line to 120 km/h (except for the approximately 400 m long section near Michalovce, where the speed is limited to 70 km/h) and the greater dynamics of electric trains, thus in the direction from Humenné to Košice it is 88 min (previously 91 min) and from Košice to Humenné 87 min (previously 90 min).
In Košice, passenger can exchange to expresses to/from Bratislava and in Humenné to(from trains towards Medzilaborce and Stakčín. REX services stop on the Humenné - Trebišov section in both directions only at the Bánovce nad Ondavou, Michalovce and Strážske stations and at the Brekov stop. The latter is also frequently served by trains on the route to/from Prešov and is also located in the middle between the two larger cities of Humenné and Strážske.
However, it cannot be overlooked in the timetable that the stops Laškovce, Michalovce zastávka, Petrovce nad Laborcom, Nacina Ves and Pusté Čemerné remained completely without service by passenger trains.
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