Discussion Papers 2008.
Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area 76-88. p.
9 Transport in the Carpathians
9.1 The evolution of the transport network
The development of the vehicle-based transport network of the research/
evaluation area started with the building of railroad lines. The major features of
railroad network are as follows:
Compared to West-Europe the first railways emerged here with a delay of
some decades and until the 1880s their growth rate was much slower than in other
parts of the civilized Europe.
The rate and the territorial structure of main railway lines composing the
backbone structure:
At the onset (until the Austro-Hungarian Compromise, but in several cases
until the 1860s) were determined by the power interests of the Austrian
Monarchy.
Then they were shaped by the interests of the Austro–Hungarian Monarchy
in several cases by the manifestation of the national, political and economic
interests of the Hungarian Holy Crown Monarchy including certain regional
and large corporate (mostly heavy industrial) interests as well.
With the establishment of the Romanian Kingdom this interest structure was
further diversified by another member;
The Serbian Kingdom and following the Croatian Compromise Croatia and
Slovenia were also doing their best for influencing the railway network
building process by their own interests.
Hills and highlands, heavily increasing railroad building costs were excluded
from railway routes for long periods and they were crossed by railway with a
significant delay. These delayed developments are explained not only by heavy
relative costs, and the lack of skills and technical instruments in building big rail-
way structures (tunnels, viaducts, deep railway cuttings) but also by the sharp
political conflicts between the Carpathian countries (they were especially hinder-
ing the planning of Transcarpathian pass railways). Apart from the short dead-
locked railway lines of local importance, the first long-distance railway lines con-
necting regions and province seats were mostly departing from Vienna.
In the Carpathian Basin,
Following river Danube the line was passing through Nové Zámky continu-
ing to Budapest. Here the line was split into three sections (following its
route to Debrecen, Békéscsaba–Oradea and Szeged–Timişoara).
Passing through Sopron to Nagykanizsa.
Transport in the Carpathians.
In: Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area.
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 76-88. p. Discussion Papers, Special
TRANSPORT IN THE CARPATHIANS
77
Outside the Carpathian Basin the line was following the arch of the Carpathi-
ans from outside on Moravia and Polish territories through Galicia, Krakow until
Cernovic in Bukovina then through Moldova until Constanţa. These ‘Charles
Railways’ had two missions:
Holding the rebelling Hungarians in check at bay by a semi-circle of a high
capacity railway line which would serve as a delivery route for the Austrian
Army in case of a new Hungarian ‘rebellion’.
Decreasing the role of Hungarian agriculture in the agricultural supply of
Austrian and Czech provinces with cereals/food by importing them cheaply
from Transcarpathian areas. (The south-eastern branch of these railways
was favouring Romania. Its strategic role remained the same during the 20th
century. When the Soviet Union annexed Bessarabia in 1940 and the So-
viet–Hungarian border was established on the backbone of the Carpathians
– the German–Soviet Treaty preserved it as a normal gauge line between
Germany and Romania its allied state – for maintaining direct transport
connections for military, food supply and oil delivery purposes.)
Of the major railway routes departing from Hungary entering or passing
through the Carpathian Mountains zone the following lines had primary impor-
tance from the aspects of economy and inter-regional cohesion:
Budapest–Miskolc–Košice railway line.
Košice–Vrútky–Odevberg (Prussia–Silesia) railway line.
Hatvan–Salgótarján–Banská Bystrica railways.
The building of these three railway lines was motivated by the heavy eco-
nomic interests of Upper-Hungarian (Gömör, Salgó-Rimamurány, Szepes coun-
ties) metallurgy and processing industry as it facilitated their cooperation in pro-
duction with Silesia and opened new market areas.
The Vah Valley railways departing from Bratislava passing through the Tatras
was another important railway line in Upper Hungary. Its north-western sideline
to Silesia opened a new connection. The railway line departing from Košice
passing through the straits of Prešov and Bardejov through Dukla Mountain Pass
going to Galicia established a connection with the provinces of Austria in Poland.
For accessing Transylvania two alternative routes were taken into considera-
tion from the onset:
The railway line starting from Arad following the Valley of River Maros
was demanded by the wealthy and highly civilized Saxon citizens of South-
Transylvania.
Other stakeholders preferred the Oradea–Crown Pass–Cluj-Napoca direc-
tion.
Transport in the Carpathians.
In: Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area.
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 76-88. p. Discussion Papers, Special
78
SOCIO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE CARPATHIAN AREA
Although the Cluj-Napoca railways were the first opened some years later they
could join the Maros Valley railways.
Romania was in bad need of an international railway connection with Western
Europe passing through Hungary. Its route included an entry point to Hungary in
Orsova at the Lower-Danube district just to keep the railway line starting from
Bucharest on the territory of Romania as long as possible. However the Hungar-
ian Government (from the same reason – i.e. to keep them on Hungarian territo-
ries and charging as high transit fees as possible) insisted on joining the two rail-
way sections at Predeal Pass nearby to Braşov. Romania could not do anything
but to obey the Hungarian demands and a new connection point was to built at
Vercivora, a nearby place at Orsova, subsequently only to this connection.
On the main international railway line departing from Budapest and crossing
the Carpathians Transcarpathian sections (through Verecke and Užok Mountain
Passes towards Zemberg) were completed the last.
Of the countries situated outside the Carpathian area, Serbia was the first to be
connected by railway along the Subotica-Belgrade railway line in 1886. (This had
special importance in foreign trade as it was later extended to Saloniki and its
eastern section connected Niš with Istanbul.)
By the end of the 19th century a radial system of international railway
mainlines had been shaped around Budapest passing through the Carpathians and
connecting the neighbouring provinces of the Austro–Hungarian Monarchy (Mo-
ravia, Czech-Silesia, Galicia, Bukovina), Germany (through Prussian-Silesia) and
Romania (Moldova, Wallachia), Old-Serbia and with Rijeka through Croatia-Slo-
venia. The number of Transcarpathian transit railway lines was increased by some
sidelines at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries (through Turnu Roşu Mountain
Pass in the Southern, Eastern and Northern Carpathians).
The extensive radial railway network of the Carpathians was opposed by a
very few number of transversal lines within the inner side of the Carpathians. The
most important of them in long-term perspective proved to be Hungarian North-
Eastern Railways connecting Upper Hungary through Transcarpathia with North-
eastern Transylvania/Maramureş since the 1870s. Beyond the Carpathians several
lines are following the line of Carpathians within a distance of 50–70 kilometres
(in Moldova and Wallachia) beyond those having already been mentioned.
Since the 1880s, the second half of the railway age, by the initiation of local
railway companies 2–3 times longer railway sidelines have been built than the
total length of main railway lines.
Local railway companies had two missions.
Improving the general transport accessibility of peripheral area, providing
inter-settlement service facilities for the population and
Easing cargo transportation for forest companies, mines and industrial
plants, making it cheaper and facilitating local economic development in
Transport in the Carpathians.
In: Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area.
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 76-88. p. Discussion Papers, Special
TRANSPORT IN THE CARPATHIANS
79
general (by transporting wood, salt, mined ores, coal, building materials and
cereals etc. in railway carriages as bulk cargo). By purchasing stocks big
landowners, mine and factory proprietors contributed to the majority of the
costs of railway building almost everywhere but the building of some rail-
way lines was fully funded by them (later on they were purchased by the
Hungarian Railways).
The major features of the railway network of the Carpathian area before the
First World War were as follows:
Adapting to the lower population density and the less number of cities and
in general to lower mobility and less cargo delivery the network has been
created by far lower density than on the lowlands and hills of the Carpathian
Basin. This low density is also true in the case of railway network in the
hills of the Carpathians in Hungary.
In provinces beyond the Carpathians, the density of railway network is by
far lower than in the internal part of the Carpathians. This can mostly be ex-
plained by the lower financial power of local railway building companies
who due to their organisation structure/legal background could create a
smaller network (in Moldova, Wallachia, but even in Bukovina and Galicia)
than their counterparts in Upper Hungary, Transcarpathia and Transylvania.
The new borders of Hungary (having been delimited by the Trianon Peace
Treaty) and the new political division of space had the following impacts on rail-
way network (which still has higher importance than road network):
In the Eastern and Southern Carpathian regions the Transcarpathian railway
lines turned from international into national ones (bearing interregional im-
portance) which generated much higher demands for passenger and goods
transportation between Transylvania and Regat in Romania. However on the
increased territory of the Romanian state for maintaining economic/cultural
cohesion only the modernisation of the existing railway lines (electrifica-
tion, building double track lines) has taken place without building any new
railway lines or new motorways between 1918 and 1944. Railway capacities
increased between 1944 and 1989 and a motorway was built with enormous
costs for passing Wallachia. The domestic air service was launched between
the capital city (Bucureşti) and the major cities of Transylvania (Timişoara,
Oradea, Sibiu, Cluj-Napoca, Târgu Mureş, Satu Mare, Baia Mare, Oradea
etc.).
In Czechoslovakia, being formed as a new country in 1918, the east-west di-
rection became the major route of domestic transport services between the two
country parts. Therefore, the Prague–Puchov–Bratislava–Košice–Užgorod rail-
way line was reconstructed and extended by some new short sections and the
Transport in the Carpathians.
In: Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area.
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 76-88. p. Discussion Papers, Special
80
SOCIO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE CARPATHIAN AREA
roads of Váh and Hornád Valley were developed to the best quality. In the 1920s
domestic air mail and passenger services were introduced on the route of Prague–
Puchor–Bratislava–Košice–Užgorod as experimental services which have become
regular with scheduled air services by the late 1930s. In the Slovakian part of
Czechoslovakia railway services faced such a problem that the southern valleys of
the country’s eastern part with their economic centres (Rimavská Sobota, Lu-
čenec, Rožňava) were oriented by traffic towards the core areas of the Carpathian
Basin until 1918 but the central parts of the new Czechoslovakian state and Pra-
gue, the capital city, were hardly accessible by rail only by taking quite big
roundabouts with poor technical facilities (allowing low speed traffic only). Al-
though the idea of building a railway axis at the southern part of the country
(Bratislava–Levice–Zvolen/Veľký Krtíš–Lučenec–Rimavská Sobota–Rožňava–
Košice) was raised already in the 1920s its completion has still not been finished
as only some of its sections have been built as parts of the main line.
The new western border of Romania set up after 1918 has cut the traditional
interregional diagonal route of Historic Hungary at several places such as the
Oradea–Rijeka railways (built as a route for bypassing Budapest in the exporting
of the agricultural products of the Hungarian Great Plain to overseas markets) and
the Oradea-Arad main line. For this reason additional new sections had to be built
and the whole line had to be renovated for launching fast train services on the
Oradea–Timişoara railway line. As a result of the common railway development
programme of the Small-Entente states surrounding Hungary from the east and
the south the Prague–Košice–Užgorod–Oradea–Timişoara–Belgrade railway line
with its potentials of running fast train and big capacity cargo train services pro-
vided direct connections between the Small-Entente member states bypassing
Hungary.
The period of state socialism after 1945 generated the following changes in the
transport system of the Carpathian countries:
In the international transportation of goods the orientation to the Soviet Un-
ion became dominant as a consequence of an extensive heavy industry de-
velopment several million tons of raw materials (ores, alloying materials
and artificial fertilizers), energy resources and fuels were imported and in-
dustrial products and food were exported to the Soviet Union. The most im-
portant consequence of this enormous eastward railway of traffic goods was
the building of broad gauge railway lines starting from the borders of the
Soviet Union and ending at quite a big distance.
In the southern part of Poland it ended at Sławków, Silesia (about 350
kilometres from the border)
In Slovakia it ended at the integrated metallurgy plants near Košice
Transport in the Carpathians.
In: Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area.
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 76-88. p. Discussion Papers, Special
TRANSPORT IN THE CARPATHIANS
81
Apart from broad gauge railway tracks several cargo transhipment zones
with railway stations and parallel railway lines were built in the south-east-
ern part of Poland, in the eastern part of Slovakia and in the north-eastern
part of Hungary within a 20–30 kilometre zone of the Soviet border. In the
deeply underdeveloped agricultural zones they were core areas of regional
development providing more qualified job offers, better wages, social infra-
structure and official residence, secondary schools, better public services
than the average level of their neighbourhood. These establishments (in set-
tlements of Medyka, Ágcsurgó, Záhony, Unghery etc.) have preserved their
employment centre character functioning as modern centres for goods tran-
shipment but they were unfit for building local processing industry plants
based on the raw materials and fuel delivered here in massive amount.
Although the increasing foreign trade among the Carpathian countries mo-
bilized enormous amounts of goods, but very few steps were taken for the
development of crossborder infrastructure. This is true whether we look at
the railway transition areas of mountain rims, the technical development and
the traffic capacity of border stations between Slovakia and the Carpathian
section of Poland, or between Slovakia and Hungary or between Romania
and Hungary. Some progress has been made in the electrification and
building double tracks on some main line sections, but due to the negligence
of sideline maintenance and the increasing density of cars, railway services
have lost a lot from their attractive force. However, only a few railway lines
with extremely low traffic have been terminated in South-Poland and North-
Hungary but in the mountain regions of Slovakia and Romania this socially
highly sensitive plan was not approved by the political government.
The development of the road system was different from the railway. Of the
two levels of work
the covering of main roads with asphalt was completed but international
goods transportation traffic was moderate, and trucks were used as acces-
sories for short-distance delivery but international passenger transport
during the summer “top” seasons in some relations (e.g. between Slova-
kia and Lake Balaton or the transit traffic between Czechoslovakia and
the Adriatic Sea) was very high even in the late 1960s. During the 1980s
an increasing number of city bypass roads were built on main roads.
Since the 1960/70s some motorways were built at certain places. Their
majority was part of the TEN system initiated by Hungary and Poland
connecting North-Europe with the Adriatic Sea and Asia Minor. In the
Carpathian region only some sections (Vah Valley entry zone (until
Piešťany) the Prešov–Košice section in Slovakia and in Poland some
Transport in the Carpathians.
In: Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area.
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 76-88. p. Discussion Papers, Special
82
SOCIO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE CARPATHIAN AREA
short sections connecting big cities with the internal part of their agglom-
eration zone) have been completed until the change of regime.
The governments of every Carpathian country were trying to stop the
demographic deficit of their peripheral highland zones by building as-
phalt covered by-roads (link roads – to be usable by cars in all seasons –
to connect the blind settlements of secondary road network). However,
these steps could only slow down this process, but they were unable to
halt the outmigration of the local population to cities and industrial zones.
Small highland villages and settlement groups, stock breeding farms be-
came victims of the economic restructuring. By now the number of high-
land herdsmen and woodcutters has dropped to a small fraction of the
relative value of the 1980s. Workers were transported for motorized
wood cutting from remote villages and small towns by buses of state
companies or cooperatives daily or in certain periods.
9.2 The current situation of transport
The Carpathian region’s transport has been affected by the changes of transport
following the change of regime in the following ways and intensity:
Of the main railway lines and roads too much funding has been allocated to
the development of international corridors (Helsinki/PEN/TEN and partly
TINA).
The Bratislava– Žilina–Košice section of the 5/a corridor is under construc-
tion. A motorway has been built from Bratislava to Žilina in the Valley of
River Vah and the section between Low-Tatra and High-Tatra (with a tun-
nel in Branisko) will also be completed soon. A significant progress has
been made on the railway line of the same direction (some of its parts are
suitable for maintaining a speed of 140–160 km/h and the line is electrified
with double tracks) and the intercity train service between the two biggest
cities of Slovakia has intensive passenger traffic.
The 4th corridor between Berlin and Istanbul is serving Germany’s interests
(the railway connects Germany with one of its biggest market and labour
force source). Two parts of this corridor cross the Carpathian region. On the
Bratislava–Komárno–Budapest railway section the quasi high-speed train
service can be introduced in 2007 and some sections of the Bratislava–
Nitra–Zvolen dual carriageway have already been completed.
The other planned part of the corridor is crossing South-Transylvania (along
the Maros Valley) through the South-Carpathians reaching the Black Sea at
Constanţa. The motorway is crossing the Carpathians at Turnu Roşu while
Transport in the Carpathians.
In: Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area.
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 76-88. p. Discussion Papers, Special
TRANSPORT IN THE CARPATHIANS
83
the corridor railway line at Predeal Pass. The Romanian section of the 4th
corridor is under construction and its railway line is undergoing a partial
modernisation.
The M3 motorway in Northern Hungary a part of the 5th corridor, has practi-
cally been completed until Debrecen/Nyíregyháza area and its continuation
towards Carpathian-Ukraine is being planned. Although there have been
declarations on building it further until Kiev it is doubtful whether this pro-
ject can be completed.
A short part of the 10b (Budapest–Belgrade–Saloniki) corridor will touch
Serbia, a country involved in our research. (It is merged into the 4th corridor
at Belgrade.)
The 9th corridor connects Helsinki with the Greek port of Alexandrupolis
through Chişinău/Jassi (its section in Moldova is approaching the Carpathi-
ans).
The Danube waterway is the 7th corridor but its navigation with ships above
the capacity of EU economical threshold value (1350–1500 tons) called
“European” ships is quite problematic on the Bratislava–Vác–Budapest sec-
tion due to the low water level in the end-summer and autumn seasons. Al-
though maintaining the continuity of navigation on the Slovakian-Austrian,
Slovakian–Hungarian, Hungarian and Romanian/Bulgarian river sections is
a priority task of the EU Quick Start Programme no major steps have been
made so far for the achievement of this target.
The other section of the 7th corridor in the riverbed between the South
Carpathians and the Serbian Mountains is fairly well navigable thanks to
dams of the two huge common Romanian and Serbian hydropower plants
(Djerdiap I and II) rising the water level significantly. However the costs of
shipping are increased by lockage fees.
The primary mission of corridors is providing quick transport facilities be-
tween capital cities/big economic centres (e.g. on Prague–Bratislava–Budapest–
Trieste route) therefore they are serving as means for internal cohesion within the
European Union as a complex system of transportation facilities providing quick
access in several sub-sectors.
There are big differences in the completion stage of these corridors mostly de-
pending on the level of their funding. Spectacular improvements were made in
those projects that had received heavy sums funded from national resources and
loans for implementation. (Until 2004 the EU funded the preparatory plans, feasi-
bility studies, environmental impact assessments, and the guarantee interests of
loans disbursed by the banks of the European Community. However, EU member
countries may soon receive significant EU grants (e.g. from Cohesion Fund).
Transport in the Carpathians.
In: Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area.
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 76-88. p. Discussion Papers, Special
84
SOCIO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE CARPATHIAN AREA
The territorial impacts of although with long delays compared to plans but af-
ter all being realised corridors are rather ambivalent:
While these corridors are significantly contributing to the increase of the free
flow of goods and labour (and indirectly they are accelerating information and
capital flow) at the same time they have a linear strong attractive force on their
hinterlands generating effects of exhaustion and degradation on the other hand.
Along these corridors several new plants of innovative industries and services
were built with logistic and distribution centres attracting the potential labour
force of the skilled young generation of their hinterland. The agricultural produc-
tion segments in their neighbourhood produce high quality, transport intensive
and valuable products (greenhouse flower and fresh vegetable farming, biotech-
nology based knowledge, intensive production methods etc.) with ageing popula-
tion, critically high rate of unskilled labour force in the peripheral areas of corri-
dors. The outmigration of qualified population will accelerate demographic ero-
sion both in quantitative and qualitative aspects.
The air traffic centres of the Carpathian region, the big airports of capital cities
are located at the edge or outside the region (Vienna-Schwechat with an annual
passenger traffic of 17 million, Prague with 11 million, Budapest with 8 million,
Bucharest with 3 million, Belgrade with 1.8 million, Bratislava with 1.5 million.
Of regional airports the passenger traffic of Krakow is more then 2 million and of
Katowice is exceeding the figure of 1 million. The annual air passenger traffic of
Timişoara belongs into the category of 0.5–1.0 million, while of Košice and Clui
(and Constanţa) into the 0.3–0.4 million. The annual air passenger traffic of the
remaining airports (Tirgu Mures, Oradea, Satu Mare, Sibiu, Bacău, Jassi, Suc-
ceava, Debrecen, Užgorod, Cernovitz, Posten, Sliac, Poprad-Tatry, Rzesov) is
below 0.2 million (the majority has some ten thousands only annually). A grow-
ing number of regional airports are running international air services beyond the
domestic ones (mostly in the summer tourist seasons by charter flights carrying
tourists into the holiday resorts of the Mediterranean region).
9.3 The major problems of transport in the Carpathian region,
weaknesses and alternatives for their solution
9.3.1 Side-roads in peripheries
Accessing highland settlements (villages, forest farms, mining sites and recrea-
tional villages) has one and only real alternative today (and possibly in the fu-
ture): It is the network of public (and partially private) roads with technical pa-
rameters customised to current traffic situations and providing easy access to
Transport in the Carpathians.
In: Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area.
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 76-88. p. Discussion Papers, Special
TRANSPORT IN THE CARPATHIANS
85
magisterial roads. Although local stone for road building can easily and cheaply
accessed from a short distance this has no relevance on the costs of road building
as the building costs of road structures necessary for bridging the irregularities of
the ground are increasing the total costs of road building to several times com-
pared to the normal costs. Due to the expansion of motorized road transportation
the number of traditional local instruments of wood transportation (long lumber
slides, cable ropeways and narrow-gauge wood transportation railways) has
strongly diminished. However, the quality of roads, especially in the mountains of
Romania and Poland is very poor and the asphalt cover of roads has strongly been
damaged.
The assessment of the real demand for mountain side-roads (including future
demands as well) should carefully consider the local environment with special
regard to meeting the requirements of environmental sustainability.
Under similar physical surface and population density conditions:
A denser and better quality road network is needed in areas exposed to big
tourist traffic but the impacts of its higher environmental load should also
be foreseen (including the building of a bicycle road network which is
considered as an acceptable infrastructure for ecotourism. Strict limitations
should be applied regarding cross-motorcycling and quad cycling heavily
damaging forest plants and soil (accelerating the erosion process as well).
These crazy fashion activities generating big noise, disturbing and scaring
away wild animals and tourists searching for peace and quietness are
unfriendly for nature should be permitted only at certain places.
Motorcycles should be banned from tourist paths and walkways, traffic
should be limited on one-lane roads truck in time for some hours’ period
only (just to ensure the provision of local shops with the essential goods for
tourists and the locals).
Car traffic and road usage should be minimized in the territory valuable for
the ecosystem and in still existing (‘untouched’) wild forests.
The still operating mini railways in forests should be preserved because its
passengers enjoying the beauties of nature are the less harmful for the
environment. In places where tourists have great affinity for exploring the
nature in such a way and relatively small groundwork is needed for the
building of a narrow-gauge railway line the establishment of further forest
mini-train services seems advisable. For exploring those parts of national
parks that are open to the public, battery powered electrical mini- and
middle-size buses (operated by light sulphur/sodium batteries) are the most
suitable means of transport.
Transport in the Carpathians.
In: Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area.
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 76-88. p. Discussion Papers, Special
86
SOCIO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE CARPATHIAN AREA
9.3.2 Regional traffic
The transport policy objectives in building connections between provincial cities
and in urban agglomerations should be the preservation of the present role of
railway services or at least halting its radically dropping tendency. (The use of
small – even one carriage – trains with scheduled e.g. hourly, two hourly services
is recommended in simplified mode reducing the costs far below the original
level.) Bus services in areas with low passenger traffic should be reorganised by
introducing flexible, demand-oriented bus service with call-centre based mini-
buses or bigger share of taxis following the example of the system implemented
in the (Italian) Apennines. In short-distance cargo delivery the use of railway can
be profitable in exceptional cases only (e.g. the delivery of bulked mining prod-
ucts into power plants) in other cases cargo transportation by trucks and lorries
has more reality. At certain places rafts and small ships may be used as alternative
means of timber transportation. (For example national transport concepts are
mentioning Upper-Tisza, Hernád and also the lower sections of Vah and Hron
rivers as such potential places).
9.3.3 Interregional traffic
In domestic passenger transport between regional centres the use of fast, modern
and comfortable IC train services should get a priority. Cargo can be delivered by
fast light trains. For a faster access of cities dual carriageways or motorways
should be built and air taxi services should be launched.
9.3.4 International (cross-border) traffic
The international traffic in the majority of countries in the Carpathian region is
oriented from mountain top areas towards ‘mountain slope’ zones or the inside of
the Carpathian Basin (Budapest) or further towards West-Europe.
A major traffic route is oriented from Transylvania but to certain extent
from the Regat towards Hungary and Austria/Italy.
One-third of Slovakia’s international traffic is oriented towards
Hungary/Adriatic region.
Two-third of the traffic of Carpathians-Ukraine is oriented towards
Hungary/Austria.
Almost 75% of North-Serbia’s international traffic is oriented towards
Hungary/Western-Europe;
or targeted at the Czech Republic/Germany (almost 66% of Slovakia’s
international traffic is oriented at the same direction).
Transport in the Carpathians.
In: Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area.
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 76-88. p. Discussion Papers, Special
TRANSPORT IN THE CARPATHIANS
87
A smaller part of the Carpathian region’s international traffic is oriented
towards north and north-east.
To Moldova/Dobrogea, Moldavia and to Ukraine (and partially to East-
Poland and the Baltic states through Ukraine).
Between Slovakia and Poland bidirectional traffic is smaller, however
transit traffic has a larger role (this latter is between the Vah Valley and
Silesia (through the Jablonka Pass) or in the eastern part of the Carpathian
region the most typical route of north-, north-eastern traffic flow is
(Oradea–Debrecen)–Košice–Krosno/Nowy Sacz.
Compared to the previous west-originated multi-component traffic flow
system the bidirectional or multi-directional traffic within the Carpathians is
very low:
Between Slovakia and Carpathians-Ukraine and even more,
Between Carpathians-Ukraine and Romania.
Figure 6–7 show that the number of railway border crossings and the number
of road border stations between the above-mentioned countries is very low but
even between Slovakia and Poland is far below than between Slovakia and
Hungary and between Romania and Hungary.
Figure 6
Railway lines passing the country borders of the Carpathian region (2004)
Source: Author’s composition.
Transport in the Carpathians.
In: Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area.
Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies, 2008. 76-88. p. Discussion Papers, Special
88
SOCIO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE CARPATHIAN AREA
Figure 7
Cross-border car traffic through Hungary (2004)
Legend: Find at the Hungarian–Romanian border: a) in thousand; b) percentage of passengers’ cars;
c) no. of entering foreign lorries, in thousand; d) exiting Hungarian lorries, in thousand.
Source: Author’s composition.
Considering the intensity and the structural features of international traffic and
the cities of the Carpathian region:
Should be connected with a greater number of directions and with higher
intensity into the system of international rail services (Eurocity, Euronight,
IC and express trains).
Air connection should be established with a wider circle of cities.
A carefully planned complex system of high-speed roads should be planned
consisting of dual carriageways and motorways oriented towards directions
not disturbing seriously any country’s national interests.
In our time international motorway building plans are prepared on the basis of
random ideas representing a certain business group’s partial interests in the media
(such as the Odessa–Chişinău–Iaşi–Satu Mare–Oradea–East Great Plain motor-
way) and these plans do not fit neither the Helsinki corridor concept nor the long-
term national transportation concepts.