In 2011, after 102 years, regular passenger transport on the Tr. Warm - Tr. Teplice. This fact resonated with the public, which did not leave it at that. A year later, the railway was taken over by a group of volunteers who founded the non-profit organization Trenčianska elektrická železnica. Occasional rides on this route have become a popular tourist attraction, which also in 2020 saw a significant increase in interest.

In the interview, Dušan Nosál, the statute and director of this organization, told us more about the non-profit organization and the railway.

1. Tell us a cross-section of history from the moment you took the railway "under your wings"?

The year 2011 was really critical for the "tram", as the local people call it, and at the end of 2011 regular transport on the Trenčianska Teplá - Trenčianske Teplice line became a thing of the past. It was a moment that left people with a relationship with such a unique railway unanswered. All the more so if you were part of the railway during its operation.

The first significant help to this unique railway was the decision of the then management of the village of Trenčianska Teplá and especially the former mayor Ing. Milan Berec, who took the lead in this matter and also spoke to the deputies of the municipal council that the municipality of Trenčianska Teplá buy from ZSSK as a depot of trams with an adjacent track and 3 electric wagons.

The Čiernohronská Railway was supposed to take care of the transport and management of the railway, but in the course of 2012 a group of volunteers from a wide area took care of occasional occasional rides, the first was 1.1.2012, which I personally did not participate directly, he said that it would be good, especially in terms of maintenance, to contribute my experience from the time when I worked on this railway. Gradually, in 2012, several thematic rides took place, in which I already participated as a member, volunteer.

These rides attracted visitors to Trenčianske Teplice and the village of Trenčianska Teplá tried to meet the conditions for the establishment of a non-profit organization. We were promised by the management of the Čiernohronská Railway that it would be a Teplanská non-profit organization with its own management and would live its local life. In March 2013, the director of the Trenčín Electric Railway was replaced and my little one was elected as the new director.

In 2014, my first serious decision, when I really didn't care "everything didn't matter", was to make a radical cut and reconstruct a team of volunteers on the railway. It paid off, in 2014 completely new people came to the team, not from similar railway associations, and the team started working at 100% from the first moments.

However, we felt the need for further development of the railway to obtain our own license to operate transport on this track, because since 2012 we ran under the heading "Museums on ŽSR." When the outgoing meeting of the Slovak government in 2015 resolved this line to a "special track" , and since 2014, together with the Trenčín self - governing region, we have prepared a unique project of financial support for the operation of the railway in Slovakia.

It was a miracle that at the end of June 2015 we managed to obtain a license to operate on this special track. I consider this to be a turning point in the field of tourism and railways. Thus, from the summer of 2015, the "tram" reappeared in the ŽSR timetable and during the summer holidays, on weekends, it started running again in a regular mode in addition to occasional thematic events.

2. Has it been a while, if you had the opportunity now, would you go into it again?

Verily, we have already entered the ninth year of a new stage in the life of the "tram". My personal response to this question is decisive and unequivocal - yes. It should be said that my representative Martin Bielik and I have not known the concept of vacation for eight years other than at TREŽ, our colleagues and volunteers spend a lot of free time and weekends in the service of the public. But they do it with love and understanding of the family, for which I thank them immensely.

However, it can be seen that our efforts make sense, which is such an engine for us. It is true that sometimes there are activities around the railway to maintain the necessary competence, the highest possible safety and reliability at the limit of manpower, because we do everything in addition to our jobs, but the satisfaction of our visitors and their positive reactions are a great motivation.

3. You felt the difference in attendance in 2019 vz. 2020?

Of course, the situation that occurred at the beginning of last year inadvertently "closed" the tram to the depot and we managed to catch only two occasional events in the first quarter of 2020. We only started in the summer with regular summer weekend operation. We have extended this to three calendar months. If we compare regular summer traffic in traffic, in 2015 we started with the number of 4012 passengers, in 2019 we carried 6702 passengers in the summer and in times of restrictions in the summer of 2020 we carried a beautiful 7388 passengers.

As for the total annual attendance, we started with 750 passengers in 2012, and in 2019, when the restrictions on organizing events did not yet apply, we carried 15,934 passengers. The number of visitors is increasing proportionally from year to year, which makes us very happy.

4. Are you also preparing special rides and events for this year?

The pandemic, as well as our personal experience with the disease, proved to us that in 2021, our event planning must be done without precise and firm dates. We will have to adapt to the current situation. At the end of March 2021, we will try for the first time a kind of online tram ride without public participation. Our visitors will be able to see and remind us of this ride, even with comments, at least through social networks. Together, however, we look forward to easing measures, where possible we will organize popular events.

5. Are you planning anything special and new for this year?

A novelty in 2021 will be the length of regular summer operation for 4 months. We start on Saturday, June 5, 2021 and end on Sunday, September 26, 2021. We will also ride during state-recognized holidays during the summer operation. It will include the possibility to visit the tram depot, where visitors will be able to see the environment where vehicle maintenance is performed. There will also be a small transport exhibition of our organization.

6. Do you have long-term plans to take rail travel to an even higher level?

Our priority and effort is to achieve the year-round operation of the railway again under reasonable conditions in terms of the ratio of visitors to rides. However, it is necessary to gradually ensure the meaningfulness of this transport, so that the railway does not end up as unprofitable as in 2011. With a sufficient number of people interested in transport, the current historic vehicles would provide sightseeing runs and new trains could serve for regular transport. But that is the "music of the future" and the vision. The reality will depend on traffic and conditions.

7. What do you say about winning the TOP tourism competition in the TOP product category?

I have to admit that we did not know about our nomination in the competition and the win in 2020 was a very pleasant surprise for us. Of course, we value this award immensely and it is a motivation for us to continue. We would like to thank our supporters very much, the largest of which are the Trenčín self-governing region, the Trenčianske Teplice Regional Tourism Organization, the city of Trenčianske Teplice and the municipality of Trenčianska Teplá.

Many thanks to co-workers from our organization for their work and dedication, but a huge thank you also goes to our supporters, visitors, tourists and supporters for their interest in this railway and for their support of 2% of taxes.

I think that the award in the TOP product category in the Trenčín region is a great driving force for us in continuing and improving our services and proved that the "tram" was and especially still is part of the region and together we believe that it will remain so.

In Trenčín 25.3.2021

Text: MT