Bratislava, February 11, 2022 - Almost half of the more than 2,000 railway crossings are not secured, important safety devices such as traffic lights and barriers are missing. Supreme Audit Office of the Slovak Republic (SAO) has been focusing on auditing of their safety. In four audited years, there have been 175 serious accidents occurred and property damage climbed to over 5 mil. euro. Many incidents would not have occurred if national strategies for increasing safety at railway crossings had been implemented consistently. However, the auditors identified significant risks associated with non-compliance with deadlines or the absence of measurable indicators and monitoring of defined objectives. The Slovak Railways has invested 13 mil. euro during nine years in safety assessment projects of railway crossings, however, only 25 of crossings were reconstructed. At the same time, the Slovak Railways did not apply for financial support from the state budget of the Ministry of Transport for projects aimed at increasing safety at railway crossings, nor did it actively participate in European financial assistance.

The full text of the press release about this issue in Slovak language is available here. Use the Google icon in the top bar for automatic translation.