The Košice Historical Children’s Railway was built in Košice in 1955-1956 as the Pioneer Railway. The local railway was financed by the Ministry of Transport and it was the first recreational railway in Czechoslovakia at the time. Among other things, following the example of similar railways in the Soviet Union at the time, it also served to educate and motivate young railway workers. Such railways were later established in Prešov, Pilsen, and other cities of Czechoslovakia. However, only the one in Košice was preserved.
The operation was financed by ČSD from the beginning, after the establishment of the Slovak Republic in 1993 it was succeeded by ŽSR. After the division of the railways in the 1990s, the property of DŽ was also divided. The draw in Čermel and the historical railway vehicles became the property of Železničná spoločnosť, a.s. on 1 January 2002. The track, including transport facilities, remained the property of ŽSR.
The operation in those years, but also to a decisive extent in the present, is financed by the city of Košice. At present, according to the valid Act on railways no. 164/1996 Coll. Košice children’s historical railway with a special track, included in the III. category of national railways, intended to ensure the transport needs of the city of Košice in the field of tourism during the summer season.
Until 2002, the operating loss was equally shared by Železnice Slovenskej republiky, Železničná spoločnost, a.s. and the city of Košice. Since 2003, all operating costs have been borne by the city of Košice (in the past also through DPMK, a.s.). In past years, seasonal operation usually lasted from May 1, roughly until mid-September.
In 2011, the civic association Detská železnica Košice took over all KDHŽ railway vehicles, and in 2012 it became the operator of transport on the railway.
The railway was and still is intended for children, tourists and for teaching future railway workers. The track with a length of 3.899 km has the so-called “German gauge” with a wheelbase of 1000 mm. The biggest slope on the track reaches 26 ‰. The maximum permitted speed on this track is 20 km/h. The track has no turns or roundabouts, the stations at the ends of the track are dead ends. The track runs parallel to the Čermeľský stream in the entire section, which it crosses in two places in the Vpred – Alpinka section. At the Čermeľ station, there are still used historic switches and rails from the Štiavnicka railway. The original switches and traffic tracks at the Vpred station have been canceled and today only one track passes through the station. The current children’s railway ends in zst. Alpinka (originally Pionier) near the suburban recreation center.
The line is also currently 3.9 km long with a unique gauge of 1000 mm (this is only the case in Bratislava on the tram line and in the Tatras on the TEŽ). Railway vehicles, except for locomotives, are listed as a movable national cultural monument in the Central List of the Monument Fund of Words. of the Republic (UZPF SR ). For visitors and children, there are also sinkholes and the historical bus line H1.
The plan of OZ DŽK is year-round operation. The goal is to introduce rides during working holidays, special rides, night rides, St. Nicholas’s, corporate, social, historical and other rides that would more effectively evaluate and make the existence of DŽ more visible. That is also why OZ Detská železnica, in cooperation with the City of Košice, prepared a railway revitalization project that would address this goal. The historic narrow-gauge railways in Košice and the village of Nagybörzsöny received European funding for modernization in 2021. The modernization should include the repair of the boiler of the Katka locomotive, 4 bridges and approximately 1 kilometer of the track itself will also be reconstructed. Furthermore, two Italian carriages should be converted into summer-type carriages. The project is called Narrow Gauge Railway as a unique gateway to the knowledge of natural and cultural heritage, and the Košice Railway will receive a total of €174,000 from this project. In the past, proposals were prepared to extend the track by 974 m, but due to financial limits, it is currently unrealistic and this plan has been postponed.
