Hikers and cyclists open up the former mine railway trail

The 40-kilometre-long track of the railway line carrying sand to the former mines of the Dorogi coal basin could take on a new function. The leaders of six municipalities have joined forces to build an adventure railway on the site of the tracks. Speaking about the project, the president of the Komárom-Esztergom County Assembly, György Popovics said.

Using almost HUF 500 million of EU funding, the route will be made accessible and marked out to meet the needs of hikers and cyclists, and rest areas will be built to provide water and toilet facilities.

Linking the development to the international cycle route and hiking trails

The natural and industrial history trail will be created along the Dorog-Csolnok-Tokod-Mogyorósbánya-Bajót-Péliföldszentkereszt basic route and the Annavölgy-Sárisáp section branching off from it on the eastern side of the Gerecse Nature Park.

The implementation of the route will be interlinked with the tourism development in the area and will provide an opportunity to connect with the Euro-Velo VI. international cycle route network and other national hiking trails.

The railway was in operation for nearly seventy years, then it was scrapped as scrap metal

The Drog sand railway served the mining industry for sixty-six years from 1922. Closed in 1988, the DC, overhead, narrow-gauge railway transported millions of cubic metres of sand to fill abandoned slag heaps in the coal basin. The result of the mining operations was the formation of the Palatinus Lake in Esztergom-Kertvárosi.

Today, only the embankment and a few artifacts and documents of the farm railway have survived. The rails and the Ganz locomotives, classified as scrap, were dismantled after the closure of the mine and the railway, although they were valuable relics of the history of the industry.

Local patriots and railway friends rebuild a station building

In 2021, to mark the centenary of the opening of the sand railway, local traditionalists unveiled a plaque in Csolnok and created a trail to follow. Volunteers have also started reconstructing the former station building on the basis of the ruins found.

The Dorog mine tower will also be a tourist attraction

A spectacular element of the region's image transformation and tourism development will be the conversion of the mine tower on the Dorog hill into a lookout tower, which we have previously reported on. The attraction is scheduled to be completed next year and will be linked to the experiences offered by the nearby Reimann Mining History Museum, which showcases 230 years of coal mining history.