The ŽSSK 840 005-3 Stadler/ŽOS Vrútky GTW 2/6 type DMU seen at Ul'anka station

Building the new line was necessary because the old one had a rather slow speed and it was almost impossible to find a better path for it in the difficult terrain around Körmöcbánya (Kremnica, Slovakia). It was easier to build a new, shorter and faster link with a long tunnel and replace the old line on this section, rerouting all fast trains here. Nowadays slow trains are rare, so a daytime photo of a GTW on line 170 is a curiosity. Line 171 sees some locomotive traffic from the Vrútky to Horná Stubňa stopping trains that travel on the line's double-track section and from the morning rush of local freight trains (manipulák) from the three directions (coming from Vrútky, Zvolen and Prievidza).