The heavy rail element of the Bratislava Integrated Transport System involves reopening the line from Predmesti to Filiáka, and boring a new 2.5km tunnel under the Danube to join the existing line to Vienna north of Petržalka station.

Počiatek says the government decided to remove the project from Slovakia's 2007-13 Transport Operational Programme following the conclusion of a feasibility study carried out on behalf of the European Commission, which recommended that the link should not go ahead in its current form for technical and financial reasons.

Slovakia had planned to secure most of the funding for the project from European Union sources. The government says funding already allocated to the line will be diverted to other projects, including the acquisition of new suburban trains for Bratislava and Košice and the first phase of Bratislava's Hlavná Stanica – Šafárikovo Námesti – Janíkov Dvor light rail line.