Trieste-Rijeka, finally by train!

Since April, thanks to EU cohesion funds, the Trieste-Rijeka route has been open: a railway connection with symbolic value is back, decades after being interrupted at the end of the Second World War. We boarded the train on opening day

Insistent drizzle, leaden sky and autumnal temperature, at 7 am on April 24^th at the small station of Villa Opicina. On platform 1, already crowded with journalists, cameramen and representatives of the Italian, Slovenian and Croatian delegations, a salvific buffet table awaits us with hot coffee and croissants, served by a very kind catering staff.

Until the end of September, the train will connect Trieste and Rijeka, every day at 7.50 am with return at 6.25 pm – calling at the stations of Sežana, Divača, Pivka, Ilirska Bistrica, Šapjane, Matulji and Opatija. This is one of the pilot phases of the “Sustance ” project worth 2.1 million Euros, 80% co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the INTERREG Program Central Europe.

The three-year project, which began in April 2023 with the involvement of eight partners including the Slovenian and Croatian Railways led by the Central Europe Initiative  (CEI) of Trieste, includes various other activities: the creation of ICT applications for transport in the Emilia Romagna Region and in the Istria Region; a web portal to encourage the use of rail transport in Italy, Slovenia and Croatia; the feasibility study to improve passenger rail service between Pula (Croatia) and Divača (Slovenia); the extension to Sopron (Hungary) of the current cross-border connection between Neusiedl am See (Austria) and Fertőszentmiklós, which runs next to the national park (cross-border, see the park sites in Austria  and in Hungary ).

The Stadler Flirt train of the Slovenian Railways (SŽ - Slovenske Železnice ) carries up to 235 passengers, employs staff from the Slovenian and Croatian railway companies and features spaces for the transport of bicycles and strollers as well as for disabled people. A service – as declared shortly before the ribbon cutting by Roberto Antonione, Secretary General of the CEI – "which represents an important step towards improving connectivity in the European territory". Vlasta Kampoš Jerenec, from the Slovenian Ministry of Infrastructure, underlined that in addition to being an opportunity for sustainable mobility, “it is also an opportunity to connect people, just like happened to me – I met my husband on a train!”.

The speeches by Cristina Amirante (Councilor of the FVG Region for infrastructure and territory), Darja Kocjan (director of the passenger division of the Slovenian Railways) and Andrea Glavaš (deputy sales director of the Croatian Railways/ HŽPP - Hrvatske Željeznice Putnički Prijevoz ) also highlighted the value of the project in strengthening the European cohesion and integration of the populations living in the rural and urban areas of these territories.

At the departure of the inaugural train, all carriages, except one, are reserved for the dozens of people invited by the organisers. The only carriage reserved for "ordinary travellers" hosts a small group of older friends, a few couples, a man in his 50s and two cycle tourists.

“I'm from Rijeka and he's from Trieste”, Daniela tells me, pointing to her partner sitting opposite her, “we found out online that this train would leave today and we decided to go and visit my family”. They have been living in Trieste for just over a year, "but I hadn't showed him around the city yet", she adds, smiling.

I ask the two seasoned cycle travellers, who speak German, how they found out about this train. “Ah, we found out by chance. We are travelling with our bikes towards the south of Croatia. Once we arrived in Trieste, given the bad weather, we decided to continue by train. But at the station they said that the departure station was up, 'almost in the mountains'...!”. And so, they cycled from Trieste's Piazza della Libertà for 7 km in the rain to the “Villa Opicina”  station at 330 metres above sea level, the last bastion of the Italian railway network a stone's throw from the border with Slovenia.

The journey lasts two hours, which according to the train conductor is a bit too long, "given that it takes just over an hour by car, Slovenian and Croatian border controls permitting" (reintroduced in October 2023 and still in force). In fact, from Trieste to Rijeka there are 71 km. “Yes”, points out a Slovenian lady who got to Sežana station, “my husband and I can drive to Rijeka with 32 Euros (equivalent to a return train ticket for two people) of petrol in an hour, but how about the convenience of sitting here reading, avoiding traffic, queues and looking for a parking spot upon arrival?”.

Surprisingly, several people are waiting for us at the Divača stops. Tatjana and Mara get on and, smiling, begin to distribute homemade biscuits and grappa, the aroma of which will permeate the carriages for the rest of the journey. Baritone Jure Počkaj also gets on with them, and once the train left, he attracts all the cameras and cellphones by singing Andrea Bocelli's famous song "Con te partirò".

An emotional parenthesis, while under the insistent rain the train crosses the border between Slovenia and Croatia. Rok Gombač, 24, plays the 10 size diatonic accordion. “He's my teacher”, he says, pointing to a red-haired boy who seems to be his age. Instead he is about ten years older – his name is Niko Poles , and he answers me smiling: “I've been playing since I was seven years old. And now I teach accordion to dozens of children, young and old people in Divača, Matulji and Ilirska Bistrica”. No one on the train can resist this captivating music, not even Winfried Ritt, senior project manager of the Interreg Central Europe Programme. He asks me about them, discovering how widespread and popular accordion playing is in Slovenia, and sheds some of his official composure, smiling openly when the dancing and singing break out.

"Just fun", one of the passengers who left Trieste tells me. "If only it were always like this, it would be like being at a travelling party!". He read the news in the Piccolo that this train would leave today, and says that he will probably use it often. "Because I often go to Istria with friends, since the times of Yugoslavia. Today we will tour the city, go shopping and stop as always to eat fish at Konoba Rijeka". In Ilirska Bistrica, mayor Gregor Kovačič and some girls with long braids and traditional dresses go up, distributing sweets and information material about their city – all focused on sustainable tourism, under the slogan “In the Heart of Mother Nature " – together with very young accordionists. Barbara and Klara, aged 15, tell me almost proudly that they have been playing for six and two years respectively.

Upon arrival, promptly at 9.50, the Rijeka station is packed and the party continues on platform 1. The mayor of Rijeka, Marko Filipović, arrives to shake hands with his Trieste counterpart, Roberto Di Piazza, to welcome the train. The dances that began on the train continue, accompanied by the accordions of Rok, Niko and all the other budding musicians and countless glasses of grappa.

After half an hour the whole delegation walks to the beautiful city library (Gradska knjižnica Rijeka ), renovated with EU cohesion funds and inaugurated in December 2023, where the press conference is held.

Other institutional representatives join the conference room of the library – in addition to the mayors of Rijeka and Trieste, Alen Gospočić of the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, Enzo Volponi representing the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region and Željko Ukić, CEO of the Croatian Railways.

“This project unites us in a common commitment to peace and cooperation. I hope that this train can also be an inspiration for other regions", declares Winfried Ritt at the opening of the conference. While the mayor of Rijeka recalled that for centuries people have been going from one city to another – Trieste and Rijeka – and now they have a new possibility of travelling along all the towns along the route. “And I hope”, he concludes, “that the citizens of Rijeka are given the same possibility of being able to visit Trieste on the same day”.

I wonder if Filipović had by any chance heard the library attendant, who at the entrance had asked me the reason for so many people and journalists. “A train connecting Trieste to Rijeka, it's about time!”, she reacts to my explanation. "Of course, the timetable forces us from Rijeka to spend the night... but by any chance – she continues smiling, ironically - does the ticket also include the overnight stay in Trieste?".

A question that the journalist of the Novi List asked Roberto Antonione: “The idea is excellent. This is a pilot project and we hope that for next year, first and foremost thanks to the support of the project partners and the relevant institutions of the three countries, we will be able to do so".