Trains that (don't) connect the EU with the Western Balkans

ita eng
17 September 2024

Between May and July 2024, Jon Worth, an activist calling for better rail transport in Europe, spent about a month documenting the state of cross-border rail connections in south-eastern Europe, boarding dozens of trains, mostly local, and also crossing or visiting a number of cross-border sections that currently have no active rail services.

The state of these connections is in most cases very precarious and deficient: hardly surprising, considering that cross-border connections always tend to be worse than internal ones, and that internal rail services are already weak in many south-eastern European countries. In some cases, infrastructural interventions would be necessary, while in others it would be sufficient to intervene on the convoys and reduce the fragmentation of services, which almost everywhere are interrupted for political or bureaucratic reasons near the borders. These are relatively inexpensive interventions, which could be supported by the European Union at least where they concern rail connections between regions of the EU itself and the candidate countries with which they border.

The following photographs, taken by Jon Worth during his trip, show some of the points and lines of passage between the European Union and the countries of the Western Balkans.

 

 

 

This content is published in the context of the "Energy4Future" project co-financed by the European Union (EU). The EU is in no way responsible for the information or views expressed within the framework of the project. The responsibility for the contents lies solely with OBC Transeuropa. Go to the "Energy4Future"

 

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Viaduct of the Una railway line, the historic connection between Zagreb and Split via Bihac. Today this connection is no longer served by trains, except for the portion north of Bihac. From there on, the tracks cross the Una river valley, always remaining a short distance from the border between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and in fact crossing it seven times (photo: Jon Worth/Flickr – CC BY 2.0).
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The border station of Erdut, a town located in a bend of the Danube next to the border between Croatia and Serbia. Train services from Osijek currently end here, with cross-border connections having been suspended since 2023. However, this is a very slow local service, taking over an hour to cover the 30km journey (photo: Jon Worth/Flickr – CC BY 2.0).
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A new railway line near the Serbian-Hungarian border, between the cities of Subotica and Szeged. A high-speed line between Belgrade and Budapest has been under construction for years: high-speed trains currently stop in Novi Sad, with only local trains continuing to Hungary, requiring at least two changes (photo: Jon Worth/Flickr – CC BY 2.0).
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Comloșu Mare train station, the first Romanian village you come across after the border with Serbia on the Subotica-Timișoara route. The station is not currently served by trains: Serbian trains arrive at Kikinda station, Romanian trains at Jimbolia station; the border must be crossed via another means of transport (photo: Jon Worth/Flickr – CC BY 2.0).
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Train stop at the village of Checea on the line between Jimbolia, near the Romanian-Serbian border, and the Romanian city of Timișoara. This is a regional line that takes over an hour to cover about forty kilometers (photo: Jon Worth/Flickr – CC BY 2.0).
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View of the Romanian countryside from the CFR 77 train, a single-car train dating back to the 1930s and powered by diesel, still operating today on the route between Timișoara and the Romanian-Serbian border in the direction of Belgrade (the rail link ends at the border). Jon Worth called it “by far the worst train I’ve ever taken” (Photo: Jon Worth/Flickr – CC BY 2.0).
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A plaque at Dimitrovgrad station commemorates the EU’s financial support for rail services between Serbia and Bulgaria. Dimitrovgrad is a small town near the border, on the line between Belgrade and Sofia. Services on that line – already poor – were suspended in 2020, and there is currently no way to cross the border by train (Photo: Jon Worth/Flickr – CC BY 2.0).
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Gyushevo train station. It’s so impressive because it has been the border station between Bulgaria and the country across its western border, now North Macedonia, for over a century. The rail link from Sofia to Skopje currently ends here, however (Photo: Jon Worth/Flickr – CC BY 2.0).