Today, you cannot go anywhere by train from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The country is connected to the region by railways, but exclusively for freight traffic. There is no room for passengers on the railways. Not only is there no room in the carriages that would lead to the cities of the region or possibly Europe, but you cannot travel by train to other places in BiH either.
The two largest cities in BiH, Sarajevo and Banja Luka, have not been connected by a passenger rail line for three years.
The popular “Talgo train” had a short lifespan, so it was shut down after three years of operation, and the COVID-19 pandemic was used as an explanation. The real reason is actually the migrant crisis and the fact that migrants were the most numerous passengers on the route that ran from Sarajevo, via Banja Luka all the way to Bihac, where the problem with illegal migrants escalated during the time the route was operational.
The two largest cities are not connected
Time has passed, the pandemic and the migrant crisis in the Una-Sana Canton (USC) have passed, but the train has not returned to the tracks – at least not to Banja Luka and Bihac.
“Railways of the Federation of BiH (FBiH) are ready for the re-establishment of inter-entity traffic on the route Sarajevo – Banja Luka – Sarajevo and have undertaken certain activities in this regard,” the Railways of the FBiH stated, pointing out that they are waiting for the approvals of the Republika Srpska (RS) Railways, but also noting that there are no technical or organizational reasons why the re-establishment of the route would not be possible.
In view of this answer, a logical question arises – why can’t passengers from Banja Luka get to Sarajevo by train and vice versa? The RS Railways say they support and are dedicated to regional and international connection in rail passenger transport, and the route will be established “as soon as all the technical, technological and economic preconditions for its final realization are met”.
Not only is it not possible to travel to one of the two largest cities by train, as the most comfortable, economically and ecologically profitable and acceptable mode of transportation, but it is also not possible to travel by train from the two largest cities to some larger cities in the region or Europe.
At the end of last week, we read with scorn about a tomato that sprouted between the rails at the Railway Station in Banja Luka. It is possible that this genus most closely describes the situation in this sector, not only in Banja Luka but in the whole of BiH.
It used to be possible to go to Europe by train
With a note that in 2023 we stepped deep into the 21st century, we will go back a little to the distant year 1882. April 10th, 1882, is a significant date in the history of railway traffic in the country. Exactly 141 years ago, on April 10th, 1882, a group of wagons set off from Banja Luka with much noise and roaring, taking passengers not to some town within BiH, but straight to Europe. To Vienna, the political and economic center of the old continent at the time. And from Vienna, with that direct connection that started from Banja Luka, you could also reach Budapest. In that sense, Europe was in the palm of your hand in 1882.
Today, things are completely different.
“The current availability of railway traction and hauled capacities of railway operators, the state of the railway infrastructure, as well as the indicators of the analysis of economic justification and profitability, have not yet reached the necessary level for the establishment of inter-entity and international lines,” RS Railways stated, with the promise that the talks will continue in the coming period.
Until that happens, you cannot go by train anywhere, not to Vienna and Budapest, not to Zagreb or Belgrade.
“Railways of the FBiH have long been advocating the re-introduction of the international passenger route Sarajevo-Zagreb-Sarajevo. Unfortunately, colleagues from RS Railways and Croatian Railways did not express their readiness to implement this initiative, justifying it with economic unprofitability. The situation is the same when it comes to the renewal of the international passenger route Sarajevo-Belgrade-Sarajevo,” Railways of the FBiH added, noting that it is of great importance to them to establish a route to Banja Luka, but also to regional centers for which, they claim, their partners have not shown readiness, N1 reports.
E.Dz.
