Railway line Doboj – Banja Luka

Doboj – Banja Luka
Intercity Zagreb - Sarajevo - Ploče with a class 441 locomotive between Ljeskove Vode and Rakovac
Route number :	63
Route length:	93.5 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	25 kV 50 Hz  ~
Top speed:	70 km / h
Dual track :	Doboj - Kostajnica Srpska
Legend from Sarajevo 0.0 Doboj to Tuzla Spreča Siding 2.4 Kostajnica Gornja 5.8 Kostajnica Srpska after Samac Bosna 9.6 Rudanka 12.2 Grabovica 14.4 Stanovi 17.3 Rakovac 18.9 Ljeskove Vode Ljeskove Vode (≈ 1900 m) 22.8 Ostružnja 26.7 Stanari 30.1 Ljeb 32.2 Dragalovci 35.4 Kulaši Ukrina 38.9 Popovići 42.0 Prisoje Ukrina 44.7 Peulići Ukrina 47.4 Vijačani 52.4 Ukrina 56.7 Umka 61.9 Snegotina Tunnel (≈ 1400 m) 67.2 Mlinska Rijeka 70.4 Jošavka 74.5 Bojići Jošavka 81.0 Čelinac Tunnel (≈ 700 m) Vrbanja 89.3 Vrbanja Rail connection Medeno Polje 91.3 Incel Vrbas Track connections 93.5 Banja Luka to Dobrljin Sources: * Railway timetable in Bosnia and Herzegovina.    Timetable 2018. On: ec-tobias.de by Tobias Heinze * OpenStreetMap , accessed on April 1, 2018

The Doboj – Banja Luka railway is a single-track electrified railway line of the Željeznice Republike Srpske (ŽRS) in Bosnia and Herzegovina built in 1951 by the Yugoslav State Railways (JDŽ) . It is part of the international connection from Sarajevo to Zagreb , the capitals of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia .

history

construction

Transport of members of the youth brigade and building materials

The construction of the Doboj – Banja Luka railway was one of the last major railway constructions of the Yugoslav youth brigades . The 93.5 km long route was built by more than 87,000 young people from March 1 to December 20, 1951, with 34 bridges and three tunnels around four kilometers long and about two million cubic meters of earth moved. A particular challenge was the construction of the Ljeskove Vode tunnel, where water ingress and collapses prevented work.

Further development

Obsolete railway barrier at the entrance to Vrbanja station

As part of the 50-Hertz electrification program started in the 1960s , the Yugoslav State Railways (JŽ) converted the section from Doboj to Banja Luka to electric traction . With the break-up of Yugoslavia , the route in the Republika Srpska came to the Željeznice Republike Srpske (ŽRS). Since the war in Yugoslavia , passenger traffic has decreased significantly and freight traffic has decreased significantly. The track is in poor condition. In 2011 the war damage was extensively repaired. At the end of 2017, a contract was signed with the China Shandong International Economic & Technical Cooperation Group to comprehensively renew the route. The maximum permissible speed is to be increased from 70 km / h to 120 km / h and level crossings are to be replaced or modernized with overpasses and underpasses.

Route description

Reception building in the village of Ukrina

Banja Luka train station

The line starts in Doboj , where trains from Sarajevo and Tuzla arrive. The route initially leads along the Bosna to Kostajnica Srpska , where it separates from the route leading to Šamac. The route crosses the Bosna and leads in a side valley up to Ljeskove-Vode, in order to reach Ostružnja through the 1.9 kilometer long tunnel of the same name. From there it leads down to Kulaši and along the Ukrina up to Snjegotina, and then crosses under the watershed of Ukrina and Vrbanja through a 1400 meter long tunnel . The railway runs through the Jošavka valley to the small town of Čelinac and along the Vrbanja to Banja Luka . Already in the urban area it crosses the Vrbas and reaches the terminus , which was opened in 1873 by the Chemins de fer Orientaux and restored in 1878 by the Austro-Hungarian military railway Banjaluka – Dobrlin . From Banja Luka the route of the former kuk military railway leads to Novi Grad and on to Dobrljin.

business

Regional traffic is handled with short, powerfully motorized trains consisting of a class 441 locomotive and a few passenger carriages. Arrival of a regional train in Doboj.

The Doboj – Banja Luka line has little passenger traffic. For regional traffic, four pairs of trains are offered that continue to Novi Grad . The direct connection Sarajevo- Zagreb had already timetable year set 2017th

Talgo traffic between Sarajevo and Banja Luka began on August 1, 2017 . In 2018, the offer was expanded with a second pair of trains from Sarajevo via Novi Grad to Bihać on the Una Railway . It is planned to reintroduce the international Sarajevo – Zagreb trains.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Werner Schiendl , Franz Gemeinböck: The railways in Bosnia and Herzegovina 1918-2016. Edition Bahn im Film, Vienna 2017, ISBN 978-3-9503096-7-6 , pp. 290–291
2. ↑ Bosnian Serb Republic: China helps. In: Swiss Railway Review . No. 4/2008. Minirex, ISSN  1022-7113 , p. 202.
3. ^ Course book of the railways in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Timetable 2018. On: ec-tobias.de by Tobias Heinze
4. ^ Course book of the railways in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Timetable 2017. On: ec-tobias.de by Tobias Heinze
5. ^ Mathias Rellstab: Talgo to Banja Luka. In: Swiss Railway Review. No. 10/2017. Minirex, ISSN  1022-7113 , p. 513.
6. ^ Toma Bacic: Talgo trains to Bihać. In: Swiss Railway Review. No. 8–9 / 2018. Minirex, ISSN  1022-7113 , p. 426.
7. ↑ Toma Bacic: Bosnian Talgo trains finally in use. In: Swiss Railway Review. No. 11/2016. P. 545.

Web links

Commons : Doboj – Banja Luka railway  - Collection of images, videos and audio files