Durrës – Tirana railway line

Durres – Tirana
Train on the line in summer 2005
Route length:	36.9 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend 0.000 Durrës 0.600 from the port of Durrës 0.700 SH2 01.20 Shkozet depot 01.50 Shkozet depot Industrial track 1.600 to Rrogozhina 2.140 2.400 from Rrogozhina 3.100 SH4 3.550 Lumi Durrësit 3.575 Rrashbull tunnel (230 m) 4.750 Durres - Shijak 5.120 6.410 SH49 7.700 8.400 SH2 9.280 Sukth 9.700 Ores (84 m) 10.420 Sukth i ri 11.150 Sukth 12.540 Guzaj 15.200 Maminas / Manza 15.540 Tana 19.420 Gërdec 19.520 20.050 Vora 20.100 Vora 20.600 Industrial track 20.700 to Shkodra 20.780 Vora 21.200 Fushë-Kruja 22.400 SH52 22.900 Muçaj 23.800 24.310 24.520 25.130 Kodër-Bërxull 25.400 Limuth 25.420 Bërxull 26.420 SH60 26.500 to Tirana Airport (planned) 28.060 from Tirana Airport (planned) 28.200 Domja 29.200 Domja 29.800 Kashar (terminus since 2013) 29.910 to Yzberisht (approx. 6.5 km) 29.940 30.000 to Valias mine (approx. 4.5 km) 30.180 Lana 30.900 to the freight yard 30.980 Breg Lumit 31.850 Industrial track 31.900 Industrial tracks 32.620 SH1 33.300 Terminal i transportit public Tirana (planned terminus) 36.900 Tirana (until 2013) Kilometers according to HSH information

The Durrës – Tirana railway ( Albanian  Hekurudha Durrës – Tiranë ) is a Hekurudha Shqiptare railway that connects the port city of Durrës with the capital Tirana in central Albania . The route was originally 36.9 kilometers or 38 kilometers long, depending on the source, today it is no longer fully traveled. It is single-track and not electrified. The connection, opened in 1949, is considered Albania's second standard gauge line .

history

construction

Feldbahn near Vora in the First World War

Until the Second World War there was no standard gauge railway in Albania . The Selenica narrow-gauge railway only existed in southern Albania . During the First World War, however, the Austro-Hungarian army had already operated a field railway  on the Durrës -  Vora - Tirana  route.

Plans for the construction of a railway from Durrës to Tirana were drawn up again and again in the interwar period. The trade and economic agreement concluded on March 10, 1925 between the Kingdom of Italy and Albania provided that the newly founded Società per la Sviluppo Economico dell'Albania (SVEA) would build a 38-kilometer railway line from Durrës to Tirana in addition to a road network. Herbert Louis reported in 1927 that the work had been started, but it was far from being completed. More confident was Roberto Almagià, who predicted safe commissioning in 1930 for the following year. The architect Giulio Bertè designed plans for representative reception buildings at the train stations in Tirana and Durrës in 1929 and 1930 respectively.

After the occupation of Albania by Italy in 1939, the project was resumed. In a publication from 1940 it was written about a completed track bed , elsewhere it is said that by 1942 “only the earthworks and some small bridges were completed” ( Romano Mölter : The forgotten railway).

In the years after the war, two railway lines were planned and built in Albania. On the one hand, the iron nickel deposits near Elbasan should finally be developed. On the other hand, the new or planned industrial plants in the capital Tirana had to be supplied. Yugoslavia supplied material for the completion of the work and the operation of the railway, including three steam locomotives (two SHS 20 and a tank locomotive from 1911 from Hohenzollern ) and 69 wagons of the Jugoslovenske Državne Železnice as well as 24 kilometers of track. In addition, the Soviet Union left four BBÖ 270 steam locomotives from Austria to the Albanians . On November 7, 1947, the 43-kilometer Durrës – Peqin railway was opened, and in 1950 it was extended to Elbasan.

Work on the Durrës – Tirana line began on April 11, 1948 in Shkozet near Durrës, where it branches off from the existing railway line. In addition to volunteer Albanians, the construction was also supported by young people from Yugoslavia and Bulgaria  . After the break with Tito in the summer of 1948, the Yugoslav engineers and workers had to leave Albania - many were branded as saboteurs. Help came quickly from the Soviet Union. 50 engineering structures were necessary for the route. A total of 29,000 volunteers and 1,400 specialists are said to have contributed to the work. The railway line was opened on February 23, 1949.

Later development especially in communism

Durrës train station, kilometer 0 on the Albanian railway network

The railway line was two random tracks extended. From the Kashar train station an approximately 6½ kilometer long industrial track led southeast to Yzberisht, the large factory area in the west of Tirana. A roughly 4½ industrial track from Kashar opened up the Valias coal mine on the north side of the Tirana River . Other short industrial tracks branched off in the Breg-Lumit / Lapraka / Kodër-Kamza area, including to a building materials combine . Hardly anything can be seen of these industrial connections today.

In 1963 the railway line from Vora to Laç was built. With the further expansion of the lines to the north, south and south-east in the following decades, the Durrës – Tirana line lost its importance, at least in the eastern half, but was the most important railway line in the country for passenger transport with many well-staffed trains per day. In summer, special trains ran on weekends from Tirana directly to Durrës Plazh station on the Durrës – Peqin line. A direct connection of the two routes of Tirana and Shkodra was never completed, Vora so that trains between the two cities in the station implement needed. With up to nine through tracks, Vora station was of great importance for freight traffic.

The Durrës train station, originally built in 1947 in the city center and directly at the harbor , was replaced by a new building 700 meters further north in the winter of 1981/82.

The Tirana station received a - modest - station building only after 1985. Apparently there was a long discussion about whether the station could not be relocated.

In 1996 the line was renovated by an Italian construction company so that it is in the most modern condition of Albanian railway lines. The wooden sleepers were replaced by concrete sleepers and the rails were welded. After that, a maximum speed of 80 km / h was temporarily permitted.

Modernization plans and shutdowns

To improve public transport in the city and inner-city transport in general, the city of Tirana planned several measures in collaboration with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the state government. This included the construction of a new boulevard as an extension of the Bulevardi Zogu i Parë to develop the districts and suburbs in the north, a new public transport terminal, the Terminal i transportit publik Tirana (PTT) on the north-western outskirts, and two tram lines . In addition to a west-east connection through the whole city, a seven-kilometer tram line is planned from PTT to Mutter-Teresa-Platz at the southern end of the city center - to a large extent on the route and instead of the railroad.

On September 2, 2013, Tirana station was closed to both passenger and freight traffic as it was supposed to be demolished to make way for the new boulevard. The tracks and railway systems were quickly removed over the last few kilometers, the station building remained intact for a while.

Train in Kashar station, 2015

Initially, rail traffic between Tirana and Vora was suspended, later trains went to the train station in the suburb of Kashar , around three and a half kilometers west of the planned PTT.

Terminal i transporit publik Tirana, which will also serve as a bus station and transfer point for local public transport, is planned as the new Tirana train station. It is located at the northwest entrance to the city near Lapraka , three and a half kilometers east of Kashar and three and a half kilometers northwest of the old Tirana train station. The Durrës – PTT route is said to have a length of about 34.7 kilometers.

The replacement of the railway and the construction of the PTT were delayed. In 2016 it was announced that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development intended to grant Albania a loan for the renewal of the Tirana – Durrës railway line and for the construction of a seven and a half kilometer feeder to Tirana Airport, which will connect the airport to local transport via the PTT should be connected in Tirana. The costs are estimated at around € 82 million. The government promised to open the new line in 2019. At the end of 2019, however, the construction work on the railway line had only been tendered ; the costs were given as € 92 million. The PTT is not directly part of this project. A maximum speed of 100 km / h should be possible on the renewed route - also thanks to new rolling stock. The more reliable and faster public transport service between Tirana, Durrës and the airport should create an attractive alternative to road transport.

Old Tkt48 from the early 1950s on the site of the former Tirana train station

Where the Tirana train station used to be, today a wide boulevard stretches across a wide field. On a private initiative, a former type Tkt48 steam locomotive was installed there, which pulled freight trains from the early 1950s to 1986.

Today nothing can be seen of the branch tracks in the Tirana area. The old railway lines are mostly streets today.

Current operation

In contrast to many others, trains of the Hekurudha Shqiptare still run on the Durrës - Vora - Kashar railway today , but the infrastructure, like the entire Albanian railway, is in a desolate condition. At the end of 2019 a train left Kasharr in the morning for Durrës, in the late afternoon a train from Durrës to Kashar; The two trains to and from Shkodra also ran between Durrës and Vorë .

There are also occasional reports of freight trains on the route between Durrës and Vora.

The speed is designed for a maximum of 60 km / h.

The single-track route is not accompanied by fences. There are numerous illegal crossings that pose a security risk.

route

Entrance to Vora train station from the west

The route is located in the flat plains of the Albanian coastal regions. However, between the coast near Durrës and the Erzental and between the Erzental and the plain of Tirana, there are two ranges of hills in the way.

In contrast to the announcement of 1940, the route, at least between Durrës and Vora, is mostly not parallel to the main road.

At the end of the railway depot Shkozet the route from that branches off to Peqin. In a left curve, it turns north and then north-east. At Rrashbull, it passes the rather flat transition into the Erzental in cuts and a 230 meter long tunnel . In the flat plain, it continues in a straight line to the northeast. At Sukth,  north of Shijak , it crosses the Erzen in a 90-meter-long bridge - the second and last technical challenge on the route. Then the course changes to the east and the train station of Sukth is passed, which was more important for train crossings and less as a stopping point. The route passes the significantly higher range of hills, which separates the plain from Tirana in the west, like the other traffic routes in the wide and flat valley gorge of Vora. The route to Shkodra branches off in Vora. Further to the south-east the route has a rather winding course on the edge of the low hills, only cutting through the plains where necessary. After the Kashar train station, it crosses the Lana and then heads straight for the capital. In the area of ​​Terminal i transportit publik Tirana, a slight left curve leads to an eastern course of the disused route. At the end of it, there was a sharp right turn to the south to the former train station in Tirana.

literature

• Gerhard Gürsch: By bus and train through the land of the Skipetaren . Bufe-Fachbuch-Verlag, Egglham 1986, ISBN 3-922138-28-4 , route descriptions: Durrës - Tiranë, p. 107 f .

Web links

Commons : Durrës – Tirana railway line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Albanian Film Archive: Contemporary documentary film about the construction work (Albanian; 1949)
• EBRD: Albanian Railways Non-Technical Summary (PDF, English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Abbreviations: Raporti Teknik për Rishikimin e Kryqëzimit Trekëndor Hekurudhor në Domje (October 22, 2018), map of the Albanian route network on p. 44; from the documents for the tender for the renewal of the Durrës – Tirana line.
2. ^ ^{A b c} German Society for Railway History eV (Ed.): The Albanian Railways. A status report from autumn 1996 (=  railways and museums. Monographs of the DGEG . Volume 44). Self-published, Karlsruhe 1998, ISBN 3-921700-76-0 , p. 51 .
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Pandeli Çaçi: Fjalor enciklopedik shqiptar . Ed .: Akademia e Shkencave e RPSSH . Tirana 1985, Hekurudha Durrës-Tiranë, p. 364 .
4. ↑ Gerhard Gürsch: By bus and train through the land of Skipetars . Bufe-Fachbuch-Verlag, Egglham 1986, ISBN 3-922138-28-4 , p. 96 .
5. ↑ ^{a b} Gerhard Gürsch: By bus and train through the land of the Skipetaren . Bufe-Fachbuch-Verlag, Egglham 1986, ISBN 3-922138-28-4 , p. 78 f .
6. ↑ ^{a b} Alqi Gjika: Hekurudha Shqiptare. In: T669.net. Retrieved April 25, 2020 (Albanian). 
7. ^ ^{A b} Eberhard Rieber: Albania Railway Map / Railway Map of Albania . Quail Map Company, Exeter 1990, ISBN 0-900609-68-0 .
8. ↑ Spiro Vasil Mehilli: Tirana 1920-1944 . Mediaprint, Tirana 2014, ISBN 978-9928-08155-1 , p. 62 .
9. ^ Herbert Louis: Albania. A knowledge of the country mainly because of my own travels . Publishers of J. Engelhorn's successors in Stuttgart, Berlin 1927, The traffic conditions, p. 58 f .
10. ↑ Roberto Almagia: L'Albania (=  Collezione Omnia . Band 22-23 ). Paolo Cremonese, Rome 1930, p. 222 .
11. ^ ^{A b} Armand Vokshi: Tracce dell'architettura italiana in Albania 1925–1943 . DNA Editrice, Firenze 2014, ISBN 978-88-903947-4-4 , pp. 122-125 .
12. ↑ ^{a b} Pirro Marconi: Albania (= Sottosegretariato di Stato per gli affari Albanesi [Ed.]: Guida d'Italia . Volume 25 ). Milan 1940, p. 147 .
13. ^ Romano Mölter: The forgotten railway: A journey into the history of the Albanian railways 1916-2020 . Railway-Media-Group, Vienna 2020, ISBN 978-3-902894-87-8 , p. 38 .
14. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Romano Mölter: The forgotten railway: A journey into the history of the Albanian railways 1916-2020 . Railway-Media-Group, Vienna 2020, ISBN 978-3-902894-87-8 , p. 50-58 .
15. ^ Romano Mölter: The forgotten railway: A journey into the history of the Albanian railways 1916-2020 . Railway-Media-Group, Vienna 2020, ISBN 978-3-902894-87-8 , p. 82 ff., 130 .
16. ↑ ^{a b} Gerhard Gürsch: By bus and train through the land of the Skipetaren . Bufe-Fachbuch-Verlag, Egglham 1986, ISBN 3-922138-28-4 , route descriptions: Durrës - Tiranë, p. 107 f .
17. ^ German Society for Railway History eV (Ed.): The Albanian Railways. A status report from autumn 1996 (=  railways and museums. Monographs of the DGEG . Volume 44). Self-published, Karlsruhe 1998, ISBN 3-921700-76-0 , p. 12 .
18. ↑ ^{a b} Gerhard Gürsch: By bus and train through the land of the Skipetaren . Bufe-Fachbuch-Verlag, Egglham 1986, ISBN 3-922138-28-4 , p. 85 f .
19. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Albanian Railways Non-Technical Summary. (PDF) In: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. November 2016, accessed on April 28, 2020 . 
20. ↑ Kinezët dhe francezët, oferta për dy linjat e tramvajit |. In: Revista Monitor. September 4, 2013, accessed April 27, 2020 (Albanian). 
21. ↑ Almarina Gegvataj: Bashkia e Tiranës: Terminali multimodal për transportin publik në shërbim të qytetarëve. In: Agjencia Telegrafike Shqiptare. February 11, 2019, accessed April 27, 2020 (Albanian). 
22. ↑ Bashkia Tiranë: Bulevardi ( Memento from November 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
23. ↑ Bashkia Tiranë: Terminali i autobusëve dhe trenit ( Memento from December 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
24. ↑ Bashkia Tiranë: Trami ( Memento from January 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
25. ↑ Stacioni i Trenit zhvendoset në Vorë, transportation Falas Tiranë-Vorë. In: Revista Monitor. September 1, 2013, accessed November 23, 2019 (Albanian). 
26. ↑ Photo from October 2013 ( file: 02.10.13 Tiranë Station (or what's left of it!) (10101196125) .jpg ) and photo from April 2014 ( file: Tirana train station construction site.JPG )
27. ↑ Tiranë, stacioni i trenit zhvendoset në Vorë. (No longer available online.) In: Albanian Screen Radio Television . September 1, 2013, archived from the original on September 3, 2013 ; Retrieved September 15, 2013 (Albanian). 
28. ↑ In the technical report (Abbreviation: Raporti Teknik për Rishikimin e Kryqëzimit Trekëndor Hekurudhor në Domje (October 22, 2018)) the end of the route is shown at 33.6 km.
29. ↑ EBRD Considers up to EUR 34 mln loan for Albanian Railways. In: Invest in Albania. June 22, 2016, accessed April 27, 2020 . 
30. ↑ Hekurudha Tiranë-Rinas-Durrës, Haxhinasto: Projekti përfundon në 2019. In: Top Channel. June 25, 2016, accessed April 27, 2020 (Albanian). 
31. ^ Tender begins for Albania's most important rail project. In: Railway Pro. November 1, 2019, accessed April 27, 2020 . 
32. ↑ Information board on the locomotive
33. ↑ Elona Bedalli: SOS i Hekurudhës Shqiptare. In: Revista Monitor. April 17, 2016, accessed April 26, 2020 (Albanian). 
34. ↑ Unofficial representation of a timetable transcript. In: Facebook. November 2, 2019, accessed April 27, 2020 . 
35. ↑ Stacioni Vorë: Photos by Doçi Ramiz. In: Facebook. April 13, 2020, accessed April 27, 2020 (Albanian).