Railway line Knin – Zadar

Knin – Zadar
Route number :	M606
Course book range :	71 (HŽ)
Route length:	95.390 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Route class :	B2
Top speed:	50/70 km / h
Legend from Split 0.000 Knin from Novi Grad from Oštarije Državna cesta D1 Butišnica 5,700 Oćestovo 14.103 Radučić Državna cesta D59 19.752 Vujasinović 21,420 Ivoševci 24.739 Kistanje 33.010 Đevrske 40.080 Dalmatinska Ostrovica 44.927 Bulići 47.162 Lepuri 50.361 Kožlovac 56.827 Benkovac Državna cesta D27 60,152 Šopot 64.283 Raštević Autocesta A1 68,940 Nadin 72.744 Škabrnje 75.985 Prkos 79.643 Galovci 83,700 Debeljak Debeljak tunnel (1326 m) 86,496 Sukošan Državna cesta D8 90.634 Bibinje 94.887 Zadar

The railroad Knin-Zadar , including Zadar train called connects the north of the Croatian region of Dalmatia the railroad Knin with the port city of Zadar . It is around 95 km long and crosses the Šibenik-Knin and Zadar counties . The line runs over 19 bridges and through 22 tunnels, is single-track, not electrified and classified as a line of international importance. The maximum permitted speed in the Knin – Škabrnje section is 50 km / h, and in the Škabrnje – Zadar section 70 km / h.

history

Although at the beginning of the 20th century there were already considerations about connecting Zadar to the railway network, this project was only implemented by the Yugoslav State Railways . After a construction period of 14 years, the entire line was opened in 1967, previously the sections Knin – Kistanje in 1962 and Kistanje – Benkovac in 1963 had already been opened. With it, another Adriatic port was connected to the railway network. With Croatia's independence in 1991, the route was transferred to the newly founded Hrvatske željeznice (HŽ) railway company . A line modernization originally planned for 1993 could not be carried out because of the Croatian war . The vast majority of the route was from 1991 to 1995 on the territory of the Republic of Serbian Krajina and thus outside the sphere of influence of the HŽ. In the official timetable of the HŽ for the 1994 summer timetable, there were accordingly no traffic offers on this route. After the end of the war, the repair of war damage to this, but above all to other routes, was more important than the originally planned expansion of this route. Rail traffic was resumed in 1996, but the condition of the line subsequently deteriorated more and more. Comprehensive route rehabilitation measures began at the end of 2012.

course

Together with the lines to Oštarije (Lika-Bahn) and to Novi Grad (Una-Bahn) , the line leaves the Knin station in a northerly direction, but immediately turns in a left curve into the Krka valley and follows it in a southerly direction. At Radučić it leaves the immediate river valley and then essentially follows the national road D59 to the southwest. Behind Đevrske, the railway line turns in a right curve in a north-westerly direction and reaches the Zadar County . At Raštević it crosses under the A1 motorway . At Škabrnje, the route finally turns towards the coast. Shortly before reaching it, in Debeljak it crosses a tunnel more than a kilometer long, the longest of several on this route. The sidings of the Zadar ferry port branch off at Bibinje station. The line ends in Zadar in a terminus station.

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  Junction at Knin station, left the line to Zadar (2018)

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  Oćestovo stop in the Krka valley (2013)

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  Kistanje (2013)

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  between Đevrske and Dalmatinska Ostrovica (2013)

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  near Ostrovica (2012)

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  near Dalmatinska Ostrovica (2013)

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  Tunnel 18

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  near Dalmatinska Ostrovica (2013)

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  Local railcars in Zadar station (2007)

Transport offer

For several decades, direct express trains from Zagreb to Zadar ran on this route. In addition, at least until the end of the 1970s, individual local trains also carried through coaches from Osijek, Belgrade or Hamburg during the holiday season. The Yugoslav State Railways' timetable for 1989 recorded six pairs of local trains and two pairs of seasonal express trains on this route. After the resumption of the war-interrupted train service in 1996, only 3½ pairs of local trains ran. Passenger traffic was expanded slightly from 2002, and gradually thinned out again from the 2011 timetable. In the timetable years 2006 to 2010 there was also a temporary express train with night coaches.

In the 2013 annual timetable, the route was served by three pairs of local rail passenger trains a day, which also served all stops on the way except for the Oćestovo stop. The travel time in both directions was around 2 hours and 20 minutes, in Knin there was usually a connection to and from Zagreb Glavni kolodvor . Class 7122 railcars were used . Long-distance transport services directly to Zadar were not offered. Passenger traffic on the route has been suspended since April 24, 2014. It should be resumed after the renovation work has been completed.

In the 2019 annual timetable for passenger transport, three pairs of journeys are noted every day, but as replacement buses.

In 2005, mineral oil block trains ran regularly on the Knin – Zadar railway line.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} HŽ Infrastruktura doo: Izvješće o mreži 2014 . (PDF) In: hzinfra.hr. December 5, 2012, archived from the original on October 21, 2013 ; accessed on April 25, 2018 (Croatian, only via download). 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Vlada Republike Hrvatska: Odluka o razvrstavanju željezničkih pruga Government of the Republic of Croatia: Decision on the division of railway lines of July 12, 2006, accessed on June 28, 2013.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Encyclopedia on the railway history of the Alps-Danube-Adriatic region: Zadar Railway. Elmar Oberegger, 2006, accessed on July 6, 2013 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Tobias Reisky: Croatia: Die Zadarbahn In: LOK-Report No. 8, 2013, pp. 52–55.
5. ^ ^{A b c} Fritz Stöckl: Railways in Southeast Europe. Bohmann Verlag, Vienna 1975, ISBN 3-7002-0431-X , p. 26.
6. ↑ Hrvatske Željeznice po: Vozni red 29.V.1994. - 24.IX.1994. Zagreb 1994, pp. 214f.
7. ↑ ^{a b} HŽ Putnički prijevoz doo: Vozni red 9.XII.2012. - 14.XII.2013. Zagreb 2012.
8. ^ Bac: Clear-cutting in Croatia . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International 8-9 (2014), p. 414.
9. ↑ Vozni red 09 XII. 2018. - 14. XII. 2019. (PDF) Timetable 09. XII. 2018. - 14. XII. 2019. HŽ Putnički prijevoz doo, 2018, pp. 224-225 , accessed on July 31, 2019 (Croatian). 

Web links

Commons : Knin – Zadar railway line  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Article Zadar Railway . In: Elmar Oberegger: Encyclopedia on the railway history of the Alps-Danube-Adriatic region. 2011ff.