Dalmatian train

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Čapljina – Trebinje / Gruž / Zelenika
Train of the Dalmatian Railway passing through Herceg Novi (Castelnuovo)
Train of the Dalmatian Railway passing through Herceg Novi (Castelnuovo)
Route of the Dalmatian Railway
Gauge : 760 mm ( Bosnian gauge )
Maximum slope : 28  ‰
Minimum radius : 100 m
Legend
Route - straight ahead
 Narenta Railway from Sarajevo
Station, station
 0 Čapljina 9  m above sea level A.
Station, station
 5 Gabela 6 m above sea level A.
   
 Narenta railway to Metković
   
 Narenta (130 m)
   
 Krupa (50 m)
   
 8th Krupa
   
 18th Sjekose formerly Dubravica
   
 25th Hrasno
   
 32 Hutovo 310 m above sea level A.
   
 38 Zelenikovac
   
 45 Turkovići
   
 50 Trnčina
   
 53 Velja Međa
   
 58 Dvrsnica
   
 63 Ravno 319 m above sea level A.
   
 65 Čvaljina
   
 69 Zavala
   
 77 Grmljani
   
 82 Poljice
   
 86 Diklići
   
 91 Gojšina
   
 93 Jasenica-Lug
   
 98 Đedići
   
 100 Hum 270 m above sea level A.
BSicon .svgBSicon exABZgl.svgBSicon exSTR + r.svg
BSicon .svgBSicon exSTR.svgBSicon exBHF.svg
105 Taleža
BSicon .svgBSicon exSTR.svgBSicon exBHF.svg
108 Ljubovo-Duži
BSicon .svgBSicon exSTR.svgBSicon exBHF.svg
114 Volujac
BSicon .svgBSicon exSTR.svgBSicon exBHF.svg
117 Trebinje
BSicon .svgBSicon exSTR.svgBSicon exABHFl + l.svg
170 Bileća
BSicon .svgBSicon exSTR.svgBSicon exBHF.svg
206 Viluse
BSicon .svgBSicon exSTR.svgBSicon exBHF.svg
261 Nikšić
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Danilovgrad
BSicon .svgBSicon exSTR.svgBSicon exKBHFe.svg
Podgorica
BSicon .svgBSicon exBHF.svgBSicon .svg
106 Zaplanics
BSicon .svgBSicon exBHF.svgBSicon .svg
111 Uskoplje 350 m above sea level A.
BSicon exSTR + l.svgBSicon exABZgr.svgBSicon .svg
BSicon exSTR + GRZq.svgBSicon exSTR.svgBSicon .svg
Bosnia and Herzegovina - Croatia border  
BSicon exBHF.svgBSicon exSTR.svgBSicon .svg
115 Brgat
BSicon exBHF.svgBSicon exSTR.svgBSicon .svg
120 Sumet
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128 Gruž ( Dubrovnik )
   
 115 Ivanica
   
 122 Zagradinje
   
 125 Glavska property border BHStB - kkStB 495 m above sea level A.
   
 Bosnia and Herzegovina-Croatia border
   
 134 Vojski Dol
   
 138 Mihanići 328 m above sea level A.
   
 149 Cavtat 126 m above sea level A.
   
 155 Čilipi 132 m above sea level A.
   
 158 Komaji
   
 164 Gruda 80 m above sea level A.
   
 168 Pločice
   
 today's border between Croatia and Montenegro
   
 171 Nagumanac (Debeli Brijeg) 185 m above sea level A.
   
 176 Sutorina 103 m above sea level A.
   
 180 Igalo 4 m above sea level A.
   
 184 Herceg Novi
   
 186 Savina
BSicon BOOT.svgBSicon exKBHFe.svgBSicon .svg
189 Zelenika 2 m above sea level A.
Route profile Dalmatinerbahn.png
Route profile of the Dalmatian Railway

The Dalmatian Railway or Zelenika Railway was a narrow-gauge railway line in Bosnian gauge from Čapljina to Zelenika with wing tracks from Hum to Podgorica and from Uskoplje to Gruž near Dubrovnik .

Geographical location

The railway line ran in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Dalmatia in Croatia .

history

prehistory

The development of Zelenika by the Dalmatian Railway was mainly due to military interests.

In the Austrian Kingdom of Dalmatia of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy , a large part of the passenger and freight traffic was covered by ship connections on the northern Adriatic coast. The Austro-Hungarian army leadership feared in case of capture of the territorial waters of Italy that Dalmatia would have been cut off from Austria. The Bosna and Narenta Railway , built after the occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina , established a land connection to Austria-Hungary from 1891.

The running parallel to the Dalmatian coast railway line joined at the Gabela Narentabahn with the then Marine port Zelenika in the Bay of Kotor (Bay Cattaro). The construction of the Dalmatian Railway was primarily based on military and strategic interests. But the tourist value of the railway was also undisputed.

Rivalries between Austria and Hungary prevented the connection of the Dalmatian port of Split to the railroad. As a replacement, the construction of a junction from Uskoplje to Gruž , the port of Dubrovnik, was taken on. This wing line was built out of economic interests, because the Ragusa port city of Gruž offered less space than Split, but in contrast to Metković on the Narenta Railway, it was accessible by large merchant ships . Dubrovnik wanted a rail connection for the first time in 1868, but met little approval in Vienna before the occupation of Bosnia .

The branch line from Hum to Trebinje was built to supply the garrison on the Montenegrin border and made it possible to develop the fruit, tobacco and wine growing area there.

Construction and first years of operation

Construction work on the Gabela – Zelenika railway line near Sutorina .
Celebrations for the opening of the Dalmatian Railway in Trebinje.

In 1897 planning and construction work began. The line was not chosen along the coast to protect the railway from artillery fire from the Adriatic. The actual construction of the line began a year later and was associated with great difficulties. The climatic conditions with maximum temperatures in summer and the icy bora and torrential downpours in autumn and winter made the work extremely difficult. In the Narenta Valley, malaria broke out among construction workers. From Hum a waterless and uninhabited karst area had to be overcome. The water for the workers and for the operation of the steam locomotives could only be obtained from deep wells and rainwater in cisterns .

On July 16, 1901, the route Gabela – Hum – Uskoplje – Zelenica, and on July 17, 1901, the Hum – Trebinje and Uskoplje – Gruž routes were opened in the presence of the highest dignitaries from politics and administration. The section Čapljina – Hum – Trebinje / Uskoplje – Glavska belonged to the Bosnian – Herzegovinian State Railways (BHStB). The sections Uskoplje – Zelenika and Glavska – Gruž were owned by the kk state railways (kkStB), but were operated by the BHStB. The passenger trains from Sarajevo to Gruž were equipped with comfortable rolling stock. After four years of operation, 126,000 passengers and 28 million gross tons of goods were transported on the Dalmatian Railway. In freight transport, the steep route turned out to be costly. Nevertheless, the port of Dubrovnik in Gruž developed into the main transshipment point for Bosnian goods.

First World War

The Austro-Hungarian Colonel General Hermann Kövess von Kövesshaza was greeted by the naval command at Herceg Novi station on February 12, 1916

At the beginning of the 20th century, the rapid transport of troops and materials by rail was an important prerequisite for successful warfare. The low capacity of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian narrow-gauge network became evident at the beginning of the First World War . The eastern and southern borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina were among the most important military lines of operation in the Austro-Hungarian offensive against Serbia and Montenegro . Lack of supplies was a major reason why a victory was not achieved quickly.

Kingdom of Yugoslavia

After the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy , the Dalmatian Railway came to the railways of the Kingdom of Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia (SHS) and later to the Yugoslav State Railways (JDŽ / JŽ). The existing rail network was expanded and the Hum – Trebinje branch extended on November 20, 1931 by 42.3 kilometers to Bileća . On July 12, 1938, the 71.3 kilometer long continuation to Nikšić was opened to traffic.

Socialist Yugoslavia

JŽ class 802 powered rail car in Dubrovnik in the 1960s.

From 1948 the route was extended again behind Nikšić to Podgorica.

At that time there was a connection to the Antivari Railway , which, however, had a track width of 600 mm in its northern section. The network of the Dalmatian Railway had thus reached its greatest extent, but this only lasted about 15 years. The railway increasingly suffered from competition from road traffic. The main lines of the Yugoslav narrow gauge network were on standard gauge umgespurt , such as in 1965, the route Nikšić-Podgorica. In the last few years of operation, the travel time of the fastest trains between Čapljina and Dubrovnik was just under three hours (average speed 44 km / h) and between Čapljina and Nikšić 6:40 hours (average speed: 39 km / h).

Another part of the route was abandoned. Tito's ambitions were for a better connection between Belgrade and the sea. The Belgrade – Bar line planned in the 1960s leads to the Adriatic coast via Montenegro instead of Sarajevo . The Dalmatinerbahn lost its importance for transit traffic. The last train to Zelenika went to Dubrovnik on June 30, 1968 and May 30, 1976.

Route description

The 114 kilometer-long Herzegovinian section to Glavska began in Gabela. From Čapljina to Gabela, the trains of the Dalmatian Railway use the Narentabahn track. Shortly after the junction, the railway crossed the Narenta (Neretva) and then the Krupa on a 130-meter-long railway bridge . With the help of a loop , the trains overcame a range of hills before reaching the Trebišnjica valley at Hutovo with a gradient of 12 to 17 per thousand . On this section the railway ran over several large dams, through rock cuts and tunnels. The route followed on the right side of the valley of the Trebišnjica in order to be protected from flooding and reached Popovo Polje at Turkovići . At Poljice the Dalmatian Railway had reached the end of Popovo Polje and followed the Trebišnjica on to Hum, where the 16.6 kilometer branch line branched off to Trebinje .

The trunk line left the Trebišnjica valley near Hum. The railway branched off at Uskoplje. A branch line with a length of 16.5 kilometers crossed the border with Dalmatia and led down to the Dalmatian Adriatic port in Gruž, for which she made use of a 276 meter long spiral tunnel and a loop. The main route continued to Glavska to reach the highest point of the route and the border with Dalmatia.

From the high plateau of Glavska, the 53.4 kilometer long Dalmatian section led down to Čilipi, initially with a 20 to 25 per thousand gradient through a 410 meter long spiral tunnel and a loop. From Gruda the route rose again at 25 per mille to overcome a ridge of 185 meters above sea level. The last few kilometers led down to the Zelenika terminus on the scenic Bay of Kotor.

Todays use

A large part of the route is used as a roadway . Other sections serve as access roads to residential buildings and have been paved. The bus station and the ferry port facilities are located on the former Gruž railway station. The section between Igalo and Zelenika now serves as a scenic pedestrian link along the Adriatic coast.

Picture galleries

Recordings from the operating time

  • Locomotive JŽ 83-146 with a passenger train in Čapljina, 1968.

  • Iron bridge at Gabela over the Narenta .

  • The branch to Gruž branched off in Uskoplje.

  • The port of Gruž near Dubrovnik developed into an important transshipment point.

  • Passenger train going to Zelenika with a leader at Cavtat .

  • At Herceg Novi , the train offered a delightful view of the harbor and the sea.

  • The terminus Zelenika was the southernmost station of the Austro-Hungarian Empire .

Reuse of the infrastructure

  • The Narenta Bridge at Gabela is now used for road traffic.

  • Embankment with dismantled track at Popovo Polje .

  • Next to the former Trebinje station , a parked steam locomotive reminds of the Dalmatian Railway .

  • The railway line at Herceg Novi is now used as a footpath to stroll along the Bay of Kotor.

  • The Zelenika station building is used as a residential building.

literature

in alphabetical order by authors / editors

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ According to DB: international rate book Summer 1974 : km 120.
  2. ↑ a b Until 1918: Gravosa .
  3. ↑ a b Until 1918: Ragusa .
  4. ^ Up to 1918: Ragusa Vecchia .
  5. ↑ From 1908: Bosnian-Herzegovinian State Railways (BHLB).
  6. ↑ Železnice Kraljevine Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kilometers from here to: DB: foreign exchange rate book. Summer 1974 .
  2. ↑ Helga Berdan, pp. 92-96.
  3. ^ Chester: The Railways of Montenegro , p. 169.
  4. ^ DB: Foreign exchange rate book. Summer 1974 .