Hekurudha Shqiptare

Hekurudha Shqiptare Sh.a.
legal form	Corporation
Seat	Durrës , Albania
management	Genc Alizoti (2016)
Number of employees	1100 (2016)
Branch	Transport company
Website	www.hsh.com.al

Typical composition with T 669 between Durrës and Elbasan (2019)

HSH route network

Hekurudha Shqiptare , in short: HSH ( German  Albanian Railway ), formerly Hekurudha e Shqipërisë ( Railway Albania ), is the name of the Albanian railway company . The HSH network is standard gauge and has a total length of 447 kilometers. HSH is based in the port city of Durrës .

At the end of 2016, rail traffic in Albania was completely shut down for economic reasons. Even if individual trains run again, the following information essentially relates to the time before.

history

See also : Rail transport in Albania

Hekurudha Shqiptare

Old train station in Durrës and today's headquarters of the HSH

The country's first railway line was built between Durrës and Peqin . The 43-kilometer standard-gauge line, which opened on November 7, 1947, was based on a narrow-gauge railway from the Second World War. Two years later, the 38-kilometer Tirana – Durrës connection followed, which also followed a route planned by Italians. As a result, the route network was gradually expanded, with the route to Pogradec in particular, with numerous bridges and tunnels, presenting the engineers with greater challenges.

The connection to the international route network took place in 1986 between Shkodra and today's Montenegrin Podgorica (then Titograd and Yugoslavian ). The work had been delayed because there had been political upset between Yugoslavia and Albania because of the unrest in Kosovo . This route - still the only rail connection abroad - was and is only used for freight traffic. According to information from the Yugoslav Railways , 174,300 tons of goods were transported over this route in the first half of 1990.

Lezha railway station with tunnel

In the 1990s, vandals and scrap iron thieves destroyed wagons and stole the rails on the route to Montenegro. The HSH had to stop the operation of this route at times completely and the rest in part. The transport capacities were extremely reduced, but this was also due to the overall decrease in the volume of transport: Heavy industry had collapsed, passenger transport increasingly and rapidly shifted to the road. The operation, especially the passenger traffic, was completely stopped on some branch lines.

In March 2003 the connection to Montenegro was put back into operation, although it still only serves freight traffic, mainly a night connection to Tirana.

Italian pioneer units contributed to the construction of the route as part of development aid, for example in 2005 when the new port connection in Durrës (two kilometers) was relocated.

HSH track openings

The highest railway bridge in the country in the east Albanian mountains, part of the Librazhd – Përrenjas line

• November 7, 1947: Durrës - Peqin
• February 23, 1949: Shkozet - Tirana
• December 22, 1950: Peqin - Elbasan - Krasta / - Cërrik
• May 7, 1963: Vora - Laç
• October 13, 1968: Rrogozhina - Fier
• March 20, 1972: Krasta - Librazhd
• March 10, 1974: Librazhd - Përrenjas
• March 9, 1975: Fier - Ballsh
• July 1979: Përrenjas - Pogradec
• April 1981: Laç - Lezha
• January 25, 1982: Lezha - Shkodra (freight traffic since November 11, 1981)
• January 11, 1985: Shkodra - Han i Hotit
• October 14, 1985: Fier - Vlora (freight traffic to Narta since January 1985)
• 1989: Milot – Rrëshen (freight transport, 1995/96 passenger transport)

Route network

Hekurudha Shqiptarë
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend from Podgorica (freight traffic only) Border with Montenegro ( Han i Hotit ) Bajza (freight traffic only) Shkodra Mjeda Baqël Lezha Rrëshen Rubik Milot Laç Mamuras Ishëm Fushë-Kruja Budull Tirana Airport Kashar Yzberish Tirana (planned) Tirana Vora Sukth Shkozet Durrës port Durrës Plazh Golem Kavaja Lekaj Rrogozhina Peqin Bishqem Papërr Elbasan Krasta Miraka Librazhd Xhira Qukes Përrenjas Lin Memelisht Gur i kuq (Pogradec) Lushnja Fier Ballsh Fier power station Vlora oil port Vlora

The following routes are in operation today:

• Durrës - Vora - Kashar (traffic to Tirana suspended because Tirana train station is relocated)
• Vora - border with Montenegro , from Shkodra only freight traffic
• Durrës - Elbasan
• Fier - Vlora (freight traffic only)

The Milot – Rrëshen section was abandoned after 1997 . The rails were partially used to restore the route north of Shkodra and the new A1 motorway to Kukës was built on the route . During the 1980s, work was still being carried out on extending the route from Rrëshen via Burrel to Klos .

After 2000, operations on other peripheral routes were gradually stopped, for example between Librazhd and Pogradec, to Ballsh and to Vlora. The Podgorica – Shkodra route was also closed for a long time in the 1990s and beyond. In 2019, the Fier – Vlora line was put back into operation by the private company Albrail for goods.

Todays situation

Arrival of a train from Shkodra in Vora (2016)

The railroad has lost much of its importance in the years since the fall of the Wall. Most travelers today use buses or cars, which are not safer, but are now much faster thanks to the expansion of the road network. The transport volumes in the transport of goods had also collapsed with the end of the communist regime, because most of the factories and industrial plants in the country closed.

Willful destruction and a lack of finance for maintenance left the Albanian railroad in a desolate state. Most of the rolling stock is in poor condition. Discarded Austrian, German or Italian wagons run, all of which are hauled by heavy diesel locomotives made in the Czech Republic (1960s to 1980s). All other types were turned off. The trains usually run very slowly due to the poor quality of the superstructure . Most of the time, it doesn't even reach 50 km / h. The maximum speed is 60 km / h.

Between Tirana and Durrës there were around ten trains per direction and day until 2007, two trains on the other routes, with the exception of the connection to Elbasan with an additional journey. These frequencies were reduced in 2007. According to declarations of intent, the international connection to Montenegro, previously only used for freight traffic, should also be used for passenger traffic.

In Albania there is only one type of train and one type of carriage . Traveling by train remains extremely cheap, which despite the slowness still guarantees a certain competitiveness of the train. On the other hand, the low income from passenger transport hardly enables modernization investments.

A certain upswing in freight traffic came from the reopening of the route to Montenegro. In 2002 the transport performance of the Albanian railways in passenger traffic amounted to 124 million passenger kilometers and in goods traffic to 21 million ton kilometers .

In 2012, passenger traffic between Librazhd and Gur i kuq ( Pogradec train station ) was discontinued, so that trains from Tirana now end in Librazhd instead of Gur i kuq.

In 2013, traffic between Vora and Tirana train station was stopped as it was to be relocated further to the outskirts. From the new train station on the outskirts , which will also be the bus station for international and national connections, a tram will in future take passengers along the old route to downtown Tirana. The construction time is estimated at 36 months; construction work had not yet started in 2016. In May 2015 a new train station was inaugurated in Kashar and the line from Vora to Kashar was put back into operation. Due to economic problems, however, only two train pairs per day ran on the Durrës – Tirana route in 2016. In 2015, operations on the route from Fier to Vlorë were suspended, but apparently resumed in the summer of 2016.

In October 2015, the Ministry of Transport announced that it had awarded a concession for the renewal and operation of the routes from Fier to Ballsh and Vlora to two companies called Alb-Star and Matrix Konstruksion . However, the contracts still have to be drawn up; operations are scheduled to begin 46 months later. There is talk of an investment of US $ 20 million. The focus is on the transport of crude oil from the oil fields around Ballsh to the industrial park at the oil port of Vlora.

In March 2016, operations had to be completely shut down for a few days because there was no more money to buy diesel. The offer was subsequently thinned out further. Genc Alioti, the head of HSH, spoke in an interview in April 2016 about the company's imminent bankruptcy. The loss of large orders for goods transport, triggered in particular by the bankruptcy of Kürüm International , made the situation much worse. The closure of the Tirana train station led to a drop of around 50% in passenger numbers compared to 2013. The Albanian state is only investing a minimum in the railroad, which is why in the past two decades people have mainly been eating bacon from the past. A lot of scrap iron was also sold in order to make ends meet. The government lacks a long-term strategy and what has been planned so far has never been implemented. In June 2016, HSH workers went on strike because they had not received any salaries for months.

From October 9, 2016, rail traffic in Albania was temporarily completely suspended for economic reasons. In 2017 it was reported that at least some trains were running again. In 2019, a private company resumed freight traffic on the route between Fier and Vlorë. At the end of 2019, operations had to be shut down again for several weeks due to a lack of funds for diesel.

Car interior (2015)

Car interior (2016)

Development of the number of passengers and the transported tons of goods

year	Passengers	Goods transported (tons)
1993	3,961,000	539,000
1994	4,022,000	522,000
1995	3,739,000	574,000
1996	3,389,000	521,000
1997	1,820,000	284,000
1998	2,269,000	305,000
1999	2,270,000	361,000
2000	2,381,000	412,000
2001	2,676,000	258,000
2002	2,270,000	340,000
2003	2,070,000	520,000
2004	1,758,000	417,000
2005	1,440,000	404,000
2006	1,659,000	450,000
2007	1,091,000	400,000
2008	823,000	355,000
2009	645,000	343,000
2010	430,000	403,000
2011	453,000	317,000
2012	448,000	142,000
2013	329,000	151,000
2014	187,000	338,000

In September 2018 it was reported that hardly more than 200 passengers were carried per day, i.e. around 75,000 people a year.

Vehicle use

Train in Shkodër station (2016)

Formerly German y-car on the platform in Durrës (2007)

Redesigned rail cars in Durrës (2015)

At the moment around 25 former Czech diesel locomotives of the type T 669 are in use at HSH . The rolling stock for passenger traffic consists of former Deutsche Bahn passenger cars as well as from Italy and Austria.

Expansion plans

For 2016 the plan was to improve the connection to the port of Durrës .

With foreign support, repairs were carried out on the Tirana – Durrës line, and a complete renovation was repeatedly announced. Plans for a connection to Tirana Airport were discussed as part of a new light rail system in Tirana . At the end of 2003, a preliminary project was agreed with the US company General Electric, among other things for this airport connection and the modernization and upgrading of the Tirana – Durrës line for speeds of up to 90 km / h. Among other things, secure level crossings and electronic route monitoring should be installed for this purpose. Before the 2005 elections, this project was approved by Parliament. After initial approval, the new government has now put this project on hold, not least because of the World Bank's concerns about funding. The World Bank also recommended that the Elbasan – Pogradec and Fier – Vlora routes be discontinued and the workforce reduced, which has meanwhile been implemented by the majority. As a result, General Electric received compensation of several million euros. In 2016 it was announced that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development intended to grant Albania a loan of 36.9 million euros for the renewal of the Tirana – Durrës railway line and for the construction of a seven and a half kilometer long airport shuttle. The cost of the project is estimated at around € 82 million and, in addition to the loan, will be covered by contributions from third parties and the government. The opening of the new line was originally planned for 2019. The routes should then be driven at a maximum speed of 100 km / h. The project was put out to tender by the Albanian government.

In order to be able to achieve a significant improvement in the range of services and safety on the entire route network, around 200 million euros are necessary. At the beginning of 2019, the upcoming renewal of the Vora – Shkodra line was announced, for example to enable higher driving speeds.

There are further expansion plans or intentions, particularly with regard to additional connections to international rail networks. The expansion along the planned European transport corridor VIII from Vlora and Durrës to Burgas and Varna in Bulgaria is discussed most frequently . The corridor would connect the EU ports in Bari and Brindisi (Italy) and Varna and Burgas and would have opportunities for funding from the European Union , in particular within the framework of TEN-T . In Albania, the existing Durrës – Rrogozhina – Elbasan – Pogradec line is to be integrated and a new line is to be built from Lin (between Elbasan and Pogradec) on the northern bank of Lake Ohrid to Kičevo in North Macedonia . The length of the missing section between Lin and Kičevo is almost three kilometers in Albania and over 60 kilometers in North Macedonia. This project was originally supposed to start in summer 2009. The height of the Albanian-North Macedonian border crossing on Lake Ohrid was agreed between states in 2004 at 725 meters. In December 2012, the detailed planning of the 63-kilometer new railway line from the border to Kičevo in North Macedonia was put out to tender. In 2016 the Albanians declared that apart from the financing - around eight million euros - everything was ready. In North Macedonia it is also unclear how the project will be financed.

The focus and also part of TEN-T is the rehabilitation of the routes to Pogradec and Han i Hotit. The costs for this are estimated at around € 100 million for the Durrës – Han i Hotit route and around € 150 million for the Durrës – Pogradec route. For the renewal of the Durrës – Vlora line, another € 100 million are estimated.

Connections from Pogradec to Florina in Greece and from Milot to the Trainkos network to Prizren in Kosovo have lower priority . The latter would lead through mountainous terrain and cost around one billion euros, which could only be financed with mostly foreign aid. The connection from Pogradec via Korça to Greece is in turn part of TEN-T. A feasibility study must now be carried out for this route.

literature

• Reinhard Dietrich u. a .: Hekurudhë ë Shqipërisë (HSH) - Albania by train . In: Fern-Express 53 (1/1997), pp. 32-47.
• Gerhard Gürsch: By bus and train through the land of the Skipetaren. Bufe-Fachbuch-Verlag, Egglham 1986.
• 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 .
• Eberhard Rieber: Albania Railway Map / Railway Map Albania. Quail Map Company, Exeter 1990, ISBN 0-900609-68-0 .
• Deutsche Gesellschaft für Eisenbahngeschichte eV (Ed.): The Albanian Railways - A status report from autumn 1996. Self-published, Karlsruhe 1998, ISBN 3-921700-76-0 .
• Ph. Walkenhorst: HeS - Notes on the Albanian Railway Today . In: Lok-Magazin . No. 142 . Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, W. Keller & Co. , 1987, ISSN  0458-1822 , p. 38-46 .

Web links

Commons : Railways in Albania  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Fan site about the Albanian Railways (English)
• Price list (2012) ( Memento from November 27, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
• Turntable online forum posts with travel reports
  • The unfinished route: Milot - Rrëshen - Burrel - Klos (two-part report, September 2011)
• Network in Albania and Macedonia
• T669.net: History of the Albanian Railway (Albanian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} Genc Alizoti: Hekurudha shqiptare drejt falimentimit (Intervista). In: Gazeta Express. April 17, 2016, archived from the original on August 22, 2016 ; Retrieved July 17, 2016 (Albanian). 
2. ↑ hjs: Albania . In: IBSE telegram 313 (12/2016), p. 12.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} How to travel by train & ferry from London to Albania… In: The Man in Seat 61. Retrieved on April 13, 2017 (English): “In late March for a short period no trains were operating in Albania at all due to unpaid invoices & lack of fuel. However, they are now up and running again as of March 29, with a reduced service.
   Update December 2016: No trains running in Albania! It's happened again (it happened in March 2016), another financial crisis that has brought all Albanian trains to a halt […] Update February 2017: Some trains are now running again, at least Durres-Kashar. " 
4. ^ Kurt Rückmann: The land of the Skipetaren . Kongress-Verlag, Berlin 1960.
5. ↑ AL route Milot-Rreshen- (Burrel-Klos) part 2 (28 B.). In: turntable online. May 24, 2009, accessed January 30, 2011 .  , AL route Milot-Rreshen- (Burrel-Klos) part 1 (2 B.). In: turntable online. May 17, 2009, accessed January 30, 2011 . 
6. ↑ The unfinished route: Milot - Rrëshen - Burrel - Klos (two-part report). In: Drehscheibe-Foren.de. September 24, 2011, accessed September 29, 2011 . 
7. ↑ ^{a b} Albanian Transport: Stacioni Fier: Treni i kompanisë ALBRAIL niset drejt Vlorës Lokomotiva ČKD 770 526-2. In: Facebook. February 24, 2019, Retrieved February 24, 2019 (Albanian). 
8. ↑ ^{a b} Alqi Gjika: 770 526-2 Albrail on YouTube , January 23, 2019, accessed February 24, 2019.
9. ↑ Gerhard Gürsch: By bus and train through the land of Skipetars . Bufe-Fachbuch-Verlag, Egglham 1986, ISBN 3-922138-28-4 , p. 88 .
10. ↑ Orari i lëvizjes së trenave udhëtarëve për vitin 2012. In: Albanian Ministry of Transport. April 25, 2012, archived from the original on November 27, 2012 ; Retrieved October 18, 2012 (Albanian). 
11. ↑ 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, archiv-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130903225134/http://news.albanianscreen.tv/pages/news_detail/67536/ALB ). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
12. ↑ Terminali i autobusëve dhe trenit. In: Bashkia Tirana. Retrieved September 16, 2013 (Albanian). 
13. ↑ Kryetari Kuvendit i, z. Ilir Meta dhe Ministri i Transportit dhe infrastructures z. Edmond Haxhinasto marrin pjesë në inaugurimin e stacionit hekurudhor në Kashar. In: Ministria e Transportit dhe Infrastrukturës. May 26, 2015, archived from the original on June 1, 2015 ; Retrieved May 31, 2015 (Albanian). 
14. ↑ How to travel by train & ferry from London to Albania… In: The Man in Seat 61. Retrieved on October 26, 2015 (English): “One unconfirmed report suggests trains are no longer operating to / from Vlorë but terminating / starting from Fier. " 
15. ↑ How to travel by train & ferry from London to Albania… In: The Man in Seat 61. Retrieved on July 17, 2016 (English): “But the latest timetable at Durres now shows a train to Vlorë, and this is now confirmed as true, trains are indeed running to Vlorë again, at least until the next screw-up. " 
16. ↑ Hekurudhat Fier-Ballsh, Fier-Vlorë, jepen me koncesion. 20 mln USD investim. In: Gazeta Panorama Online. October 15, 2015, accessed on October 26, 2015 (Albanian): "Sasia mesatare e transportuar e mallrave / mineraleve për vit kalendarik pritet të jetë 2.5 milionë tonë dhe numri i pasagjerëve 307 mijë në vit." 
17. ↑ Mbyllet hekurudha shqiptare, s'ka karburant për trenat. In: Gazeta Tema. March 21, 2016, accessed April 22, 2019 (Albanian). 
18. ↑ Kaos në transportin hekurudhor, punonjësit pa rrogë nisin Greven 24 Oreshe. In: Gazeta Express. June 8, 2016, Retrieved July 17, 2016 (Albanian). 
19. ↑ hjs: Albania . In: IBSE telegram 313 (12/2016), p. 12.
20. ↑ Hekurudha nuk sherben për udhetare. In: TV Rozafa. December 12, 2019, accessed December 22, 2019 (Albanian). 
21. ↑ ABC News Albania: Treni i Shkodres 4 jave pa udhetare on YouTube , December 19, 2019, accessed on December 22, 2019.
22. ↑ Transport Hekurudhor i pasagjerëve dhe mallrave (1993-2014). (XLS) In: INSTAT . Archived from the original on November 13, 2015 ; Retrieved December 5, 2015 (Albanian). 
23. ↑ Durrës Hekurudha Shqiptare në gjendje të mjeruar, vetëm 205 udhëtarë në ditë on YouTube
24. ^ Hans-Bernhard Schönborn in: Karl-Wilhelm Koch (Ed.): Eisenbahnatlas Europa , Verlag GeraMond, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-7654-7149-6  ; European Commision - Phare Program: Albania - National Transportation Plan. Phase 2 Study Phase , 2004 (PDF file; 3.8 MB)
25. ^ Railway Reform in the Western Balkans (Worldbank Report, 2005) (PDF file; 2 MB)
26. ↑ Associated Press: Albanian transport ministry sues former minister over scrapped rail deal with General Electric. May 17, 2010, accessed September 13, 2011 . 
27. ↑ EBRD Considers up to EUR 34 mln loan for Albanian Railways. In: Invest in Albania. June 22, 2016, accessed July 17, 2016 . 
28. ↑ ^{a b} ineu: Bidding project for two construction processes in Albania . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International 7/2018, p. 370.
29. ↑ Hekurudha Tiranë-Rinas-Durrës, Haxhinasto: Projekti përfundon në 2019. In: Top Channel. June 25, 2016, Retrieved April 22, 2019 (Albanian). 
30. ^ Vlora-Shkodra Railway to Undergo Rehabilitation. In: Invest in Albania. January 21, 2019, accessed on January 22, 2019 (the source incorrectly names Vlora instead of Vora, in contrast to the underlying Facebook message). 
31. ^ ^{A b} Corridor VIII - Pre-feasibility study on the development of the railway axis - Final report. (PDF) In: Corridor VIII Secretariat. September 2007, accessed April 22, 2019 . 
32. ↑ rm: distance project to Macedonia . In: IBSE telegram March 2009, p. 5.
33. ↑ Preparation of a detailed draft and tender documents for the construction of a new railway section from Kicevo to the border with the Republic of Albania as part of Corridor VIII as well as tender documents for construction supervision. Tenders Electronic Daily , accessed December 21, 2012 . 
34. ↑ Qeveria e Shkupit nuk ka para për ndërtimin e hekurudhës me Shqipërinë. In: Gazeta Express. July 17, 2016, Retrieved July 17, 2016 (Albanian).