Serbian Railways

Serbian Railways
Железнице Србије
Type	Public
Industry	Rail Transport
Founded	1881
Headquarters	Belgrade, Serbia
Employees	18,651 (2011)
Website	www.zeleznicesrbije.com

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Serbian Railways (Serbian: Железнице Србије / Železnice Srbije) is the national railway company of Serbia. Serbian Railways is a member of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The UIC Country Code for Serbia is 72.

[edit] History

Serbian Railways Headquarters

Belgrade railway station

Novi Sad railway station

Serbian Railways as a company is traced back to 1881 when King Milan I declared formation of the Serbian National Railways. The first train departed from Belgrade to Niš on August 23, 1884, which is considered by Serbian Railways as the official year when the company was created. From the 1920s to the dissolution of Yugoslavia it operated under the name Yugoslav Railways. The first electrified line was opened between Belgrade and Šid in 1970.

[edit] Rolling stock

The rolling stock consists mostly of fast electric train sets (EMU class 412) and of electric locomotives built in the cooperation between Mašinska Industrija Niš (MIN) and KONČAR Group (classes 441 and 444), under the Swedish licence, as well as Romanian built Electroputere Craiova (classes 461 which is used mainly for cargo transport due to its moderate speed), built under the same licence. Some of these locomotives recently underwent comprehensive modernization either by MIN or Končar Zagreb.

The diesel traction is powered by locomotives built by General Motors Company (classes 645, 661, 664, 666), MIN (classes 741, 742, 734), Macosa (class 644), Đuro Đaković Company (class 662, 643, 642), Metrovagonmash 711, as well as by some other, mostly European suppliers. Diesel trainsets (DMU classes 710, 712 and 812) are used mainly on local lines.

On April 14, 2010, Serbian railways director Milovan Marković and manager of the Russian company Metrovagonmash signed a contract for the delivery of ten new diesel motor trains, as well as the purchase of the tools and equipment for maintenance, expendable material and spare parts, preparation of technical documentation and training of Serbian Railways staff for the operation of these trains. The value of this contract is 34.500.000 Swiss francs. The first train will arrive in 2011 and the rest in 2012.^[1]

[edit] Services

Serbian Railways has many services, ranging from domestic and international routes to tourist rides. For tourism, the heritage line Šargan Eight is used as a train designed in previous century for passengers to experience. Long haul operations are separated service-wise. Long distance destinations are served by two different services; destinations from Belgrade to southern Serbia and Montenegro are mostly served by the Belgrade-Bar line. For destinations outside Serbia and Montenegro, the Avala inter-city train serves destinations like Venice, Munich, Vienna, Budapest and Moscow^[2] and they all pass through Mala Krsna, the second biggest railroad knot in Serbia.

The direct service between Belgrade and Sarajevo, which was cut in the early 1990s during the Yugoslav Wars, was reopened in December 2009.^[3]

In 2010, Serbian Railways joined Cargo 10, a joint venture with other railways in the region.^[4] The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has given a series of four loans to Zeleznice Srbije to support modernisation.^[5]