Rail Travel in Serbia and Kosovo

Below is a detailed map of the railways of Serbia and Kosovo. You can zoom in by using the +/- buttons or by using the wheel on your mouse whilst hovering over the map.

The map has been extracted from the Railway Map of Europe with kind permission of the publishers.
You can purchase copies of the full map, as well as rail timetables, from The European Railway Timetable website

SERBIA

The capital city, Belgrade, once also the capital of the former Yugoslavia, sits astride the rivers Sava and Danube: in 2019 the former main railway station closed down and a new modern establishment ‘Belgrade Centar’ has been built in its place. The majority of rail services to and from the city now use this new station: three main lines leave northwards to Zagreb, Budapest and Timisoara whilst three others head south to Bar, Skopje and Sofia. Of these the most interesting and most recent line (only finished in the 1970’s) is that to Bar which for a few miles enters Bosnia and ends on the Montenegrin coast connecting with the ferries to and from Southern Italy at Bari. However there is currently no service between Sid (Serbia) and Tovarnik (Croatia) meaning no through trains to Zagreb. Similarly there is no service between Vrsac (Serbia) and Stamora Moravita (Romania) meaning no through trains to Timisoara. In addition the main line from Novi Sad to Subotica is closed for rebuilding meaning no through trains to Budapest and services from Nis to Dimitrovgrad are suspended meaning no through trains to Sofia. No trains run from Serbia into Kosovo

Much of the railway network is electrified standard gauge and major work is in hand to modernise the route to Hungary into a high speed line. Of interest to rail enthusiasts is the 760mm narrow gauge line at Mokra Gora which can be reached by bus or taxi from Uzice and Zlatibor on the Bar line: the section called the “Sargan Eight” has been reopened although the rest of the line which ran from Belgrade to Sarajevo and Dubronvik closed in 1974.

INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS: The only international connections currently running are from Subotica to Szeged (Hungary) and to Montenegro, North Macedonia

The Serbian Railways website (see link below) is informative but somewhat limited: however explanations of arrangements for the carriage of cycles and mobility assistance is given by scrolling down on ‘domestic services’.

As a rule tickets can be bought only at the station though reservations can be made by phone: However tickets can be purchased in advance through European ticket agencies as the Serbian reservation system is linked by computer.

The Balkan Flexipass can be purchased in both 2nd and 1st class for travel in Bulgaria, Greece, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania (only valid on CFR Calatori services), Serbia, Turkey and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

KOSOVO

The territory unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia in February 2008 and has since gained diplomatic recognition from almost 100 states worldwide. It has a meagre railway network with Pristina, the capital, connected westwards to Peja (Pec) and southwards by a daily international service to the North Macedonian border and on to Skopje by a single track unelectrified line. There is another line which runs northwards into Serbia but its operation is disputed and the southern section which would connect it to Pristina does not operate.

INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS: The through service from Pristina to Skopje (North Macedonia) is currently suspended

IR October 2024