TRIESTE – The Central European Initiative (CEI) Executive Secretariat, in collaboration with the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, recently published the findings of a study carried out by Politecnico Milano on re-establishing direct rail passenger services between Trieste and Belgrade. The study, aims to address long-standing bottlenecks and assess the potential for a sustainable rail connection across Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia.
Commissioned within the framework of the CEI-FVG Joint Operational Plan 2023–2024, the study highlights key challenges, including infrastructure gaps, interoperability issues due to differing signalling and electrification systems, and sections requiring modernisation, such as the single-track stretch between Dugo Selo and Novska in Croatia. Despite these obstacles, the study identifies a promising potential demand of approximately 260,000 passengers annually, with significant environmental benefits from reducing car dependency in the region.
The proposed phased reactivation plan suggests an initial service with six daily train pairs between Trieste and Zagreb, expanding to Belgrade by 2029 once infrastructure upgrades are complete. Full implementation would require a fleet of 11–14 trains, covering around 51,000 train-km per week.
Some of the findings were presented at a public event on 8 November 2024 in Trieste, hosted by the CEI Executive Secretariat. This event, co-organized by CEI Executive Secretariat and the Permanent Secretariat of the Transport Community, brought together senior representatives from Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia, along the senior representatives of the rail operators from the Western Balkans, and focused on enhancing regional rail connectivity along the Trieste–Ljubljana–Zagreb–Belgrade route and emphasised the importance of advancing rail services as a cornerstone of the EU’s Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy.
The study also explored the potential for replicating its methodology along other sections of the Western Balkans–Eastern Mediterranean TEN-T Core Network.
For more information on the study and its contents, visit the Central European Initiative website.
