Serbian Railways
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Serbian Railways | |
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| Locale | Eastern Europe |
| Dates of operation | 1884 – present |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) (standard gauge) |
| Headquarters | Belgrade, Serbia |
Serbian Railways (Serbian: Железнице Србије/Železnice Srbije) is the national railway carrier of Serbia.
On August 20, 1854, the first horse-drawn railway was opened on Lisava–Oravica–Bazijas line. The fist traffic with steam traction was opened in 1856. Serbian Railways as a company is traced back to 1881 when King Milan declared formation of the Serbian National Railways. The fist royal 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. The first electrified line was opened between Belgrade and Šid in 1970.
From the 1920s to the dissolution of Yugoslavia it operated under the name Yugoslav Railways.
The rolling stock consists mostly of fast electric trainsets (EMU class 412) and of electric locomotives built in the cooperation between Masinska Industrija Nis MIN and Rade Končar Zagreb (classes 441 and 444), under the swedish licence, as well as romanian built Electroputere Craiova (class 461 which is used mainly for cargo transoprt due to its moderate speed), built under the same licence. Some of these locomotives recently underwent comperhensive modernisation either by Masinska Industrija Nis MIN or Rade Končar Zagreb. The diesel traction is powerd by locomotives built by General Motors Company (classes 645, 661, 664, 666 ), Masinska Industrija Nis MIN (classes 741, 742, 734), Macosa (class 644) , Djuro Djakovic Osijek (classes 642, 643, 662) ,as well as by some other, mostly european suppliers.Diesel trainsets (DMU classes 710, 712 and 812) are used mainly on local lines.
Today network is 4,347 km long, with 32% electrified railways.
[edit] Services
Serbian Railways has many services, ranging from domestic and international routes to tourist rides. For tourism, the antique Sargan "Eight" is used as a train designed from another century for passengers to experience. For longer range routes like to Budapest, Kiev, and Moscow, the more modern Avala (name for the EMU electric trains in Serbian Railways) train is used.
