I wake up early for the third and final day of my rail trip across BiH. As I leave my hotel, I realize I’m among the ruins of the Sarajevo brickworks. Only two tall chimneys stand. A tiny note on one of the chimneys says WARNING BEWARE LOOSE BRICKS. The site looks eerily magical in the early morning mist. I make my way to Sarajevo train station.

I woke up bright and early before dawn to continue the second day of my journey across Bosnia and Herzegovina. I rode over to the Bosna river and witnessed the dramatic early morning sight of the Kuršumlija mosque and the Maglaj fortress. Maglaj is just waking up as I make my way to the train station nearby. In 2025 there is only one pair of trains a day between Maglaj and Sarajevo, with an additional service from Maglaj to Zenica which leaves at 4:48am.

With my route across BiH all planned out, I had to decide when to travel. It was necessary to schedule my train journey from Zagreb to Ploče, via Banja Luka and Sarajevo, before the end of August. The train from Sarajevo to Ploče runs only in the summer, and only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. I scheduled the trip for Friday, August 29th. If everything went as planned, that would get me to Sarajevo on Saturday, August 30th and I would get on this summer’s last train to Ploče on Sunday, August 31st.

I spent most of this summer based in Zagreb, taking trains and riding bikes. While I mostly traveled around Slovenia and Croatia, in late August I embarked on a multi day trip across Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), taking trains to the Adriatic port of Ploče via Banja Luka and Sarajevo. This article is the first in the series about this trip, where I will share some background on why this trip is so long and complicated, and how I planned it despite these difficulties. In the following articles I will write about the trip itself.

Earlier this year, I wrote about a rare occurrence at Dobova, a border station between Slovenia and Croatia: a few HŽPP local trains crossed over from Croatia into Slovenia to pick up passengers going to Zagreb holiday markets. This summer there have been some additional positive developments at this station. In addition to regular long distance trains, SŽ (Slovenian railways) started running seasonal (EDIT: these trains are year long) weekend

Note: this trip was inspired by Jon Worth’s Cross Border Rail project. Make sure to follow him on Bluesky and Mastodon! History On the first of October 1862, Südbahn-Gesellschaft (South Railway Company) opened the Zidani Most – Zagreb – Sisak railway. This was one of the first railways in what are now Slovenia and Croatia, and this route is still the main rail link between the capitals of the two

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