European Railroad Discussion > Return to Slovenia

Over the final weekend of November and the first couple of days of December I paid my third visit of the year to Slovenia, courtesy of Ryanair's Black Friday Seat Sale, which saw a round trip from London Stansted to Trieste in NE Italy for slightly less than $40. Too good to miss. as you can see from these pictures the weather was pretty good, except for Monday when the Slovenian Littoral and NE Italy was under a sheet of cloud with a cold wind blowing off the Alps. The railway was as busy as ever, pending the opening of the second track (the new line mostly in tunnel) which is expected to be handed over for testing and trial running in Spring 2026. There was a maintenance window on Monday December 1st, which I gleaned from the SŽ website which showed the morning Hodos - Ljubljana - Koper train terminating at Divača, with a rail replacement bus for passengers for Kosina & Koper.

I arrived at Trieste mid morning on Friday 28th. After negotiating my way through the EU's new EES (Entry/Exit System, another Brexit "win" for the UK) and picking up my hire car I headed down the autostrada, around Trieste and into Slovenia, turning off for Hrastovlje, arriving at about mid-day. I didn't have to wait very long before my first train, an eastbound was in the loop at Hrastovlje station awaiting a westbound tank train descending from Črnotiče. The westbound was headed by an ELL (European Locomotive Leasing) Siemens Vectron whilst the eastbound had an SŽ class 541 as helper.

This time I paid the obligatory visit to the Črnotiče over view for a train of eastbound loaded Innofreight iron ore containers for Voestalpine, the steel company. 

The ore train was held at Črnotiče for a westbound which turned out to be 363 011 on a Koper bound intermodal. I chased it down to Dekani on its final approach to the yard at Koper. A fortuitous shot as you can see almost all the loads, 363 011 had a long tail of nothing but fresh air


 

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I stayed in a B&B in the village of Podgorje, which is on the little used line down the Istrian peninsula to Pula (now in Croatia) at the tip. The section of the railway in Croatia is isolated from the rest of the Croation National system, relying on the connection through Slovenia to swap motive power as well as infrequent freight workings. This is Podgorje station, a handsome looking building, which was just around the corner from the B&B. At this time of year I was the only guest staying.

My first stop on Saturday was the other lookout at Črnotiče, to the east of the station. I couldn't quite believe my luck. I maybe waited 10 minutes before a train could be heard labouring up the grade into Črnotiče station, and what was at the head, none other than 363 005, the only 363 in the retro JZ livery that the locos wore when new. This was the first time I had seen it in the flesh.

Having got this shot I didn't hang around and drove down into the Rizana Valley back to Hrastovlje and neighbouring village Dol pri Hrastvoljah to get the track up to Zanigrad. The light was about perfect. Taken about 50 minutes after the shot at Črnotiče, a westbound intermodal descending past Zanigrad behind a 363.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/25 13:26 by 86235.

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I stayed around Zanigrad for a couple of hours, on account of the light. This was an eastbound of Donauchem hoppers behind a class 541. Behind is the Crni Kal motorway viaduct, under which you can see the viaduct for one of the open sections of the second track from Divača to just outside Koper. On the horizon are the snow covered Alps. Zanigrad is a funny place, there are a couple of houses which are habitable and a larger number which appear either derelict or semi-derelict. There's the 14th century church of St Stephen (it was from the churchyard that this picture was taken), which has a historical information board in Slovenian, English, Italian & German and there's a drinking water fountain to cater for walkers and others (like me) who visit, cows graze the hillsides but no one actually lives there. 

The second shot was taken up the hillside again but at a slightly different angle, a pair of OBB Vectrons on an intermodal for Koper

On my way back down to Dol pri Hrastovljah I stopped about 500m short of the village where there's a shot of eastbounds before the climb begins beyond the station. Another 363 on another intermodal.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/26 23:51 by 86235.

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was there passenger service to where you stayed?

I spent Sunday further east around Ivanje Selo and Rakek where I'd enjoyed a very productive day back in March. Not so productive today, here are a couple of shots from the day, a pair of Adria Transport locomotives, a class 1216 Taurus and a class 193 Vectron. Adria is a Slovenian registered FOC (Freight Operating Company). And the second shot is 363 005 again on an eastbound intermodal. Sadly I couldn't get any wider so its rather a head on shot. From never having seen it on four previous visits here it was quite clearly stalking me! I had hoped to see the loco hauled Euro City Emona (Trieste to Vienna) but found out from the SŽ website that Trenitalia, citing congestion in and around Trieste, had substituted a bus from Opicina (the border with Slovenia) to Trieste and SŽ had substituted a Flirt EMU from Ljubljana to Opicina. I subsequently learnt that since the timetable change on December 14th, and the opening in Austria of the new Koralmbahn from Graz to Klagenfurt, the Trieste to Vienna service (now an OBB Railjet) is routed via Udine, Tarvisio / Villach and the Koralmbahn, the Emona being reduced to a Ljubljana to Vienna train.

On Tuesday I had to be back at Trieste Airport for my flight home to London Stansted at 15:00 so I had the morning. It was bright, occasionally sunny. And there were plenty of trains. Approaching Prešnica (the junction of the Koper line with the line down the Istrian peninsula) a 363 on imported electric Toyota SUVs. In the UK these retail at upwards of $40,000 so a train of approximately 200 is worth some $8 million. 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/25 14:56 by 86235.

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dan Wrote:
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> was there passenger service to where you stayed?

No, there's a limited passenger service during the summer through Podgorje but I don't think it stops to pick up or set down.

As I said the morning was pretty busy, and in the lee of the hills around Prešnica holes began appearing in the cloud cover. This Railpool Vectron (Railpool is another major leasing company in Europe) is eastbound on loaded box wagons, the fourth eastbound in under an hour. Slovenia is a generally catholic country and small shrines and chapels like this are all over the place.

My last couple of shots, at Prešnica and at the mouth of Rizana Tunnel (no.4) are both of cars for export through Koper, 363 006 has what looks like BMW Mini Countryman (built in Leipzig) and PKP International 193 589 has a load of Land Rover Defenders from Nitra in Slovakia.

And that was it. Waiting for the last train, which I had seen descending from Črnotiče just before my self imposed deadline for getting back to the airport, put me a little bit behind schedule and meant I couldn't get anything to eat as I had to go through the EES procedures to leave as well, and that was quite a long queue. But it was worth waiting for.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/25 12:59 by 86235.

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Beautiful stuff as always. You should either get a place there or apply for citizenship as you have spent enough time there!

$40 well spent, Nick.  Some really nice scenes.  Thanks!

Greg Stadter
Phoenix, AZ

Thanks for another good show, Nick.  Gerry

The hidden gem of Europe with a fascinating railway to boot.

86235 Wrote:
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>. . . The railway was as busy as ever, pending the opening of the second track (the new line mostly in tunnel) which is expected to be handed over for testing and trial running in Spring 2026. 

Tremendous photos, as usual. Is there an estimated date by which traffic will cease on the current line?

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/25 18:51 by railsmith.

railsmith Wrote:
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> Tremendous photos, as usual. Is there an estimated
> date by which traffic will cease on the current
> line?

Thanks. As I understand it when the second track fully opens in 2026 it will be for westbound trains whilst the existing line will be for eastbound workings. But the second track has been constructed to permit doubling by the early 2030s, subject to funding. Then the old line will be closed and probably turned into a bike path. Sadly by then I might be too old to ride it, but if I can I will.

E25 Wrote:
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> $40 well spent, Nick.  Some really nice scenes. 
> Thanks!

Thanks, that's what I thought!

GPutz Wrote:
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> Thanks for another good show, Nick.  Gerry

Thanks Gerry

GN1969 Wrote:
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> The hidden gem of Europe with a fascinating
> railway to boot.

Couldn't agree more, Slovenia is a very attractive country in so many ways. My one criticism (tongue in cheek) is that, along with Lithuania, Slovenia is the other EU country without a tram system :-)



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/31/25 00:01 by 86235.

Nick - very cool set of photos.  Love the Zanigrad shots. 

Very nice!  This is the line that will be largely abandoned in a few months, right?  That you wrote about in spring or summer 2025?  

I was in the Czech Republic this summer, I thought about ducking down to Slovenia just to ride the line.  But instead went north.  

How many more months until they cut in the new line?  

Ted in MN 

gobbl3gook Wrote:
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> Very nice!  This is the line that will be largely
> abandoned in a few months, right?  That you wrote
> about in spring or summer 2025?  


No, it won't be abandoned just yet. The second track, the name for the new route mainly in tunnel, is all about additional capacity. I read in Today's Railways - Europe that SŽ plan to operate the two lines, old and new, like a one way system. Westbound trains via the new line, eastbound via the old route. That'll mean no more meets on the old line and some of the classic shots of westbounds will be lost, unless there are diversions for whatever reason. The second track formation has been built to accommodate doubling the new line by the early 2030s, at which point the existing 1960s line will be abandoned and probably turned into a bike path.

But all this assumes traffic continues at current levels. Any slowdown in global trade would, I assume, mean trains running in both directions on the second track and the existing line would be reduced to a few trains to retain driver route knowledge.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/26 00:07 by 86235.