Serbia - General Information
Country Name
Serbia (Srbija)
National railway system
National Railway Operator
Železnice Serbije (ŽS - Железнице Србије). ŽS was divided into four subsidiaries in July 2015: ŽS Infrastructure, Srbija Voz (passenger operations), Srbija Kargo and ŽS Holding.
Infrastructure Authority
Infrastruktura železnice Srbije
Language
Serbian.
Currency
The Dinar is the normal currency, with Euros also being accepted. Most banks and border stations have currency exchange facilities.
UIC code
Numeric 72; alpha SRB
Timetable
Journey Planner
Srbija Voz offers several useful search options:
- Direct Trains - display all trains between two specific stations on the ŽS network
- Station Timetable - display train departure or arrival lists for each ŽS station
- BG:Voz Timetable - displays a PDF of the suburban train services around Beograd, though only in Serbian. Note these services also show up in the other journey planner options.
Downloadable Timetable
Timetable – “Kurir” offers a list of timetable PDF files to download, by individual route. International services are listed in their own PDF file. NOTE though the page heading implies these are the timetables from 2024/2025, as at 26 December 2024 they appear to still be from a previous year. For actual 2024/2025 timetable PDFs, refer to the Serbian language page at Ред вожње – Курир / Red Vožnje – Kurir.
Printed Timetable
Red Vožnje. Printed in Serbian throughout.
Engineering Information
Engineering information and other timetable changes are listed under "Timetable Notes" on the main Journey Planner page, though only in Serbian.
Network Statement
All recent network statements can be found at the Network Statement page.
Maps
Printed Maps
- European Railway Atlas (All-Europe Edition) by M.G. Ball.
- European Railway Atlas (Regional Series - The Balkans) by M.G. Ball.
- Mapa Kolejowa Serbii, Kosowa, Czarnogóry (Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro) by W. Kolondra.
Web-based Maps
- Map of Serbia and Montenegro dated December 2020.
- Maps and Plans - Serbia
Gauge
Standard.
Beograd Tramways are metre gauge.
Electrification
25 kV 50 Hz.
Beograd Tramways are 600 V dc.
Rule of the road
Right.
Other Railways
None.
Tourist Lines
A long section of the former Beograd - Sarajevo 760 mm gauge line, about 30 km west of Užice, has been re-opened: the "Sarganska Osmica", between Sargan and Mokra Gora stations, including a "figure of eight": timetable details on the ŽS website.
A short section of 600 mm gauge forestry railway had been rebuilt, also near Mokra Gora, by 2001 but this appears to have been closed for some years.
Metro
None
Trams/LRT-Systems
Beograd
A basic line diagram is available at the UrbanRail.Net site along with a link to the local operator.
Recent and Future Changes
Novi Sad station
The collapse of a canopy, with fatal consequences, at Novi Sad station on 1 November 2024 has caused the closure of the station until further notice.
From that date:
- trains from the Beograd direction have been terminating at Petrovaradin, and
- trains from the Karavukovo/Bogojevo/Sombor direction have been terminating at Novi Sad Ranžirna,
with connecting bus services to and from Novi Sad. Further details are available on the Napomene uz red vožnje / Timetable Notes section of the Journey Planner.
Future Changes
Infrastructure Changes
On 7 July 2018 a €943m agreement was signed with the Chinese for modernisation of the route between Novi Sad and the Hungarian border. Work was expected to start in 2019. The Chinese had already been appointed main contractors for the modernisation of Beograd – Stara Pazova. The Russians are modernising and double tracking Stara Pazova – Novi Sad, including the construction of a new tunnel at Čortanovci, 3 viaducts, 19 bridges, and a new station at Beška. Beograd - Novi Sad was expected to re-open by December 2021, with a non-stop journey time of 27 minutes. However, the work had not been completed by December 2024.
Two new deviations totalling 14.16 km are under construction between Indija and Novi Sad, originally planned for opening 7 December 2019 with the rest of the reconstructed section from Stara Pazova to Novi Sad.
Work has started on upgrading sections of the Beograd - Niš - Preševo (- Skopje) line, which forms part of Trans-European Corridor X. As at July 2016 work was focused on the Niš to Preševo section. Extensive work was under way in the Beograd area in October 2017. The plan was for Beograd - Niš to have been upgraded to 160 km/h by 2025.
Changes in 2024
Openings
The 2024-2025 timetable shows services over the following sections of line, where none were shown in the previous timetable period:
- Table 40: Pančevo - Zrenjanin.
Closures
The 2023-24 timetable showed no services over the following sections of line:
- Table 25: Vrbas - Sombor.
- Table 40: Pančevo - Zrenjanin.
- Table 71: Mala Krsna - Velika Plana.
- Table 80: Niš - Dimitrovgrad.
- Table 85: Niš - Merdare.
- Table 90: Niš - Preševo.
Note that the only international border crossings open to passenger services in this period are those with Montenegro (via Bijelo Polje) and Hungary (Subotica - Szeged line).
Changes in 2023
Openings
After a decade with no services, services re-started on 4 January 2023 from the Dunavski platforms at Pančevački most to Pančevo Vojlovica, reopening the short branch from Pančevo Varoš to Pančevo Vojlovica.
Modernisation work on the Serbian section of the Subotica - Horgoš - Röszke - Szeged (Hungary) line was completed with the re-opening of the line in November 2023.
Changes in 2021
Closures
Table 60 passenger services between Rudnica and Kosovska Mitrovica Sever (Kosovo) ceased at some point in summer 2021, and Kosovska Mitrovica Sever no longer appears in the journey planner list of stations.
Novi Sad to Orlovat Stajalište has no service in the 2021/2022 timetable, but this may be a result of the engineering works affecting the main line at Novi Sad.
Older Changes
For details of older changes see Serbia - Older General Information.
Special Notes
The timetable (Red Vožnje) includes lines over which services have been suspended for many years and also trains with the note "privremeno ne saobraća" - temporarily not running and which therefore do not appear in the journey planner.
Late running is very common on the lines south from Beograd, because schedules do not appear to allow for engineering work, single line working and speed restrictions. Branch connections may be held, but this cannot be guaranteed. Schedules are very slow on some secondary lines, because of the poor condition of infrastructure.
The Beograd - Bar line passes through Bosnia-Herzegovina (Republika Srpska) for a short distance, including a station at Štrpci.
