The Sarajevo–Ploče railway is a long railway in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. The line connects Sarajevo with Konjic, Mostar and Ploče. The route operates through the regions of Sarajevo Canton, Herzegovina-Neretva Canton and Dubrovnik-Neretva County. The route largely follows the route of the Neretva river. Passenger services along the full length of line have been discontinued between 2013 and 2022, running only between Sarajevo and the town of Čapljina on the Bosnian-Croatian border. International train service between Sarajevo and Ploče resumed on 1 July 2022, on weekends until 1 September 2022, using Spanish-designed Talgo wagons. This service also ran during the summer of 2023. The line is part of the pan-European corridor 5C from Budapest via Osijek and Sarajevo to Ploče. The section through Bosnia and Herzegovina is marked 11, and through Croatia M304.
Route
The railway starts at Sarajevo station, goes through the Sarajevo field, and has the characteristics of a plain railway. The valley of the river Zujevina acquires the characteristics of a slope and descends through the Ivan Mountain to the Bradina high-slope railway. The descent of the railway continues on the left side of the Trešanica river to Podorašac, where it crosses to the right side of the Trešanica river to Konjic. The route continues across the Jablanica lake, and after Ostrošac, it descends towards the Neretva with features of a slope railway. Before Jablanica, it crosses to the right side of the Neretva. The railway continues through the Neretva canyon between the Prenj and Čvrsnica mountains, and after Raštan, it again crosses to the left side of the Neretva and enters Mostar. Leaving Mostar, the line heads south, again crosses to the right side of the Neretva to Ploče with the features of the low valley railway before ending on the coast of the Adractic sea.
Railway features Technical data about the current standard gauge railway:Pruga Sarajevo – Ploče, str. 8.-11. Length: 194.6 km Track: 1 Stations: 27 Bridges: 71 with a total length of Tunnels: 106 with a total length of (the longest Ivan sedlo, ) Of the above, 46 tunnels and 21 bridges are on the section between Bradina and Konjic Track length in stations: (of which in Sarajevo) Minimum radius on the most difficult sections: 250 m (between Grad and Konjic stations) Minimum radius on other sections: Track development coefficient: 1.63 Expected speeds (according to the project): (minimum) (maximum) Axle pressure: 20 t Electrical voltage networks: 25 kV, 50 Hz.
Stations Sarajevo Konjic Čelebić Ostrožac Mostar Ploče
History The planning and building After the Berlin Congress in 1878, Bosnia and Herzegovina came under the military administration of Austria-Hungary. This change in circumstances allowed the construction of a railway network in the newly acquired areas to be accelerated, reversing the previous policy of isolating Dalmatian ports from inland access. Military and strategic interests had priority in determining future routes over economic interests. Over the next several decades, a network of narrow-gauge railways throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina were built, with a gauge width of 760 mm, often called the Bosnian gauge. In the period from 1879 to 1891, several railways were connected on the route Bosanski Brod-Zenica-Sarajevo-Mostar-Metković.100 godina željeznica Crne Gore, str. 10.-12. After the construction of the railway Bosanski Brod-Sarajevo, the plan was to build the railway from Sarajevo-Banja Luka via Travnik and Jajce, and further towards Aržano and Split (Sinjska rera), as well as the Una railway. The Hungarians opposed that plan, believing that the Austrian part of the Monarchy would benefit more from that railway. At that time, the plan for the construction of the Sarajevo-Metković railwayIzgradnja željezničke pruge dolinom rijeke Neretve, str. 107. i 111. was adopted, although it was not the best solution in the long run due to the shallow and muddy Neretva and the impossibility of docking larger vessels in the port of Metković.
The first measurements began in 1879, and in the summer of 1884, the construction of the first section from Metković to Mostar began, for which all the material was brought via the port in Metković. The most difficult part of this section was from Buna to Čapljina, a length of , because it passed through the Neretva canyon, which was difficult to access, so an auxiliary road was also built for construction purposes. From Gabela to Metković, due to the flooding of the Neretva, the railway was built on an embankment. In this section, the width of the upper embankment was . The rails weighed 17.8 kg per meter in length and the tunnels were built with a width of and a height of . The capacity of the section was 30 trains in 24 hours, and the maximum speed was up to 18 km/h. Although this speed corresponded to a minimum radius of , the built minimum radius was .Izgradnja željezničke pruge dolinom rijeke Neretve, str. 112.
The line opens
The line was opened in 1891 in the Bosnian gauge of 760mm. With the construction of the railway, the port of Metković grew into one of the most important ports in Dalmatia, and the first port in Dalmatia to receive a railway line. The section from Mostar to Konjic was built through the canyon of the Neretva river, and in some places, it had features of a mountain railway. A lot of walls, tunnels and cuttings were built, and because of the frequent crossing from one side of the river to the other, there were also a lot of bridges, so that section was much more expensive than the section built before. From Konjic to Sarajevo, the builders had to overcome the ascent of Ivan Mountain with a relative height of . For this purpose, a third rail (the so-called cogwheel of engineer Roman Abt) was laid on two sections: Pazarić - Tarčin (3.722 km, incline 35 per thousand) and Podorašac - Raštelica (15.222 km, gradient 60 per thousand). With the construction of the railway, the port in Metković has grown into one of the most important ports in Dalmatia, and the first port in Dalmatia to receive a railway.Izgradnja željezničke pruge dolinom rijeke Neretve, str. 113. A 648 m tunnel was also cut through the Ivan mountains. Special steam locomotives of the 97 series pulled the trains on these two sections.Pruga Sarajevo – Ploče, str. 5.
The total length of the railway from Metković to Sarajevo was , and the construction costs were 19,900,000 Dinars, and built in a total of four stages, namely:Sto godina željeznice u Bosni i Hercegovini (ŽTP Sarajevo 1971.), str. 6.-7.
Metković - Mostar, 43.678 km, put into traffic on 14 May 1885. Mostar - Ostrožac, 65.315 km, put into traffic on 22 August 1888. Ostrožac – Konjic, 13.030 km, put into traffic on 10 November 1889. Konjic - Sarajevo, 55.432 km, put into traffic on 1 August 1891.
In addition to the port in Metković, with the subsequent construction and commissioning of the Gabela - Zelenika railway line, Bosnia was also connected to the port in Gruž near Dubrovnik.
With the subsequent change of the route from Raštelica to Pazarić (complete abolition of the cogwheel on that section) and the construction of a new tunnel through Ivan planina with a length of 3,223 m between the two world wars, the cogwheel was partially abolished on 9 April 1931. Trains used additional locomotives in the so-called pushing or harnessing. Despite the subsequent works, the section was the bottleneck of the entire railway and limited the capacity to 1,000,000 net tons per year, and like most railways built at the time in BiH, this entire railway was built well below the standards for railways of this type.
Continuation to Ploče
Although there was an idea of extending the railway to the mouth of the Neretva, it became relevant in the 1920s as part of the project to connect Belgrade via Sarajevo with a new port on the sea, considering that the port in Metković could not meet growing needs. There were suggestions that the port should be in Klek or Neum, and the ports in Split and Dubrovnik were also against the new port. At the initiative of the Sarajevo Chamber of Commerce and Crafts, in late 1922 and early 1923, the Association of Engineers and Architects carried out the first measurements and surveys of the terrain at the site of the future port in Ploče. Subsequently, at the railway conference held in 1926, it was decided that the future port would be in Ploče.Izgradnja željezničke pruge dolinom rijeke Neretve, str. 120. However, construction was constantly delayed due to conflicting interests regarding the future port. The technical study was completed only in 1936, with the port project in Ploče accepted 1938, and work began on the entire route to Ploče. The entire section had five stations, four bridges and five tunnels. By the end of 1940, almost 80% earthworks on the embankments, five tunnels, twenty-seven buildings, and other structures were complete.Izgradnja željezničke pruge dolinom rijeke Neretve, str. 123. With the German and Italian attack on Yugoslavia, all works were suspended. In 1942, Italy completed the construction of the railway, and after Italy's capitulation, Germany rebuilt the partially damaged railway. At the end of the Second World War, the railway damaged by the withdrawal of German forces was being rebuilt again, and on 15 July 1945, the entire length from the port in Ploče to Sarajevo was put into traffic.Izgradnja željezničke pruge dolinom rijeke Neretve, str. 124.
Postwar modernization
One of the necessary conditions for the industrialization of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) after the Second World War was the reconstruction of 80% of the railway network destroyed or disabled in the war,Pruga Sarajevo – Ploče, str. 3. the modernization and transition to a standard gauge (1435 mm), in order to increase rail capacity. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, new or modernized existing railways were built: Brčko - Banovići, Vrpolje - Šamac - Sarajevo, Doboj - Banja Luka and others. It was also necessary to modernize the Sarajevo–Ploče railway, considering that the port in Ploče was the most favourable outlet for BiH industry to the Adriatic Sea. The biggest problem was solving the most difficult section of the railway over Ivan Mountain. Research works and studies lasted from 1948 to 1958, during which time 13 possible solutions were analyzed.Pruga Sarajevo – Ploče, str. 6. The adopted solution provided for the maximum use of the existing tunnel through Ivan mountain and the settlements and industries along the existing narrow-gauge railway. The five-year plan established that the railway should be built by the end of 1962.
Work on the railway began in 1958, but due to a lack of financial resources, the intensity was limited on the Bradina - Konjic section. Work only intensified in 1961, and the entire length of the line was completed in 1964.Pruga Sarajevo – Ploče, str. 20.
Construction took place in three stages: building construction capacities and a smaller number of tracks electrification and construction of electrical relay security of stations remote traffic control, automatic track block, and completion of tracks in stations.
The last train of the narrow-gauge railway left Ploče on 5 November 1966. The correspondent of Slobodna Dalmacija wrote on that occasion:Izgradnja željezničke pruge dolinom rijeke Neretve, str. 125.