Josip Broz Tito was the name Serbian railway workers uttered when they pointed at the diesel behemoth 666-003 of the Serbian railway. The engine had pulled the only coach from Nis to Dimitrovgrad, the border station from which to cross into Bulgaria. It sounded less nostalgic but rather critical of the old equipment in use still today.
Considering that the 666 series was once used to pull the presidential train, she may have deserved more respect. But politics isn’t the domain of locomotives, so I`ll leave it at that.
As I learned during a single day in Belgrade, talking to maybe a dozen people (who unanimously felt I was crazy to come all the way from Austria by train) there doesn’t seem to be much love lost between Serbians and their trains. They spoke of unreliability, lack of cleanliness, poor on-board sanitation (sadly I can confirm on that), delays, cancellations, I guess the common complaints, people have of their trains.
One gentleman – a local politician – invoked German history and interests in the Balkans during those imperial days end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. He said Germany had imposed upon Serbia to build the Belgrade to Nis segment (though a short search on the internet could not confirm that) to link up with the Baghdad connection, the latter indeed designed by German engineers. He felt Germany should reengage and invest. I wonder how such unlikely engagement would reconcile with the Chinese interests in Serbian railways…
On my journey though, the Belgrade Nis journey was spot on time, with modern equipment, comfortable seats and clean installations. Because of many slow-go stretches it took almost five hours for under 400 km. The Nis-Dimitrovgrad train with the triple 6 series was a step back in time and like the previous train the coach was almost empty. Should this be normal, no way the railway can make a profit here. Much of the track is in severe need of overhaul, slowing down the train substantially and making you feel travelling on a boat in at least Beaufort 4.
As it happens on train travel, you get to talk to interesting people. I met a couple, seasoned train travellers from Oxford who were on a rail trip through half of Europe. They talked about a previous trip to Hong Kong that made it to the press. And they referred me to this website that, according to them, should help with booking railway trips across the world.
I will try that next time.