As a Kiwi I agree. Been in twice through Villach on this same route (took the opportunity to stop and stay at Lake Bled). Also been in through Hungary on the Cittadella from Budapest, and to Rijeka both going along at some stage the Sava or sister river, the Drava. Planning in Oct coming in for first time from Austria through Graz further to the East on the other Austria-Slovenia EC train, the Emona, to Maribor.
Small correction: the 1216 Taurus doesn't have batteries, in border stations they decouple it using a shunting loco and then push it back into under the other country's catenary. In the video it's just coasting without any power source. This is normal procedure done with single system locos on any border station between AC and DC systems.
@@dragoner3211 my point was that single system locos do this all the time and the procedure is the same for multi system locos that aren't registered for use in that country
@ depends on which side they're coming from. I know ÖBB trains going into italian border stations have to lower their pantographs before entering the station and then roll in. Some other border stations have catenaries that can be switched from one voltage to the other so locos can get in and out. I don't know the specific layout of the slovak/croatian station but that's the gist
This train used to run on the route Athens-Belgrade-Zagreb-Ljubljana-Münich. It was then shortened to Belgrade-Münich, then Belgrade-Villach and the finnaly in 2020 to Villach-Vinkovci (last city in Croatia before Serbia). The train that you traveled on in 2019 should be reinstated by the end of the year (Croation railways are asking SV and SŽ to cover the cost for croatian section???). There are also talks for a 160km/h line from Belgrade via Zagreba, Ljubljana to Venezia with serbian section being built for 200 km/h
As an Italian, I really hope for more train connections by day. At least reinstating the Venice-Ljubljana(-Zagreb) or the Venice-Budapest trains could be a first step.
@@gab_v250 That train was cancelled by Trenitalia some 10 years ago which doesn't want trains from Slovenia. There were years when you were able to travel to Sezana and you had to take a taxi to Villa Opicina.
@@s125ish When I was in Ljubljana some 15 years ago this train ran from Belgrade to Munich. Nowadays Serbia turned towards Russia and has a very bad relationship Croatia, so it must be behind the curtailed route
Train travel in Yugoslavia pre 1990s would take about 6 hours on most routes between major cities with several trips daily. With the breakup and after the war such trips take 8-9 hours, once a day, immigration formalities, switch locomotives at each border, if the train passed through two or more republics each would contribute a car or two to the consist.
Yeah the unfortunate byproduct of ultra-nationalism. Everyone insists on running their own locomotives across their country even if the on the technical side they’re the same (most noticeable in Bosnia)
Next time, try EC 151 Emona from Vienna to Ljubljana. Great scenery, not only along the Sava, but also crossing the Semmering! And a wonderful dining car !
I've been to Slovenia (including Lake Bled and Lake Bohinj) theree times and preparing to go for a 4th in October. It's a real jewel in Europe. I'd have to say my favourite European country.
It’s a fairy tale of a country - walking through Ljubljana in the evening with the castle up on the mountain, light music coming from a random cafe, kids playing, it’s such a nice place. And the countryside is spectacular. I got off on the wrong bus stop and ended up walking to the Vintgar Gorge through a small village down to the cleanest mountain water rushing in the river.
1:55 - I can tell why your train was delayed just by looking at that departure board - It will have been waiting for passengers off the IC bound for Lienz (which will have come from Wien Hbf) as that’s a recognised international rail connection
Usually the train to Zagreb leaves from platform 2. The reason for the departure on the bypass-track might be construction work on the platforms (as visible @1:15) which may have blocked all other available tracks. The delayed departure was caused by the delayed arrival of the IC to Lienz; this is a recognized transfer, and people on that train would have been quite annoyed if their connecting train didn't wait. The next connection is 4 hours later. @3:58 the 1216 is not the "international version", but the 2nd iteration of the Taurus family (Siemens type ES64U4). There were already multi-system versions of the original Taurus (type ES64U2, ÖBB class 1016/1116, the latter being the multi-system variant). You can easily distinguish the two by the headlights (ES64U2/1016/1116 have the 3rd light below the driver's windows, ES64U4/1216 above) and the doors (ES64U2 have one per side at about 1/3rd of the chassis and small escape hatches in the cabs, whereas the ES64U4 have two doors per side directly at the cabs).
Loved this one! EuroCity is my favorite category. International routes, international formations, cool locos, old school coaches & dining. This is a very romantic/exotic mode of transport to us American railfans!
Ça c'est un vrai voyage en train comme on les aime: beaucoup de monde a bord, et en particulier, des jeunes, des vieilles voitures classiques à compartiment, de beaux paysages, le tout, à un prix raisonnable. C'est vrai que c'est très beau la Slovénie, tout comme la Croatie et le reste de l'ex-Yougoslavie.
Both Croatia and Austria are lovely countries in Europe. And the weather looks promising as there has been severe thunderstorms around which caused lots of flooding.
Wasn't there also pretty serious works last year on the Karawanks tunnel? Though Thibault didn't mention any delay in the video about such work. It may have been after he travelled?
@@yasukiwi The construction work at the Karawanks tunnel was from 07.09.2020 - 10.07.2021 so it was before he travelled. The reason for the construction site was that the tunnel was built from two tracks to one track.
May I summarize research done by other commentators and myself. D211 left late because it waited for a late connecting train from Vienna. (See station departure board.) Platform 8 is a new platform on the remote goods avoiding line added when the station was rebuilt. (Platform looks very new.) Platform 8 is only used in an emergency. (See the platform departures list available on OBB journey planner 'Scotty' - no departures from platform 8 are listed.) The 'emergency' when you travelled was construction work ('Bauarbeiten') at or near Villach Hbf . (Notice on departure board shown at 1m 20s; a commentator with local knowledge.). D211 normally uses platform 2. (See 'Scotty', and comments from local commentators.)
Год назад
You also passed Europe's highest chimney in Trbovlje, Slovenia. 😊
If you ever find yourself in Madrid Again, you should try their C-9 commuter. It is a short beautiful narrow gauge railway through the mountains. It is a little pricey but it's 100% worth it!
In Dobova, the 3kV Slovenian and 25kV Croatian systems are changing. The Taurus 1216 does not have batteries for propulsion. Since the 1216 is a multi-system locomotive, it can move from one side to the other by itself. It accelerates then drops the pantograph and idles under a different voltage.
The rail refuribishment is complete now and the track quality is superb, this train now runs at 130kph through Zagreb right next to cars and the ride is smooth
I love all of the Balkan countries so much, and I love this quite old, slow trains! It's a pitty that so many train routes aren't available anymore, especially those who cross borders. I hope some day it will be possible again.
Windows on a Train which can acutually be opened - what a treat! I think I am officially old now, as this brings back a lot of very good memories - sigh! The seating and the Moquette is also very nice indeed.
I've been to Slovenia a number of times and crossed multiple borders by train (including this one from Villach) or in case of Nova Gorica, foot. It would be nice to see a few more vids of Slovenia including to/from Croatia with Rikeka, Split, and also Pula. I am hoping to take the latter for first time in October but there seems to be a rail reconstruction project in South=west of Slovenia, like the one in the video for Northern Croatia, so not sure if the EC Istria will be running, or even any direct/indirect train connection.
I actually took this routelast week, but only between Villach and Bled (and back again a week later). Actually I was supposed to take it to/from Munich (as part of EC 212/213) , but on the way to Bled the Munich-Villach section was cancelled for some reason, and on the way back we arrived in Villach with a 40 minute delay and then they just announced the train was cancelled and made us all get off. The train was very full in both cases, would definitely recommend getting a seat reservation.
Looking at the departure board it’s a “D” train not a Eurocity. I think to be a Eurocity train it would have to convey catering (at least a trolley) and also achieve a minimum average speed.
You are undoubtedly correct on the point about catering. The Sava has not been a Eurocity for some years. It certainly was not a Eurocity when I saw it depart from Villach in January 2020 (just BEFORE the pandemic).
I am now fairly sure that construction work, possibly connected with the fact that the train had to await a connection, was why the remote platform 8 was used.
The ÖBB are known for their reliability and punctuality, you can clearly see on the screen that all other trains are on time. Unfortunately, incidents can also happen like on the IC from Vienna to Lienz and that's why your train was waiting for it. Platform 8 is actually only used as an exception. However, there seems to be construction sites in the direction of Slovenia, as the S4 and S5 have been replaced by rail replacement services.
okay, so, as i already commented under the announcement, i actually was on a similar route a few days ago (on monday): i took the same train, but only to lesce-bled - and then a later connection from lesce-bled to ljubljana. we only thought about going for the slovenian car on the second leg; that said, the croatian cars are very well air conditioned, and they do have one power outlet per compartment. if you, like us, manage to have a compartment for yourself, you can actually pull out the seats all the way, so they basically form one single big bed. there's a very similar connection from ljubljana to rijeka (some slovenian cars get added to the nightjet from stuttgart to rijeka in ljubljana). now this (open windows, fully pulled-out seats, having the compartment for myself and riding through slovenia and then along the coast to rijeka) has been my absolute favorite train experience so far - i can only recommend it!! (i suppose the chances for getting a compartment for yourself is way higher when taking an early connection from ljubljana - like around 7 or 8; and maybe a bit off-season. it's an absolute dream)
Nice vid Thibault. I've been to Slovenia 3x and plan to visit 4th time in October from NZ. Such a stunning country as you say. I have been on this line a couple of times including on the HZ sleeper from Zurich. Stayed at Bled a couple of times so def back up what you say about stopping and staying there. I would also highly recommend you to do the line Jesenice-Bohinj Bistrica-Nova Gorica since it's also a very scenic line, Lake Bohinj is also very beautiful, and you cross a border by crossing the Nova Gorica Station carpark into Italy LOL. I am hoping for first time on next trip to come into Slovenia from another point in Austria, Graz, and on another EC train, The Emona to Maribor. If you haven't reviewed that one maybe it's time you did, and you can enjoy the SZ restaurant car too! (Shame this EC you took doesn't have one tbh). The other one EC (though from I saw in only YT vid I saw of it), I am hoping I might be able to take is the Istria to Pula. Hope some day you will also review it. At the moment though there is similar big rebuilding of rail line in south-west Slovenia so don't know whether I will have luck to take it, or any train Ljubljana-Pula. Anyway, here's to more beautiful Slovenian railway trip reports from you.
I've noticed that the 'old school' coaching stock doesn't have seats in the corridors anymore. Is this a recent change? I seem to remember such seats on Belgian, German, Swiss and Austrian vehicles in the 1980's/1990's. Excellent review, as always, Thibault. Merci beaucoup, mon ami.
Why the late departure? See the departure board shown at 1m 55s. The D211 obviously waited for connecting passengers from IC533 running Vienna to Lienz, shown as 23 minutes late. (Current summer23 European Rail Timetable table 62 shows D211 as Sundays only.) On Sunday 19 January 2020 I travelled from Salzburg to Villach on RJ111, shown on the board as 1300 to Klagenfurt. My train arrived on time at Villach at 1243, and many passengers (not me) made a cross-platform change to D211. Regarding the remote platform 8 used in 2022, I think Villach Hbf has been rebuilt and expanded since my visit. Platform 8 is clearly new and is on the avoiding line built primarily for freight trains running from Italy to Vienna or further north.
Really enjoy following your travels. It was a nice touch to see you stop the subtitles so we could enjoy the scenery. More of that please .... and less "toilet time" ... icky.
In fact if you want to go to Bled Lake Lesce isn’t the best option if you are travelling only by foot and public transit. There is another station, really close to tue lake at it Northern part, Called Bled Jezero. There is a train from Jesenice to this place, really old train though ! Thanks for the video !
Don't know about batteries (or not) on 1216, but at Dobova (unfortunately) there's no diesel shunter involved: The very same Croatian loco that would haul the train to Zagreb approaches the train, pulls the 1216 to the adjacent track and then pushes it back to the 3kv area and returns to previous track to be attached to the train. That's why the loco change takes almost half an hour. For this reason, back in the times of Yugoslavia the fast service between Ljubljana and Beograd was operated by DMUs (though the line was electrified in entire length).
The train normally leaves from platform 2 in Villach. Maybe because the train was going to be delayed it had to use platform 8? even though at the end it was on time
@@Fan652w Villach main station is currently in the process of being refurbished. In 2022 there was already some preparation works for this (as we can see in the video, platform 1 was already closed off).
Good video, as always. Question: since you are traveling through some mountainous areas, what are your altitudes, start, high point and end point? Curious as I live at about 1900 meters on the eastern side of the Colorado Rockies.
Villach is at ~500m, the summit in the Karawanken tunnel is at 637m, from there it's downhill following the river Sava to Zagreb at ~160m. So if elevation is what you're craving this route isn't for you 🙂 But there are plenty of other mountain passes in the Alps and Balkans that can be experienced by rail. E.g. in Austria: Brenner railway (1371m), Arlberg railway (1311m), Tauern railway (1226m), just to name a few. Or in Slovenia & Croatia: basically everything going to the Adriatic coast; while most of those lines only reach about 500-550m absolute altitude, the routes through the Karst mountains are quite spectacular, and they climb down to sea level often within a few kilometers (e.g. the line down to Koper does 550m of elevation over just 13.4km distance, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Be2KNLIX9nM.html, or the line from Rijeka to Zagreb which climbs up ~820m over ~60km along the Croatian coast: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3n6D-4BWUhs.html). And when we're already in the Balkans we of course mustn't forget the line Sarajevo-Mostar-Ploce in Bosnia and the line Belgrade-Bar in Serbia & Montenegro.
That's because electrification began when some parts of Slovenia and Croatia were under control of Italy. Fun fact: from Pivka there's a railway goes to Rijeka, and back to Zagreb. It was electrified with 3kV DC, but the section in Croatia was re-electrified in 25kV AC in phases, up until 2012. In some points there's still the old catenary, adapted for the higher voltage.
Normal platforms 1-7 are used for normal passengers. Balkanites are redirected to freight platforms as if they were cattle. There's the explanation you requested. :)
Do not be stupid. It is now clear from comments from commentators who have local knowledge that the train was switched to platform 8 because of construction work at or near Villach Hbf. Remember also that the train had to await the delayed train from Vienna.
If the goal was to make trains compete with cars or air travel, as should be the goal of rail travel, then it fails miserably. Anyone can make this trip in an auto in 2 hours. What's the incentive to ride this train that feels like it's out of the 1960's? PS: Thibault, excellent reportage comme d'hab. Mon commentaire est plus ce service ferrovier que pour toi. You rock!
240km in 2 hours? Good luck. Realistically it's at least 2h30m, with traffic probably more like 3h-3h15m (on a weekday Google calculates up to 3h50m, depending on traffic around Ljubljana and Zagreb). Yes, I know, the train takes about 4 hours; but still it's not _that_ much slower. And once the construction works along the line are finished it should get a bit quicker too.
Hi , I am alia here from karachi ,pakistan . Its my dream to travel in trains and see the beauty of the world , I wish I can also travel like you . Enjoy your good time . Regards Alia .
I hope this route are upgraded anytime soon to Railjet (and the other Eurocity trains as well). I try to avoid the Eurocity trains due to their old equipment (no AC, no Wifi, toilets) and slow speed.
Two questions though. I see there was no lounge/Cafe car as part of this train. Is that usual? It's either just not needed, or not economically viable. Or people aren't encouraged to use the Toilet! Secondly, what's Train policy on smoking aboard? Not allowed any more, or was everyone defying the notion that all Europeans smoke?
Unfortunately, the only restaurant car left on the Slovenian network is on the EC Emona between Vienna and Ljubljana via Graz and Maribor, so you better stock up on snacks and drinks before boarding. And pretty sure it's the same in Croatia, I don't recall any trains with catering anymore. On night trains, the attendant generally does have some snacks for sale, I believe.
@@barvdw Also if a sleeper car customer there is a breakfast I think. But yeah I know about the Emona so I was going to ask the same question about this train. That's unfortunate it doesn't have one. As this was filmed a year ago I thought it might've just been a covid thing but from you say, obviously not. 😥
@@yasukiwi yeah, it's sad. You do get breakfast, on most night trains at least in couchette and sleeper, but it depends on the company what that entails. NJ gives a pretty decent breakfast with nice fresh buns, real butter and jam, but e.g. the Czech and Croatian night trains, it's a 7Days prepackaged croissant.
@@barvdw Yeah I had a good brekky on NJ up to Berlin from Southern Germany a few years ago and I remember getting the 7 Days croissant on ZH sleeper from Zurich.
Good video.....Excellent presentation...Still should have mentioned about details of visa to be obtained/formalities to be complied with, App for booking of ticket in on-line etc to enable tourists from other continents .
As Thibault is French, and Austria, Slovenia and Croatia are all in the EU, he doesn't need a visa, not even a passport, just his EU ID card. Since this year, Croatia is part of the Schengen area, so you just need authorisation to enter the Schengen area to visit all of these countries, including Croatia. Depending where you're from, that can mean you need just a passport for e.g. Brits and Americans, if you're say Kosovan, Armenian or Indonesian, you'll need a visa. But conditions can change, in the near future, ETIAS, the equivalent to the American ESTA, is going to be required, even for Americans and Brits. As he said in the beginning of the video, he's travelling on an Interrail Pass, that's the European counterpart to the Eurail Pass, available to the rest of the world. This means, that's his ticket. On this train, there is no extra fee or reservation required, so that's all he had. If he needed a ticket, he could have bought one on the site of the Austrian railway company ÖBB (oebb dot at), or at ticket counters of the ÖBB, the Slovenian or Croatian railway companies.
@@barvdw Yeah and there can be different entry requirements depending on passport being used so unless border entry on his video had some notable requirements (and also likely for other European travellers) e.g before Ukraine-Russia war, was doing a video entering say Belarus, or Russia etc as most countries he is going he would have visa-free entry. As a long time airline reservation agent, it is ALWAYS the customer's responsibility to make sure they know and are prepared for any entry requirements.
There's another railway video youtuber AndyBTravels, He is currently visiting Indonesia so should have some Indonesian content soon hopefully on his channel.
As for passport control - it will only happen in the direction of austria on the autstria - slovenia border. Austria is basicaly being a dick and prolonging every 6 months controls introduced first during migrant crisis. Official explanation is migrants but everybody knows its more about discouraging trans border workers.
Well, part of an explanation is probably, that the electrification of Slovenian railway lines started in 1942, during Italian occupation. The work was carried out by FS according to their (Italian) specifications.
That's never Eurocity Level with these old carriages ... European requirement aren't never meet. En jouant comme ça en plein de conduite, tu prends des risques.
hello simply railway it would be awesome to review the recently created line between Praha/Prague (Czechia) and Kyjev/Kiev (Ukriane) by RegioJet that would get a lot of views
