About this journey

Knin station sits at one of Croatia's most significant railway junctions, where routes toward Split, Šibenik, and Zadar converge with the northward line that forms the M604 — the only operating rail link between continental Croatia and Dalmatia. The M604 totals 320 km and includes the Lika railway, a 220 km single-track, un-electrified line running through the Lika region toward Oštarije.

Construction of the Lika railway began in spring 1913, with work advancing southward from Ogulin under the company Grünwald und Schiffer. At the peak of construction in June 1914, 14,000 workers were employed on the site. The final segment between Gračac and Knin was completed on 25 July 1925, closing the last gap in the Zagreb–Split rail corridor after more than twelve years of work. The line was later severed from 1991 to 1995 during the Croatian War of Independence, suffering damage to tunnels, signalling infrastructure, and several stations along the route. Track reconstruction by 2004–5 — reducing sharp curves and steep gradients and installing new signalling — substantially cut journey times. This February 2023 run covers the northern portion of that history, climbing from Knin toward the junction at Oštarije on a route that has connected the Croatian interior to the Dalmatian coast for a century.