About this journey

Maribor station, erected in 1844 and modernised in 2021, stands as the northern anchor of Slovenia's principal rail artery. The line south to Ljubljana was built by the Austrian Empire as part of the Southern Railway connecting Vienna with Trieste: Maribor was linked to the network in 1844, and by 1849 the route had been extended via Zidani Most to Ljubljana. That corridor, now designated line Zidani Most–Šentilj, forms the backbone of the journey.

The IC 517, bearing the name Mura after the river region of north-eastern Slovenia, runs on a network electrified at 3 kV DC — a system inherited from Italian Ferrovie dello Stato and incompatible with the 25 kV AC used elsewhere across former Yugoslavia. This distinction shapes the entire Slovenian network, which Slovenian Railways has operated since its creation in 1991 following the breakup of Yugoslavia. The railway carries 1,229 km of standard-gauge track across the country, with left-hand running observed on the double-track sections the train crosses.

The journey ends at Ljubljana station, whose building was completed on 18 April 1848, a year before the Southern Railway itself arrived. The station currently sits at the centre of a major expansion project costing around 167 million euros, with completion planned for 2026. Ljubljana is also where Pan-European Corridors V and X intersect, making it the hub through which Slovenia's rail connections radiate in every direction.