About this journey

Novska station, a major junction with 18 tracks at the western end of Slavonia, is where the M104 begins its 185.4-kilometre run eastward to the Croatian–Serbian border. The line follows the Sava river valley through the heart of Slavonia, forming the primary railway corridor of the region and Croatia's contribution to Pan-European Corridor X, which links Salzburg and Ljubljana with Skopje and Thessaloniki. Electrified on the 25 kV 50 Hz AC system, the M104 became the first fully electrified line in Croatia when that work was completed in 1970. For much of the twentieth century it carried the Orient Express, which used this route from 1919 to 1977.

The eastern half of the journey reflects a more recent transformation. The Novska–Okučani section of roughly 16.8 km was reconstructed between 2012 and 2016, and the final stretch from Vinkovci to Tovarnik — 33.48 km of route, or 67 km of double track — was rebuilt between 2008 and 2012, the first Croatian infrastructure project co-financed by EU pre-accession funds. Both reconstructions raised the permitted maximum speed to 160 km/h, and seven stations along the eastern corridor gained modernised platforms. The journey ends at Tovarnik station, a five-track border stop where the line hands over to the Serbian network, marking the transition from Slavonia's reconstructed corridor to the onward route toward Belgrade.