About this journey

Novska station sits at a significant railway junction in eastern Croatia, where three lines converge: the Dugo Selo–Novska line from Zagreb, the Zagreb–Sisak–Novska line from Sisak, and the Novska–Tovarnik line heading east toward Vinkovci and Serbia. With 18 railway tracks, the station reflects the weight of traffic this corridor has long carried through Slavonia.

The line runs east across the Slavonian plain toward Vinkovci, a station whose railway history stretches back to 23 November 1878, when the first scheduled train arrived on the Dalj–Vinkovci–Slavonski Brod route. By 1910, six lines connected Vinkovci to destinations including Zagreb, Belgrade, Osijek and Vukovar, making it one of the most important junctions in the region. At its late-1980s peak, up to 360 trains passed through daily and annual passenger traffic reached about 18 million. The Croatian War of Independence in the 1990s sharply reduced that activity; the link between Vinkovci and Mirkovci was only restored in late June 1996 after more than five years of suspension. Vinkovci station today has 15 railway tracks, and the surrounding network continues to be rebuilt — the Vinkovci–Vukovar line was fully renovated and electrified by December 2024 at a cost of €61 million, funded largely by the European Union.