About this journey

Oštarije station sits at the northern entrance to the Lika section of line M604, where long-distance trains coming from Zagreb swap electric traction for diesel before pressing south into the Croatian interior. The 220 km single-track, un-electrified Lika railway forms the heart of the 320 km M604 and remains the only operating railway link between continental Croatia and Dalmatia, reaching the harbours of Split, Zadar, and Šibenik.

Construction of the line began in spring 1913, carried out by the Grünwald und Schiffer company after route mapping the previous year. At peak building pace in June 1914, some 14,000 workers were employed on the site. The route was not completed without interruption: partisan sabotage during the Second World War rendered the line effectively unusable, and the 1991–1995 war later damaged stations including Gospić and Gračac, requiring extensive reconstruction. By 2004–05, renewed track geometry and updated signalling had substantially reduced journey times along the corridor. The Gospić–Gračac segment, which covers the final stretch into the endpoint of this cab ride, had first opened on 15 June 1922. The journey arrives at Gračac through the sparsely populated, forested terrain characteristic of the Lika region — landscape that has shaped the line's history as much as the engineers who built it.