About this journey

Sarajevo station sits at the start of one of the Balkans' most demanding rail corridors: the 194 km line that runs south-west through Bosnia and Herzegovina and into Croatia before reaching the Adriatic coast at Ploče. In Bosnia and Herzegovina the route is designated corridor 5C line 11; once across the border it continues as line M304 under Croatian operators HŽ Cargo and Enna Transport, while Željeznice FBiH — running the ŽFBH 441 traction paired with Talgo VII coaches — holds responsibility for the Bosnian portion including Čapljina station.

The line's origins date to between 1885 and 1891, when it was built in the Bosnian narrow gauge of 760 mm. To cross Ivan Mountain, that original railway relied on a Roman Abt cogwheel rack system, with gradients reaching 60 per thousand on the steepest section. The current standard-gauge route demanded an entirely different order of engineering: 106 tunnels with a combined length of 36.6 km — the longest, at Ivan sedlo, stretching 3.23 km — and 71 bridges covering a further 3.7 km. Between Bradina and Konjic alone, 46 tunnels and 21 bridges were required, and curve radii tighten to as little as 250 m between Grad and Konjic stations. Through the Neretva canyon the line threads between the Prenj and Čvrsnica mountains, at times crossing a river whose course was itself reshaped by hydroelectric dams that flooded parts of the original alignment. Passenger service on this corridor was suspended in December 2013 and did not resume until 1 July 2022.