About this journey

Varaždin station sits at the edge of a city that once served as Croatia's capital, hosting the Croatian Sabor until a fire in April 1776 ended that chapter of its history. Designated a UNESCO Creative City of Music in 2023, the city retains its reputation for baroque architecture before the line heads south into the Croatian interior.

The journey runs over the M201 railway, a fully electrified, mostly single-tracked line that stretches 79.692 kilometres from Dugo Selo, near Zagreb, to the Hungarian rail network via Koprivnica. The M201 forms part of Pan-European Corridor V, branch b, the artery connecting Rijeka to Budapest, and carries a mix of freight, regional, and international passenger services.

The final stage of the ride approaches Koprivnica, where the M201 meets the R202 railway, making the town a junction in northern Croatia's rail network. This section of the corridor is undergoing significant reconstruction: the 42.6-kilometre stretch from Križevci to the Hungarian border is being converted from single to double track, with 7 new bridges, 1 gallery, and 3 viaducts under construction, all level crossings replaced by grade-separated crossings, and a target maximum speed of up to 160 km/h after completion. The cab ride thus captures a line mid-transformation, departing a city shaped by baroque history and arriving at a junction being rebuilt to modern European standards.