About this journey

Virovitica station sits near the Drava river in Slavonia, the broad agricultural region stretching toward the Hungarian border, and it lies on the R202 railway corridor that connects this corner of eastern Croatia to the wider national network. From December 2022, through passenger services began running the full Zagreb–Bjelovar–Virovitica–Osijek–Zagreb circuit, making this journey part of a revived cross-regional link.

The route eastward to Osijek reflects a broader effort to modernise rail in Slavonia. A newly built bypass between Gradec and Sveti Ivan Žabno, whose construction began in December 2015 and which opened on 15 December 2019, was the first newly built railway corridor in Croatia since 1967; it allows speeds of up to 120 km/h and cut travel time between Bjelovar and Zagreb by around 50 minutes. The locomotive hauling this service is the HŽPP Class 2044, an EMD/ĐĐ GT22 diesel.

The run concludes at Osijek railway station, situated on Lavoslav Ružička Square in the city centre and one of the larger stations in Croatia. The journey moves from a small Dravside town through the Slavonian interior to that substantial urban terminus — a contrast between a quiet regional halt and a station built to serve a major eastern Croatian city.