About this journey

Zagreb Glavni kolodvor, the city's main station, is a Neoclassical building 186.5 metres long, designed by Hungarian architect Ferenc Pfaff and opened on 18 August 1892. It remains a protected cultural monument of Croatia and continues to serve as the country's principal rail hub, with international services reaching Munich, Vienna, and Belgrade.

From Zagreb the route follows what is today designated as a double-track electrified corridor through the Sava river valley toward Novska, a distance of 185.4 kilometres along the M104 line. Electrification of this corridor, using a 25 kV 50 Hz AC system, was completed in 1970, making it the first fully electrified line in Croatia. The line also formed part of the historic Orient Express itinerary between 1919 and 1977, and it remains an integral part of Pan-European Corridor X, linking Ljubljana with Skopje and Thessaloniki. A reconstruction of the Novska–Okučani section, carried out between 2012 and 2016, raised the maximum permitted operating speed on that stretch to 160 km/h.

The journey ends at Novska station, a significant junction with 18 railway tracks where lines from Zagreb via Dugo Selo, from Zagreb via Sisak, and the onward route toward Vinkovci and Serbia converge. The contrast is notable: the ride begins at a grand nineteenth-century terminus and closes at a functional marshalling point that anchors the eastern gateway of the corridor.