About this journey

The journey begins at Zagreb Glavni kolodvor, the largest station in Croatia and the main hub of the Croatian Railways network. The Neoclassical station building, 186.5 metres long, dates to a construction project authorised by the Croatian-Hungarian Parliament on 15 January 1890 and confirmed by Emperor Franz Joseph I on 31 March 1890.

Heading northeast, the route makes use of the L214 bypass line between Gradec and Sveti Ivan Žabno, opened on 15 December 2019 — the first newly built railway corridor in Croatia since 1967. The 12.5 km line, whose construction began in December 2015, allows trains to reach Bjelovar directly rather than reversing at Križevci as they once had to, cutting Zagreb–Bjelovar travel time by around 50 minutes. The line is rated for speeds of up to 120 km/h. From December 2022, through diesel services have linked Zagreb with Bjelovar, Virovitica, and beyond.

The final stages of the run approach Virovitica, a town in the historic Slavonian region close to the Drava river and the Hungarian border. The area carries a long history: Virovitica was under Ottoman rule from 1552 to 1684. The locomotive hauling this journey is an HŽPP Class 2044, operating as a diesel unit across the full route.