New documentary: Albania's last trains

[jamesontheroad]

Deutsche Welle (DW) has just published a new documentary with an English narration called Albania's Last Trains. It's a rather beautiful and poignant film about the decline of the railway system there. Look out for the famous picture of the HST in the poster at Düres, and the ex-DB Regio rolling stock.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Cheers. Having had a ride myself it always felt on borrowed time, particularly once it became a system with no station in the capital city!

 

[Memma]

Thanks for posting. A trip to the southern Balkans has been high on my list for a long time! I'd love to do a loop from Serbia south to Skopje, up to Kosovo then by road to Librazhd to pick up the train to Tirana and Durrës and onto Shkodër to continue into Montenegro. I may have to get moving!

 

[Bletchleyite]

I don't *think* anything is running in Albania at the moment.

 

[Memma]

I know Tirana station is still closed - do you know if trains are stopped or just a COVID suspension?
Fingers crossed I'll get there one day soon!

 

[duesselmartin]

The latest I heard was lack of money for diesel again.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I know Tirana station is still closed - do you know if trains are stopped or just a COVID suspension?
Fingers crossed I'll get there one day soon!

Tirana station is non-existent, it is now under a road

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

I haven't seen the film or been closer to Albania than Titograd/Podgorica, but I noticed while looking at a thread in the History section that there was a railway to Shkoder from Kosovo shown as "under construction", on a German map dated about 1905.

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This line left the existing railway between Skopje and Priština and headed west via Prizren to Shkoder and on to the Albanian coast just south of the Montenegro border.
No doubt this was designed to give Macedonia/Kosovo access to the Adriatic sea.
This was of course in Ottoman days, so no doubt plans were abandoned after the Balkan Wars and WW1 (1912-18) which redrew all the borders.
This was also when the Ottoman plan was for a line from Skopje/Mitrovica to Sarajevo through the Sanjak of Novi Pazar, also never completed within Yugoslavia.

Eventually, Albania's only cross-border line was built in the 1960s from Shkoder to Titograd/Podgorica in Montenegro.

 

[route101]

Albania is very interesting if you visit. I never seen any trains but did see the track in the east of the country. This documentary must of been filmed last year or earlier.

 

[tbwbear]

I visited Albania around 18 months ago and it was very difficult to get information on whether the Durrës to Tirana (Kashar) trains were running or not, either before I got to the country and even after I arrived there.

The confusing thing is that although the station at Tirana has been closed for several years, there was a service from Durres to the outskirts of Tirana at Kashar. Some people refer to the station at Kashar as Tirana. Certainly some of the rail staff at Durrës claim it is.


The best plan I came up with was to get the morning bus from Tirana to Durrës (frequent and taking less than an hour) which terminated next to the rail station in Durres. After a nice day walking around the town, I went back to the railway station intending to catch the afternoon train to Kashar if it was running or a bus if it wasn't.

In the end the train was running and I had a pretty memorable journey back to Kashar. At Kashar it was simply a case of walking a short distance to the main road that runs parallel with the line and catching one of the frequent and cheap city buses into the centre of Tirana.

Simple, although I imagine doing this journey in reverse might be more of a challenge. (knowing which bus stop to alight at etc..)

Obviously, what the situation is like right at this moment with COVID and Diesel shortages - who knows.

The one lesson I learnt was "don't neccessarrily believe what you hear about whether the train is running or not"

 

[Berliner]

I'll need to give that documentary a watch.

Back in 2012 I was in Albania on a short visit. I decided to take the bus from Tirana to Durres and then the train back. It was an interesting journey. The station in Durres was empty apart from a cleaner and a ticket seller. I did see the HST in intercity colours on a poster. The train itself was not the most comfortable ride I've been on, with broken and missing windows, as well as bumpy tracks. It was ex DB Regio. The train was hardly busy, I went for a walk and spotted some cleaners having a smoke break and a few kids smoking in the next carriage. There were a handful of other passengers and no one seemed to get on or of at any of the intermediate stops and Tirana station was a busy place, but mostly minibus and taxi drivers looking for onward passengers and fruit sellers.

I wasn't aware the station in Tirana was now gone, so seems I made a journey that isn't possible to repeat these days!

 

[Egg Centric]

The one lesson I learnt was "don't neccessarrily believe what you hear about whether the train is running or not"

This is a good rule for third world travel in general (not saying Albania is third world, but then again I'm not saying it isn't) in my experience. Spend too much time in Africa, me.

 

[Journeyman]

Absolutely beautiful, and fascinating stuff. I'll have to go there one day.

 

[Bungle158]

I did Skhroder to Durres by rail last year. Stock and tracks in a dreadful state. Locals amazed that foreigners would choose the train. Scenic and interesting journey.

 

[Berliner]

I did Skhroder to Durres by rail last year. Stock and tracks in a dreadful state. Locals amazed that foreigners would choose the train. Scenic and interesting journey.

Yes the tracks and stock were terrible on my trip.

I think they were on a par with Myanmar, which was another country where locals were bemused to see a foreigner taking the train over the bus, even though it was more expensive, much slower and grossly uncomfortable.

 

[JonasB]

I did Skhroder to Durres by rail last year. Stock and tracks in a dreadful state. Locals amazed that foreigners would choose the train. Scenic and interesting journey.

I was in Albania around 10 years ago, we had plans to take the train from Tirana to Skhoder so I asked at the hotel reception about the best way to buy tickets. The woman behind the counter laughed at my question, then she realised I was serious and carfully explained that it was not recommended to take the train.

 

[Alfonso]

This is a good rule for third world travel in general (not saying Albania is third world, but then again I'm not saying it isn't) in my experience. Spend too much time in Africa, me.

In many parts of the world, pretty much every shop, hotel, and café is an agent for bus/coach companies, with pretty simple but slick arrangements for ticketing even in pre-internet days. It makes it so much easier just to say the train isn't running, and there's no real downside unless you understand that some people want to take the train even of it's slower, more expensive, inconvenient etc in the eyes of more conventional travellers.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I was in Albania around 10 years ago, we had plans to take the train from Tirana to Skhoder so I asked at the hotel reception about the best way to buy tickets. The woman behind the counter laughed at my question, then she realised I was serious and carfully explained that it was not recommended to take the train.

About 10 years ago it wasn't that bad, it really appears to have gone further downhill, with no maintenance except as required for the locos to move.

 

[hexagon789]

About 10 years ago it wasn't that bad, it really appears to have gone further downhill, with no maintenance except as required for the locos to move.

Reading a report of the system some months ago, there is now apparently no functioning signalling, though the colour lights at Durres are still extant minus some bits and pieces, the system being worked by so-called 'Voie Libre' paper tickets and there is a system wide 40km/h (25mph) speed ceiling though that is not exactly rigidly adhered to by drivers it seems!

 

[duesselmartin]

I suspect the 40kph limit is needed to keep the track in place.

 

[JonasB]

About 10 years ago it wasn't that bad, it really appears to have gone further downhill, with no maintenance except as required for the locos to move.

Correct, there was still a station in Tirana then, and it seemed that some actually used the trains.

But it is sad to see the state of of the railways and that nothing is being done to improve them. It doesn't have to be a new high speed line, but some used DMUs and a bit of track maintenance could go a long way. A couple of DB 628s would be a huge improvement e.g.

 

[Journeyman]

What are the chances of passenger trains ever running in Albania again? I can see the COVID suspension becoming permanent.

 

[Bletchleyite]

But it is sad to see the state of of the railways and that nothing is being done to improve them. It doesn't have to be a new high speed line, but some used DMUs and a bit of track maintenance could go a long way. A couple of DB 628s would be a huge improvement e.g.

I suspect the reason they stick with LHCS is that a basic, simple locomotive is easier to maintain than a DMU, even a 1980s one. While stock-wise the 1970s (but tarted up) Rotlinge are again maintainable in the field with a big hammer and a few spanners, then throw the screw coupler over, connect the brake hoses and away you go. However, they could really do with some new (used) stock, and probably putting grilles on the windows so as to avoid the stone-throwing issues, as well as investing in a large domestic washing machine (which with so few sets would be fine) to wash the seat covers every week or two.

That said, if they can barely afford diesel and wages, they're a bit stuck.

 

[JonasB]

I suspect the reason they stick with LHCS is that a basic, simple locomotive is easier to maintain than a DMU, even a 1980s one. While stock-wise the 1970s (but tarted up) Rotlinge are again maintainable in the field with a big hammer and a few spanners, then throw the screw coupler over, connect the brake hoses and away you go. However, they could really do with some new (used) stock, and probably putting grilles on the windows so as to avoid the stone-throwing issues, as well as investing in a large domestic washing machine (which with so few sets would be fine) to wash the seat covers every week or two.

That said, if they can barely afford diesel and wages, they're a bit stuck.

Maybe, but with a 21 t axle load the czech diesel locos are not light, and considering the state of the track a lower axle load DMU could be a good idea. It could even make it possible to raise the speed a bit. There are probably many older DMUs in Europe that can be bought for scrap value, DSB is getting rid of the MRs, many Swedish Y1s have found new new homes in the area and so on.

But as you said, if they can barely afford to run the trains they have this is a hypothetical discussion. And the Albanian government seems more interested in investing in roads.

 

[Journeyman]

If there's any freight left on the Albanian network, which there seems to be, having a fleet of mixed traffic locomotives seems to make more sense than DMUs for extremely limited passenger services.

 

[Welly]

It was mentioned that the track did not receive any maintainance since 1991 but towards the end of the documentary, there was a stretch of freshly ballasted track!

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

Maybe, but with a 21 t axle load the czech diesel locos are not light, and considering the state of the track a lower axle load DMU could be a good idea. It could even make it possible to raise the speed a bit. There are probably many older DMUs in Europe that can be bought for scrap value, DSB is getting rid of the MRs, many Swedish Y1s have found new new homes in the area and so on.

Looking further afield, the New South Wales Endeavour and Xplorer DMUs will be replaced in a few years.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Looking further afield, the New South Wales Endeavour and Xplorer DMUs will be replaced in a few years.

Though those aren't standard gauge, are they?

If Albania wanted DMUs anything fairly old (so they can be maintained by traditional mechanics) from mainland Europe would do well enough. Nothing really from the UK as it's a low-platform country so you want units with stepped entrances.

I do wonder if it'll eventually see something like Cambodia - a foreign business coming in to take it over and do it up properly with modern kit (even though that did end up back in Cambodian hands once done).

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

Though those aren't standard gauge, are they?

If Albania wanted DMUs anything fairly old (so they can be maintained by traditional mechanics) from mainland Europe would do well enough.

They are standard gauge. I already linked to the Wikipedia entries. (Victoria is Irish broad gauge, but NSW is standard gauge.)

It occurs to me that they might be an inexpensive way of obtaining comfortable long distance trains that would attract passengers away from intercity buses, provided of course that the track is upgraded as well.

 

[Bletchleyite]

To be fair, the ex-DB "Rotlinge" they have weren't bad when DB had them, they have the version with the individual seats rather than the benches. The trouble is that they don't look after them.