Narrow-gauge railways in Serbia
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Most Serbian railway lines were built as a result of an expansion of railway networks by
Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
s. Several gauge railways were planned to link the extensive narrow-gauge railways in the Austro-Hungarian Empire with those in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Until the outbreak of the
Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defe ...
in 1912 several of these were constructed, the first ones in Eastern Serbia:


Closed lines

Serbian railway (narrow-gauge) network began to develop in the 1880s. * in 1882, a primarily industrial, though occasionally used for passenger transport, 12 km long 600 mm wide gauge track from Majdanpek copper processing plant to Velike Livade built by the "Serbian Copper & Iron Co" (official name in English, most stock holders were British). First run on the track was in June 1882. * in 1888, the 82 km long dual purpose (industrial and passenger transport) 760 mm gauge track from Vrška Čuka mine to the port of
Radujevac Radujevac is a village in the municipality of Negotin, Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and ...
on the Danube, built by the ''Societé Anonyme "L'Industrielle Serbe"'' registered at Brussels in Belgian, French, (Austro-)Hungarian, and Serbian ownership (in order of the percentage of stock owned)., * in 1892, primarily for coal transport, but also for passenger service, 31.2 km long 750 mm wide line from Ćuprija to Senjski Rudnik was built. In 1908, extended to Ravna Reka and widened to now standard 760 mm Bosnian-gauge. The line was closed partially in 1962, and completely in 1967. In the 1920s the network was extended from Bosnia and Herzegovina to
Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
. *
Boljevac Boljevac ( sr-cyr, Бољевац, ; ro, Bulioț) is a town and municipality located in the Zaječar District of eastern Serbia. According to 2011 census, the population of the town is 3,332, while population of the municipality is 12,865. Hist ...
Metovnica Metovnica ( sr-cyrl, Метовница) is a village in the municipality of Bor, Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated a ...
Zajecar; 42 km, closed 1980 * Šabac–Banja Koviljača narrow-gauge railway in Western Serbia, opened in 1910. In 1950 the railway was replaced with a
standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...
line, the old narrow-gauge line was used for its construction and closed after completion. * Sarajevo
Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
narrow-gauge railway, the Bosnian part closed in 1974, the last common carrier traffic on the Serbian part of the railway was the Lajkovac–Mladenovac line which ceased activities in 1983. * Priboj, a terminus station on a branch line of the Bosna Railway from Bosnia and Herzegovina. * ZrenjaninJimbolia narrow-gauge railway, 68 km, 1899–1968. Had a short tramway section in Zrenjanin, which was closed in 1932. Redirected to Srpska Klarija (now part of Radojevo) after World War 1.


Šargan Eight

The
Šargan Eight The Šargan Eight ( sr, / ) is a narrow-gauge heritage railway in Serbia, running from the village of Mokra Gora to Šargan Vitasi station. Modern line was restored in the summer of 2003. An extension to Višegrad in the Republika Srpska, Bosn ...
is Serbia's only narrow-gauge railroad line in service, albeit as a
heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...
. It operates passenger travel from Mokra Gora to Šargan. Originally, the Šargan Eight connected Serbia with Bosnia and Herzegovina (Belgrade-Sarajevo line) when it was first constructed in 1916; the original link extended all the way to Višegrad. Today, however, the train only uses 9.6 miles of track on its trips from Mokra Gora to Šargan, reconstructed in 2003 and in service since then.Restoran Sarganska osmica (Serbian)
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Kolubara

In Veliki Crljeni and Vreoci there is a private narrow-gauge railway that is used to transport coal from the Kolubara Mine to the Kolubara Thermal Power Plant (A). There is no passenger service on this line as the line is used only for cargo and freight. Unlike the Šargan Eight, the Kolubara narrow-gauge line is electrified. There is very little information about the railway, but a historical note is that the railway uses about 5.95 km of the old route from the old Mladenovac-Lajkovac narrow-gauge railway .The gauge of the track is a mixed gauge although the true width is unknown.


References

{{Europe in topic, Narrow-gauge railways in Narrow gauge railways in Serbia