Reconciliation train

With a cigarette and a cup of coffee in hand, Narcis Dzumhur, chief executive of the Bosnian Railway in Sarajevo, announces the cancellation of the train to Belgrade on the following day. Dzumhur explains that the employees will be on strike, which is no surprise since they haven't been paid.

As a result of the economic crisis, the government has no money to pay their salaries, but the railway company in the Bosniak-Croat part of Bosnia and Herzegovina is investing millions of euros in new high-speed trains to help shorten the 450-kilometer (280 miles) trip from Sarajevo via Croatia to Belgrade to four hours, Dzumhur says.

"We want to reunite families who were scattered by the war and facilitate ties between businessmen in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia."

The trains run from the Bosniak-Croat part of Bosnia and Herzegovina through the Bosnian-Serb entity, into eastern Croatia and finally to the Serbian capital, Belgrade.

Engines and crew change at every border, including the frontier between the two parts of Bosnia. The trip takes eight hours and 45 minutes and costs under 17 euros ($21,60) one way.

"From an economic point of view, this train doesn't make any sense," says conductor Hajrudin. "It is not profitable."

There aren't enough passengers to cover the cost of the trip from Sarajevo to Belgrade, the war veteran adds. "This train is more about politics and makes sense as an effort to build bridges between people."

Hajrudin has never made the journey all the way from Sarajevo to Belgrade. He leaves the train in Doboj, where Bosnian-Serb colleagues take over, and a new engine is hitched to the cars.

The train usually has three cars, one each from the Bosniak-Croat, the Bosnian-Serb and Serb train companies. Due to the strike, the Bosniak-Croat car is missing that day as the train pulls out of the station.

Memories of the Olympic Express

Only about a dozen passengers are on board a train that can carry at least 150 people. In the restaurant car, chef Rade reminisces about the past.

"The older passengers remember the days when this train was always packed. People still had jobs then."

That was in the 1980s, when Yugoslavia was doing well and Sarajevo hosted the 1984 Olympic Winter Games. The elegant "Olympic Express" took businessmen and tourists to Belgrade and back.

Fifteen years after the end of the war in Bosnia, almost no one takes the train from Sarajevo all the way to Belgrade any more.

Belgrade peace activist Nenad Vukosavljevic remains unconvinced by the symbolism of a train that joins the two capitals.

"It is sad that the train takes so long for the journey and has to change engines so many times," Vukosavljevic says. "That really is an admission of failure. I wouldn't want to use that as a measuring stick for the state of relations between our countries."

Author: Filip Slavkovic (db)
Editor: Nancy Isenson