On Sunday, a report was received that an explosive device had been planted at the Novi Beograd railway station, and the railway line between Belgrade and Novi Sad was completely closed. "Soko", which was supposed to pick up passengers in Novi Sad at 16 pm and return them to Belgrade, arrived one hour late. The problem arose that in the meantime at least one more departure was canceled, for which passengers had already arrived at the platforms, and only one fast composition was sent.
When word spread among the employees at the railway station in Novi Sad that it was not certain that two trains would arrive at all, all the passengers present rushed to the arriving "Soko". Those who entered first sat down, others leaned on the stairs, or simply remained standing. The conductors first started with remarks that there are no stops in "Sokol", probably because of the speed, and that they will not start until those who do not have a seat leave the train.
Of course, no one wants to wait a few more hours to get on board, or even worse, to have to opt for another variant of the return trip, such as for example a bus that takes the old road for more than two hours to Belgrade. The conductors soon gave up both the introduction of order and ticket control. Not even the famous coffee that "doesn't have time to drink, as Soko is fast", was served.
No one, of course, expected a bomb tip, but regardless of that, the subsequent organization was carried out rather sloppily, spreading half-verified information. Thus, more panic arose among the passengers because of the thought that there would not be enough space on the train, than because of the fear that there might be a bomb somewhere.
Station "Centar" far from the center
"Soko" is not as bad as "Soko", it is fast and comfortable to travel between the two largest cities in Serbia, but getting to it in Belgrade is a separate story. The author of these lines traveled for a good hour one afternoon from Dorćol to the train station Belgrade center, or Prokop because it is certainly not the center. Belgrade's public transport is not the most reliable means of transport, so it can easily happen that there is simply no trolleybus or bus going there. It can be done on foot, but it's better to sweat from the city center.
Today, most trains depart from Prokop. Until relatively recently, the Topčider railway station was used for international traffic. It is still as authentic as it was, almost the same as when Tito's blue train started from it. It was still almost impossible to get there by transport, and probably no one dared to try on foot.
Boarding the train at Topcider marked the beginning of the journey on the busiest route in Yugoslavia, Belgrade - Bar. Traveling by train to Montenegro is better than the bus only because there is more legroom in the carriage. However, that train, despite numerous announcements that the railway is being reconstructed, "hurries" as much as 60 kilometers per hour when it hits a bump. Such a trip, as the author of this text has personally verified, can take up to 15 hours.
Only "Soko" goes at a speed of up to 200 kilometers per hour, but not on average, as Serbian officials like to say, but at the maximum. "Modernized" trains on the route Belgrade - Novi Sad reach a maximum speed of some 150 kilometers per hour, while for other trains 100 km per hour is science fiction.
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