When you hear that a citizen of Belgrade travels to work every day by train, you probably think that he does not work in Belgrade. That can be a bad conclusion. It is not excluded that the mentioned worker lives in the "blocks", near the flea market, and works, for example, at Dorćol or Autokomanda.
New Belgrade station
But who else travels by train from Novi Belgrade to the other side of the city and why would someone be bullied and bullied by train (if we know what kind of railways we have) when they can use public transport buses and trams? Well, because the train, which is called the Belgrade train, is faster, more comfortable and safer than buses, trolleybuses, and even passenger cars.
The "Vremena" team is convinced of this - the BG train will be the best mode of transportation in Belgrade, when it starts operating at full capacity.
Aleksandar Anđelković is sitting in the narrow cabin of the locomotive, in front of the instrument panel. Although he drives a train, in his hands is a car steering wheel from the "south". "Well, a steering wheel is a steering wheel." It is important that he does the job," says the driver Aleksandar with a smile. Until three weeks ago, Aleksandar drove a locomotive on Beovoz lines, and since the first of September he has been driving a Belgrade train - BG train. It is not the same as Beovoz! BG train runs only in Belgrade, while Beovoz also travels to Pancevo, Stara and Nova Pazova, Valjevo... BG train is a new type of transportation for the people of Belgrade, and for now only one line is operating - from New Belgrade to Pancevo bridge. With three stops in between. In the morning and afternoon rush hour, the BG train departs every 15 minutes. During the rest of the day it goes for half an hour. The first departure is at 5.25:23 a.m., and the last at XNUMX p.m. In September, transportation is free, and after that, BG train passengers will have to have ITS (Integrated Tariff System) privileges and stamps to ride GSP buses, trolleybuses and trams.
In cooperation with Serbian Railways, the city administration of Belgrade invested 10 million euros in the city railway, most of which was spent on the completion of two tracks at the Belgrade Center station (some also call it Prokop). The BG train also has nine overhauled electromotive compositions that were rusting on blind tracks. Since September 1, they can be seen on the Belgrade rails decorated with a poster that says "BG VOZ: new city transport".
"The BG train to Pancevački Bridge leaves from the fifth track at eight thirty minutes," echoes from the loudspeaker of the Novi Beograd railway station. In the rearview mirror of the locomotive, a lady with bags and a gentleman in an office suit can be seen hurrying to enter. After their entry, the train driver Aleksandar closes the door and the composition starts exactly at seven thirty. The next stop is Prokop.
Aleksandar Anđelković, train driver
"There are more and more passengers every day. On the first day, only journalists rode, and look how many passengers there are today," Aleksandar points to the half-full wagon behind him. When the train started, a man looked at his watch and continued to read the newspaper intently. The rest acted as tourists in buses or boats used for city sightseeing. They seem to be interested in riding the train through Belgrade. A few of them, probably out of habit, keep an open book or newspaper on their lap, but still look out the window or feel the seat in front of them as if checking for quality. You can read their thoughts from their faces and by nodding their heads: "It looks really good!" And it really is: it's clean, the seats are new and comfortable, similar to those of the newer GSP buses, pleasant music is heard on the loudspeaker, and the air is fresh. . Two high school students push each other and show each other something through the window that cannot be seen from the bus.
The train is already at Ada's, Aleksandar explains that the permitted and expected speed of the train in the Novobeograd station is 20 kilometers per hour, and that it is now going at 80. On the right, you can see the new bridge. There are concrete structures on the Novobeograd coast that the bridge will meet when it bridges the Sava, and the BG train is already over it and will cross it in less than a minute. Passengers who had to go to the other side via the Gazela, do not have time to wonder how quickly they crossed the Sava because their attention is drawn to the view of the Fair. Less than six minutes after it started, the train begins to slow down. Belgrade center station. Two passengers get out. The elderly lady is surprised that Prokop is in a bad condition, and her, presumably, husband answers her: "It's better than before." At least now it serves what it was made for."
Through the left window you can see a composition in front of which two men are standing and talking. "It's a spare set." If something happens to the composition that is on the regular schedule, they start this train," explains Aleksandar as he greets his colleagues at the station. No one entered Prokop, so the BG train continues on through the tunnel.
Again, the speed is 80 km per hour, and it's dark in the tunnel. The light of the train illuminates about fifty meters ahead, and the driver explains that it is okay. "We trust our supervisors." We trust the signaling on the railway to tell us to slow down if something is wrong ahead of us." The same applies to speed. If it is prescribed to drive 80 km per hour on that part of the track, the train will go that far, regardless of whether it is snowing, raining or foggy outside.
After the tunnel, the train exits on the viaduct near Autokomanda via the Belgrade-Nis highway. The direction to Niš is crowded. The crowd is so crowded that the cars don't move at all. Someone comments: "How's it going on the Gazelle?!" However, this time the train driver doesn't give his passengers enough time to cope with the crowd of fellow citizens stuck on the highway and dives into the new tunnel darkness again. The next stop is immediately there - Karađorđev Square. At this station, ten passengers get off and disappear up the stairs towards the surface of the earth. Plenty of passengers board and the BG train continues on.
From Karađorđev Square to the next stop, the Wolf Monument, the ride takes less than three minutes. Most of the passengers get off at "Wolf", and three of them remain in the carriage, who will get off at the last stop, at the Pancevački bridge. Those who started from Novi Belgrade drove 15 minutes to the last station.
Each of these five BG train stations is neat and clean. Prokop looks the worst and there is a lot of work to be done on it. Especially if it is known that one day it will be the main Belgrade station. The Novi Beograd station could do with a "cleaning", while the Pančevački most and "Vuk" stations look quite decent - it is not impossible that at some moments you will feel like you are in the subway of one of the world's metropolises.
Citizens who rode the BG train are so satisfied that they generally do not believe that "this will be able to remain as it is" - that the trains will remain clean and orderly, that they will not be late and that they will continue to be the fastest form of travel through the city. There are already confirmations for some of those suspicions. In the first week of September, huge graffiti appeared on one carriage, while one seat was set on fire. The seat is easily replaced, and all BG trains have anti-graffiti protection, which allows the paint to be washed off with plain water in a few minutes. Someone will say that these are small things and that there will always be those walking around the city who find it "cool" to set fire to a public seat. However, all this costs the people of Belgrade, even those hooligans and their parents and, if for no other reason, at least for that reason, it is worth saving the new trains.
From the first of January, the BG train will also run to Batajnica. Via the stations Tošin bunar, Zemun, Zemun Polje. At the moment, the railway is being overhauled, which will make it possible.
The construction of a station near the Zemun settlement of Altina is also planned. The Zemun Polje station will be moved from its current position to a place closer to the settlements. As for Batajnica, the City Administration plans to open a new bus line that will pick up passengers in Batajnica and take them to the train station. That line will be like 34L which was introduced to connect Prokop station with other bus lines.
The settlement of Resnik is in the second phase of line expansion, and one day Mladenovac, Pančevo and Valjevo will be included in the BG train schedule.
In the BG train, there is a public address system through which music is played. When the number of stations is increased, passengers will hear a voice announcing the next station over the public address system. Also, at all stations will be written the timetable and the expected time when the BG train arrives at the station.
Code Novi Beograd station buses stop on lines 67, 69, 89, 94, 95, 7, 9, 13. To the Belgrade center station Prokop - passengers are connected to lines 34, 40, 41, 42, 49, 59, 78 by the new public city transport line 94L. Nearby Karađorđe Park lines 17, 18, 30, 31, 33, 39, 42, 46, 47, 48, 55, 59, 78, 9, 10 and 14 pass. At the station Wolf's monument the station has buses on lines 25, 25P, 26, 27, 27L, 32, 65, 74, 2, 5, 6, 7, 12 and 14. To the station Pancevac bridge lines 16, 23, 32E, 33, 35, 37, 43, 48, 58, 95, 96 operate.
Full appendix in PDF
Supplement edited by: Biljana Vasić and Mirko Rudić
Other texts: Capital of Culture 2020, New schools, Underground containers and News
