Belgrade-Sarajevo Train Resumes After 18 years

by Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke | December 13, 2009 at 05:31 pm

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Sarajevo a city in Bosnia-Herzogevina had just been showcased to the world as it hosted the XIV Winter Olympics in 1984. The Olympic Express was a direct train from Belgrade, Serbia to Sarajevo. The train, in 1984, was a showpiece for Tito's Socialist Republic, outfitted with red carpets, uniformed stewardesses and a dining car.

After 18 years of fighting in the former Yugoslavia and Tito's Federation segmented into smaller countries, the train resumed operation again yesterday. The train is nothing like its former self, but at least it's a start to normalizing relations between Serbia and Bosnia. Serbia supported Serbs in Bosnia during the long war in the former Yugoslavia.

BELGRADE, Serbia --

A grimy three-car train pulled out of Belgrade's railway station Sunday on the first direct trip to Sarajevo in nearly 18 years, restoring a link broken at the start of ethnic warfare in the former Yugoslavia

Branko Rogosic, 43-year-old Belgrade lawyer, was one of 17 passengers who boarded the drab-looking train. Only nine were planning the journey all the way to Sarajevo.

"It is a very special event to make this connection again," he said.

Its windows smeared and seats shabby and old, the train looked nothing like its old self, when it was called the Olympic Express and hailed as the pride of the Communist-run nation.

The 1980s Belgrade-Sarajevo line was the most modern transportation line in the country. The train was redecorated for the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo with a red carpet and stewardesses, and its carriages were packed with skiers, businesspeople or youth.

"It was the best train in Yugoslavia, I loved it," said 41-year-old translator Slavica Nikolic from Belgrade, who frequently took the Olympic Express in the past.

During Bosnia's 1992-95 war, Serbia's nationalist leadership armed and supported a Bosnian Serb deadly three-year siege of Sarajevo which killed thousands of its residents.

The war saw both cities change dramatically, with their once travel-loving middle classes growing impoverished, educated youths fleeing and refugees pouring in.