Poor Service
There are 6 direct Ljubljana – Zagreb trains every day, taking between 2 hours 15 minutes and 2 hours 47 minutes. But there is a huge gap – between 08:10 and 14:45 – where there are no departures from the Slovenian capital to the Croatian capital. And some of the trains that do go are slowed down because of a locomotive change at the border, at Dobova.
But there are 12 more trains from Ljubljana to Dobova that do not continue into Croatia, including departures at 08:50, 09:50 and 11:50 from Ljubljana.
And on the other side of the border, there is at least one train an hour from Harmica to Dobova.
The problem?
Dobova and Harmica are 3.1km apart!
So why not extend every Zagreb to Harmica train to Dobova instead? That way passengers that need to make a Ljubljana – Zagreb train have options to do so throughout the day, with a change in Dobova.
You have to do it in Dobova because Harmica is on a spur (see OpenRailwayMap), but there is no major technical problem – you can run to Dobova with a 25kV 50Hz ac train, you do not need the 3kV dc you need for the rest of Slovenia.
But what about the people of Harmica? Honestly, there is not much there – a tiny station, and a car park filled with cars with Slovenian number plates – commuters who drive to Harmica to commute by train to Zagreb. Who could instead commute from Dobova.
So this is the solution: make Dobova, instead of Harmica, the terminus for regional trains from Zagreb. Job done.
European Commission Analysis
Photos from this location
