In the morning - the prime minister, the deputy prime minister and the mayor of Skopje in the first carriage, a symbolic ride from Zelenikovo to the central railway station, and a statement that Skopje is turning into a metropolis. In the evening at 20:12 - a train with no power outside Lisiče station, stuck on the tracks for about half an hour, passengers who could go neither forward nor back.

Not the following week. The same day.

What was promised

The first phase of the City Train project connects the outlying settlements and municipalities with central Skopje - a line that had not existed for thirty years. The timetable provides nine departures each from Zelenikovo and the transport centre, the journey takes 24 to 28 minutes, a ticket costs 40 denars and a return 70.

The numbers behind that are not cosmetic. Between Zelenikovo and Skopje the sleepers dated from 1959-1963, the track was in a ruined state and the old trains ran at 20-40 kilometres an hour; after the reconstruction the new ones reach 80-100. For a resident who until now spent more than an hour on a city bus, the difference is real.

What happened that evening

The train that left Zelenikovo for Skopje at 20:12 lost power outside Lisiče station. The reason, according to official information, was an interruption in the electricity supply. The train could neither continue nor reverse, and the passengers could not get off because it was on inaccessible ground, far from any station. Instead of the planned 25 minutes, the journey took 40.

Half an hour standing on the tracks is a bearable inconvenience. What is more interesting is that it happened on the very day the country's leadership was promoting the line, which means the system was tested under the mildest possible conditions - first day, maximum attention, everything checkable checked - and still gave way on the power supply.

The other two lines exist only on paper

Siniša Ivanovski, the head of Macedonian Railways Infrastructure, said design documentation for the remaining two lines is being prepared in parallel. The second will run from Volkovo, through Ǵorče Petrov and Skopje North, to the central railway station, over 18 kilometres. The third will link Miladinovci, Ilinden and Madžari to the same station, over 20 kilometres.

The condition is unambiguous: if the government approves the funds. The deadline is the end of 2027 or the start of 2028. In other words, two of the three city train lines are for now design paperwork waiting for a budget.

Eleven level crossings

Ivanovski also pointed to something that is not a promise but a warning: on the stretch from the centre to Zelenikovo there are eleven level crossings, and he asked residents to take maximum care when crossing.

Eleven places where railway and street meet at the same level, on a line where a train now runs at 80-100 kilometres an hour instead of 20-40. That is not a detail for the end of a press release. That is the point where the new speed meets the old layout.

The city train is a good thing and it should have happened much earlier. Which is exactly why the question about it is not whether it is good, but whether it will be maintained - or whether it will repeat the fate of the track it runs on, which last saw a full overhaul when sleepers were laid by hand.