From today the train between Zelenikovo and Skopje is running again. The journey takes between 24 and 28 minutes, and a ticket costs 40 denars - 70 for a return. This is the first of three planned lines in the "City Train" project.

The train passes through Novo Zelenikovo, Oreshani, Jane Sandanski, Drachevo and Lisiche to the railway station in Skopje. For people living in those places, that is twenty-odd minutes to the centre instead of the morning crawl through traffic.

The wooden sleepers from 1959

The most telling detail about this line is not the timetable, but what had to be done to make it work. Sinisha Ivanovski, director of Macedonian Railways Infrastructure, explains that all the necessary work has been carried out:

"The old wooden sleepers, some of which date back to 1959, have been replaced with new concrete sleepers. This technical upgrade will allow trains to travel at 80 to 90 kilometres per hour, a significant improvement on the current 20-30 kilometres per hour."

Read that again. Sleepers from 1959, in use until a few months ago, on a line twenty kilometres from the capital. Trains moving at 20 to 30 kilometres per hour - slower than a cyclist in decent shape. That is not railway modernisation, it is a late repair of something nobody had opened up in sixty-five years.

The level crossings near Drachevo have also been upgraded to improve safety.

What comes next

The second line is planned to connect the New Railway Station via Butel and Skopje-North with Gjorche Petrov. The third would run New Railway Station - Avtokomanda - Madzari - Ilinden.

Here Ivanovski is candid in a way official statements rarely are: unlike the Zelenikovo stretch, those two routes carry no traffic at all and the tracks are in very poor condition. A design procedure is under way, followed by a tender for a contractor. Construction is expected to finish by the end of 2027.

The real test is not the speed

The official launch is tomorrow, with the prime minister, deputy prime minister and mayors. That is the part you will see on television.

The part that will decide it is different. The line has eight to nine departures a day in each direction, with the first train from Zelenikovo early in the morning. Between some slots there are longer gaps. The idea is to align the timetable with the city bus company to create integrated public transport - and that, not the speed of the train, is where it will show whether this is a transport solution or just another new timetable.

The timetable runs from 1 September to 31 December. In four months we will know how many people recognised it.