53 Years Ago the First Electric Train Left Trubarevo: Today Skopje Has a City Train and No International Trains

On 1 November 1973, the first electric train in Macedonia pulled out of the station in Trubarevo. The date was no accident: that year marked a full century of railways. Five decades later Skopje is getting back on the rails, while across the rest of the country fewer and fewer trains are running.

The first line was finished in 1873, and on 9 August that year Skopje ceremonially welcomed the first train from Thessaloniki. By 1874 Skopje was connected to Kosovska Mitrovica, and in 1888 the Macedonian line joined the network of Central and Western Europe. Later came Veles-Kočani, Prilep-Bitola, Veles-Prilep and, in 1952, Skopje-Gostivar. In the nineteenth century, Macedonia could reach Europe by train.

A City Train with 300 to 500 passengers a day

The first City Train line opened in September 2026 and links Zelenikovo with Skopje via Novo Zelenikovo, Orešani, Jane Sandanski, Dračevo and Lisiče. The trip takes about 20 to 25 minutes, a ticket costs 40 denars and a monthly pass 1,040 denars. According to Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Aleksandar Nikoloski, between 300 and 500 passengers use the line every day. Two more lines are being designed, towards Gjorče Petrov via Butel and Skopje-North, and towards Ilinden via Avtokomanda and Madžari. Professor Krakutovski warns that the three lines need at least ten suitable vehicles.

A welcome start, no question about it. But somebody should also read the other half of the story.

No international trains

The new timetable scraps two trains from Skopje to Veles and one to Bitola. There are no passenger trains to Greece, Serbia or Kosovo. The line that connected Macedonia to Europe more than a hundred years ago no longer carries passengers even as far as the nearest neighbour.

The Museum of the City of Skopje sits in the former railway station, whose clock still shows 5:17, the moment the 1963 earthquake stopped it. Macedonia's railways have a lot of clocks like that. Whether the City Train is the start of real investment in the network or an exception in a network that keeps shrinking, the next timetable will tell.