On the narrow gauge railway, 0.76 meters wide, between Belgrade and Sarajevo, covering a total of 405 kilometers, a total of 134 tunnels were built. The train journey from Sarajevo to Belgrade only became possible in 1928 in the following order: Sarajevo-Višegrad (1906. Fr.), a section discontinued in 1978; Višegrad-Vardište (1906. Fr.) and Vardište-Užice (1925. Fr.), a section discontinued in 1974; followed by stations Užice-Čačak-Lajkovac-Obrenovac and Belgrade (1928. Fr.).
During the Austro-Hungarian period, 64 tunnels were built from Sarajevo to the Most on the Drina station/railway junction, and 15 tunnels from the Most on the Drina to Vardište – Mokra Gora (the Bosnia and Herzegovina-Serbia border). Between the two World Wars, an additional 4 concrete tunnels were constructed, bringing the total number of tunnels to 83. The remaining 51 tunnels along the Sarajevo – Belgrade route were built within Serbia.
Construction work on the Sarajevo – Visegrad – Vardište railway began on August 14, 1902. Initially, according to the signed agreement of 1900 (Ministry of War of the Monarchy and the Appeal – the head of the Provincial Government as the investor), the route was planned to be built as a standard railway, with ascent and direction in mind. However, deviations from this plan occurred due to a lack of funding and, primarily, political machinations (the internal organization of the dual Monarchy) and interests in maintaining “careful” diplomatic relations between the Porte (Istanbul) and the Monarchy (Vienna). This effectively sealed the fate of constructing this line as a future and permanent narrow-gauge railway. Building the route was a challenging engineering feat across the valley of the Miljacka River, overcoming an altitude of 950 meters, and descending into the Prača Valley, following its course into the Drina River valley. A branch in the Drina Valley (Most at the Drina Station) was planned to run along the Drina up to Visegrad, then follow the Rzav River valley to Vardište. Austro-Hungarian officials responsible for supervision and construction were stunned by the difficult and inaccessible terrain through which the route passed. They were ordered that the railway had to be built at all costs. After four years of construction, this line from Sarajevo to Vardište was opened for traffic in 1906.
On the occasion of the discontinuation of this narrow-gauge line, we bring you a chronicle from the Politika newspaper dated March 3, 1974, which states: “The old good Sarajevo-Užice ‘ćira’ is no longer here as of yesterday. It no longer ‘coughs’ while slowly but surely climbing from Užice or Visegrad via the serpentines of the switchbacks. The Central Workers’ Council of ŽTP Belgrade has made the decision that, due to the construction of the marsh line, on the section from Tito’s Užice to Stapari (where the narrow-gauge track overlaps with the future marsh line in several places) and also due to unprofitability, traffic on the narrow-gauge section from Tito’s Užice to Dobrun or Visegrad will be permanently suspended starting March 1, 1974. Užice railway workers, as well as many Užice residents, bid farewell to the last train with sadness.”
We are attaching partial sketches of the tunnels for this article along the Beograd – Sarajevo route. The sketches of tunnels numbered 1 through 17 refer to the tunnels between stations Dobrun – Višegrad – Most on the Drina – Ustiprača Goražde. During the Austro-Hungarian period, these tunnels, originating from Sarajevo, were numbered 1 – 64, so the numbers in the sketches correspond to: Sketch no. 1 / Austro-Hungarian no. 9; 2 / 8; 3 / 7; 4 / 6; 5 / 5; 6 / 4; 7 / 3; 8 / 2, and 9 / 1 refer to the Dobrun – Most on the Drina route, while 10 / 64; 11 / 63; 12 / 62; 13 / 61; 14 / 60; 15 / 59; 16 / 58, and 17 / 57 refer to the Most on the Drina – Ustiprača Goražde route. Sketch no. 75 / Austro-Hungarian no. 1; 74 / 2; 73 / unnumbered concrete in Yugoslavian style; 72 / 3, and 71 / 4 refer to the Sarajevo – Pale route.
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