Albanian Railways (HSH)

[shredder1]

Hi

I`m looking for some information on the Albanian Railways, HSh (Hekurudha Shqiptare), my first visit to the country was in September when we crossed mainly by minibus from Podgorica, Montenegro, following the old railway line, the Podgorica–Shkodër railway to the capital of Tirana, where we stayed. We took a minibus out to Durrës and despite being told by locals that the railway had finished there, we found a train just about to leave back towards Tirana, but the line now only goes as far as Kashar. We also visited the only depot on the Albanian rail network at Shkozet, Durres.

We crossed the country from Tirane by minibus following the now closed Librazhd-Pogradec line and crossed the Macedonian border. We located the locomotive Dump at Prrenjas. Albania only has one class of locomotive now operating are the ChME3 Czech T-669. We intend returning to further explore the Albanian Railways in the summer, not a lot of information appears to be available and what lines are still operating and any information, from anyone who`s been over there recently, would be most appreciated, many thanks in advance.

 

[duesselmartin]

from the German Drehscheibe-Online Forum I gather that all services have been suspended (again). This seem to happen more often than not, so you might be in luck.

 

[shredder1]

from the German Drehscheibe-Online Forum I gather that all services have been suspended (again). This seem to happen more often than not, so you might be in luck.

OK thank you very much for the information, much appreciated
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For reference, if anyone else is following this, I`ve had this site passed onto me, http://www.europetrainsguide.com/Countries/Albania/Albania-HSH.html
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
For anyone still following this thread or indeed planning a trip out there

The train traffic in Albania is completely blocked. The bank accounts are empty, and there is no money left. The bank accounts are 'Frozen'.
Staff does not receive any more money, diesel could not be paid anymore.
The train is in the depot and station Dürres. There, people are manning the train to avoid theft of steel and other objects.

 

[Adlington]

Found on a European rail forum, apparently straight from the Albanian Transport Ministry. Use at your own risk....

 

[MarcVD]

See the site of the man in seat 61 for latest information.

Envoyé de mon GT-I9505 en utilisant Tapatalk

 

[shredder1]

Found on a European rail forum, apparently straight from the Albanian Transport Ministry. Use at your own risk....
View attachment 32665

Many thanks for the help, yes we travelled that section last time we were over there Durres to Kashir, and had heard it had reopened again, but thanks anyway.

 

[shredder1]

See the site of the man in seat 61 for latest information.

Envoyé de mon GT-I9505 en utilisant Tapatalk

Thank you very much Mark, yes that can be a good site.

 

[Dev Null]

The Man in Seat 61 writes:

Trains were no longer operating to/from Vlorë but terminating/starting from Fier. But the latest timetable at Durres now shows a train to Vlorë, and this is now confirmed as true, trains are indeed running to Vlorë again, at least until the next screw-up.

I was in Albania in June 2017, but I can tell you there were no trains from Fier to Vlorë. And it must have been like that for quite some time. The station in Fier is derelict and the tracks were overgrown at the time.

 

[shredder1]

The Man in Seat 61 writes:

Trains were no longer operating to/from Vlorë but terminating/starting from Fier. But the latest timetable at Durres now shows a train to Vlorë, and this is now confirmed as true, trains are indeed running to Vlorë again, at least until the next screw-up.

I was in Albania in June 2017, but I can tell you there were no trains from Fier to Vlorë. And it must have been like that for quite some time. The station in Fier is derelict and the tracks were overgrown at the time.

View attachment 40908 View attachment 40909

What a dam shame, love Albania too, hoping to revisit once they get something running again.

 

[Groningen]

At 41.350870, 19.771233 a concrete barrier is placed on the railwaytracks in Tirana. I believe there is no railwaystation anymore in Tirana.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It's moved to Kashar on the outskirts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashar_railway_station

 

[shredder1]

At 41.350870, 19.771233 a concrete barrier is placed on the railwaytracks in Tirana. I believe there is no railwaystation anymore in Tirana.

Yes we visited the site last year, lots of work going on they are building a new bus rail interchange and hoping to build a new high speed link from the Airport to Tirane and Durres, all donations welcome Sadly the country is still very corrupt, so much potential though and I would certainly recommend visiting Durres sheds and the dump at Prog

 

[shredder1]

It's moved to Kashar on the outskirts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashar_railway_station

Thanks very much Neil, yes we did the line last year from Durres to Kashir, 2 coaches with no windows in, great for photographs and a good run before a former Czech loco, we then caught a bus back into Tirane

 

[Bungle158]

Caught the 06.00 Shkroder to Durres train this morning. Only the Elbasan Kashar, Durres and Shkroder lines open now to pax

 

[Bungle158]

 

[Bungle158]

The stock is in very poor condition. One set of doors l saw opened randomly, so care needed. Seats comfy enough and standards of cleanliness are high

 

[Bletchleyite]

The poshed-up Silberlinge didn't stay poshed up for long, did they?

 

[hexagon789]

The poshed-up Silberlinge didn't stay poshed up for long, did they?

Considering the state of some of the older Italian coaches they had at one point I'm not surprised, they looked grim enough in photos let alone having to travel in them.

 

[Bungle158]

Most of the station buildings are pretty run down. Staff l spoke to today are worried that the system could close permanently.

 

[Bungle158]

T669 Czech built loco at the head of a Durres service departing from Elbasan

 

[Bletchleyite]

Most of the station buildings are pretty run down. Staff l spoke to today are worried that the system could close permanently.

It's been like that for years. Wasn't there some proposal to bring it up to modern standards with some used but newish DMUs (I know some they could have )? I guess that fell through in the typical Albanian manner?

 

[Bungle158]

There are virtually no tunnels and little major engineering works. The lines appear to take advantage of the valleys between mountain ranges. Stunning scenery at around 25mph.

It's been like that for years. Wasn't there some proposal to bring it up to modern standards with some used but newish DMUs (I know some they could have )? I guess that fell through in the typical Albanian manner?

Guys I spoke to today say Albanians have forgotten their railway.

Just for info, a guard/ticket checker gets £50 a week, day on/day off basis

Apologies for frequent edits, trying to get to grips with posting images

 

[hexagon789]

T669 Czech built loco at the head of a Durres service departing from Elbasan

Looks almost worse than the ex-FS carriages. The loco looks spotless compared to the coaches!

Stunning scenery at around 25mph.

Yeah, the system maximum is 40km/h (25mph), and I believe that all signalling was disabled some years back so they run on "tickets" issued to drivers!

Despite being run down it looked an intriguing system from when I first saw it in part of an episode of Michael Palin's New Europe.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Yeah, the system maximum is 40km/h (25mph), and I believe that all signalling was disabled some years back

Nicked, I believe.

To be fair, train staff and ticket (?) is probably quite well suited to that kind of operation and it can't break down.

 

[hexagon789]

It's been like that for years. Wasn't there some proposal to bring it up to modern standards with some used but newish DMUs (I know some they could have )? I guess that fell through in the typical Albanian manner?

I thought it was HSTs? Or at least HSH wanted people to think that:

 

[hexagon789]

To be fair, train staff and ticket (?) is probably quite well suited to that kind of operation and it can't break down.

Very true, there are that few services that it's probably worth saving maintenance costs on signalling anyway.

 

[Bungle158]

All the signals l saw have been gutted of electrics, lenses etc. Just the framework left. There appears to be some element of radio control in the Durres area though.

There is still some freight traffic, what passes as mineral hoppers were in evidence. The wagons in almost the same parlous state as the coaching stock

 

[shredder1]

Caught the 06.00 Shkroder to Durres train this morning. Only the Elbasan Kashar, Durres and Shkroder lines open now to pax

What fantastic news, I really must get back over there before they close it again, thanks for letting us know.

 

[shredder1]

All the signals l saw have been gutted of electrics, lenses etc. Just the framework left. There appears to be some element of radio control in the Durres area though.

There is still some freight traffic, what passes as mineral hoppers were in evidence. The wagons in almost the same parlous state as the coaching stock

We got round the loco depot at Durres, Czech CM3, quite a lot of them though, we also saw waggons being shunted around the yard.

 

[BRX]

So sad to hear of the continued decline of things in Albania. On the other hand at least it's good to know something is still running.