4K CABVIEW Beograd - Bijelo Polje (152 tunnels, 140 bridges and 4 canyons from Serbia to Montenegro)

The masterpiece of engineering endeavour, this is how the famous Belgrade - Bar railway is briefly presented. This railway line initially has the characteristics of a plain and flat line, but shortly afterwards it turns into a distinctly mountainous railway line. In order to reach the sea, it was necessary to overcome several large mountain passes. The route runs through narrow and winding river canyons, crosses very deep and steep cliffs and has particularly large longitudinal gradients. Railway line Beograd - Bar is a special railway line, sustained by spectacular infrastructure facilities. On its way from Belgrade to Montenegro and the Adriatic Sea coast the line goes through 254 tunnels and 234 bridges.

This video includes train ride from Beograd to Bijelo Polje (Montenegro/Serbia border). Recording was done from passenger train 431 Beograd (Zemun) - Bar. There are 152 railway tunnels, over 140 railway bridges, 2 significant mountain passes and 4 canyons.

The ride starts at northern part of Belgrade and its first 30 minutes is passing through the Beograd railway junction zone. From the south of Belgrade the train ride is relatively fast as it passes through slightly hilly and mostly plains to Valjevo. From Valjevo, the railway line gradually climbs to the Valjevo mountains pass, through the canyons of the rivers Gradac, Suvaja and Zabava. Next comes the descent towards Kosjerić. Plain and gently undulating areas of the Kosjerić valley appear all the way to Požega. The exception is the short gorge of the Skrapež river. There are several tunnel galleries. From Pozega to Užice, the train speeds up again, moving through a gentle plain. After Užice the line starts to climb steeply towards Zlatibor mountain range, in the beginning through the the canyon of the Djetinja River and a little later over mountain clearings of Braneško Polje. The highest point of this line is located in the longest railway tunnel, Zlatibor. With its 6169m length the Zlatibor tunnel is the longest railway tunnel and the longest tunnel in Serbia too. After Zlatibor the line begins a steep descent to Priboj. It passes through a series of short and long tunnels, many bridges and the Crni Rzav canyon. Between Jablanica and steel bridge across the river Uvac one section of the railway line enters the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Then follows the valley of the river Lim to Prijepolje. Behind Prijepolje the long tunnels and bridges appear again and train passes through the canyon of the Lim river. There are numerous long tunnels and tunnel galleries. Stringed tunnels and tunnel galleries make up the Brodarevo - Vrbnica section 90% underground. After the state border, traih fast arrive at Bijelo polje, the first railway station in Montenegro.

This ride is 320km long. Of that, 76km in tunnels and over 10km above ground. The most significant line facilities are best represented by the longest tunnels and the largest steel and concrete bridge objects:

Tunnel "Bežanijska kosa" (L=1921m) (Belgrade railway junction)
Bridge "Novi železnički most" (L=1928m) (Belgrade railway junction)
Tunnel "Dedinje" (L=3086m) (Belgrade railway junction)
Tunnel 5 "Bela Reka" (L=3816m)
Tunnel 29 "Zavojnica" (L=1049m)
Tunnel 44 "Drenovački Kik" (L=3917m)
Tunnel 81 "Zlatibor" (L=6169m)
Tunnel 90 (L=1062m)
Bridge "Ribnica" (L=271m)
Bridge "Vrelo" (L=237m)
Tunnel 98 "Samarevina" (L=1671m)
Tunnel 100 "Goleš" (L=4964m)
Bridge "Uvac" (L=303m)
Tunnel 119 (L=1017m)
Bridge "Lim 2" (L=277m)
Tunnel 131 "Sopotnica" (L=1941m)
Tunnel 132 "Strugovi" (L=2765m)
Tunnel 134 "Mili" (L=2259m)
Tunnel 141 "Dubočica" (L=1082m)
Tunnel 142 (L=1229m)
Tunnel 144 "Gostun" (L=1245m)
Bridge "Lim 3" (L=395m)

Unfortunately, the lack of maintenance has led to a very poor condition of the infrastructure. Train speeds are very low at some sections. Somewhere it is 30km/h, and even 10km/h. At some sections in the plains, the speed of the train is 100km/h. All relevant information about the journey, locations, speeds, objects along the track and elevation are shown during the video.

For ease of viewing, the video is divided into the following more important sections (railway stations and stopping places of this train):
00:00 27:14 Zemun - Beograd Centar - Resnik (Beograd railway junction)
27:14 01:09:15 Resnik - Lajkovac
01:09:15 01:29:08 Lajkovac - Valjevo
01:29:08 02:30:00 Valjevo - Kosjerić (Valjevo mountains pass and the Gradac river canyon)
02:30:00 03:04:44 Kosjerić - Požega (The Skrapež river valley and gorge)
03:04:44 03:30:02 Požega - Užice
03:30:02 05:23:01 Užice - Priboj (The Crni Rzav canyon and mountain pass Zlatibor)
05:23:01 06:22:44 Priboj - Prijepolje teretna (Serbian border control station)
06:22:44 07:17:23 Prijepolje Teretna - Bijelo Polje (The Lim river canyon and Montenegro/Serbian border)

Date of recording:
July 2022.