Train travel from Belgrade to Utrecht/Netherlands

MisterSteve
Traveller
1089 comments

This is not an easy journey to plan, even harder to make! Information is very poor, but it is known that services in Serbia are not frequent if they run.

Serbian railways website announces ONE train per day to Zagreb with through car to Ljubljana but the info is dated 2022 and this train is not confirmed by Croatian railways or Slovenian railways so should be assumed to be cancelled.

If you can get to Vinkovci by bus you can join Croatian railways there, but if the connecting train is a slow one you may as well go all the way by bus! The only train I would consider is number 544 , 11:38 from Vinkovci arrive Zagreb at 15:50. There is an overnight train from Zagreb to Stuttgart EN414 departing Zagreb at 19:38 and arriving Stuttgart at whatever time it can manage but officially 08:37 next day, from where connections to Utrecht are easy, you can change at Ulm instead for a slightly earlier arrival in Utrecht if everything goes to plan.

Unfortunately things fail to go to plan so often that the daytime through cars from Zagreb to Germany now only run to Villach - and Austrian railways will not hold the onward connection if they are late. This means the theoretical daytime route cannot be relied on, the connection of EC112 from Villach at 11:16 is the last option for reaching Utrecht in the same day and if missed you spend over 5 hours during the night at Duisburg Hbf

WimenWillie
Traveller
4 comments

It sounds indeed like it not going to be easy, though somehow possible. It looks like the Zagreb-Stutgard option even though it may be uncertain. I check that night train for confirmation. Thanks for your detailed information!!

nltrainer
Traveller
1404 comments

Dat heb ik ooit gedaan-maar dat is pre 2000.
As for now its simply IMPossible all the way by train, as Serbije is cut off for international connections.
ONLY IN the EU-so that is from Hrvatska=Croatia, it is -more or les-possible, but do not expect western standards for now. Best planner site: bahn.de, of german railways, covers about all of EUR.
HInt: als je evt . echt strandt rond DUS in DE, dan ben je stukken beter af door op DUS airport je kamp op te slaan. OF bij zeer grote Verspätung en gemaakte REServeringen-wendt je over al in DE tot de Infostelle van DB en dan moeten ze je volgens de regels een HOtel overnachting bieden-maar dat zal nooit vanzelf gaan.
ALT; de BUS, veel beter afgestemd op deze reizigers, sneller en betrouwbaarder.

WimenWillie
Traveller
4 comments

Ja, we hebben ook gezien dat de bussen, in combi met de treinen, onmisbaar zijn. Dank voor je opmerkingen, kunnen ook zien of we eerder in het zuiden op kunnen stappen in Kroatië. De bedoeling van Servië is dat we het traject Belgrado - Bar eens wilden reizen! Maar daar is veel tijd voor nodig.