North Macedonia - Lines with Obscure or Sparse passenger services
Introduction
This list is based on the timetable dated 10 December 2023 to 14 December 2024. Standard abbreviations are explained here.
Map references for each route entry are given in parentheses ( ). References prefixed "ERA-E" refer to the European Railway Atlas (All-Europe Edition) by M.G. Ball. References prefixed "ERA-R" refer to the European Railway Atlas (Regional Series: Book 3) by M.G. Ball.
Obscure services
Bitola - Žabeni
(ERA-E 104C3; ERA-R 226A1) MK24/1
A single pair of trains started running daily from 1 February 2023, as extensions to the existing scheduled trains 641 and 642 beyond Bitola and were shown in the PDF timetable on the ŽRSMI website. A passenger visiting on 29 March 2023 found that the following trains did operate, despite the printed departure and arrival sheets at both Bitola and Skopje still not having been updated. The departure display screens at Skopje also did not show the revised workings.
These trains were suspended between Skopje and Bitola with effect from 25 October 2023 due to lack of resources and the assumption was that the service onwards to Žabeni also ceased. ŽRSMT announced reinstatement of the services from 22 March 2024 (train 641) and 27 March 2024 (train 642) but only mention Bitola as the end point for the services so it is unclear whether they continue to/from Žabeni as shown in the timetable. Any reports regarding these services would be appreciated by the compilers.
| 641 | 06:53 Skopje - 10:30 Bitola - Žabeni | ||
| 642 | 11:00 Žabeni - Bitola - Skopje |
Other sparse services
The following lines have few trains (relative to service levels generally in this country) - fewer than three trains each way on at least three days a week - or do not run each weekday:
| - | Veles - Gevgelija | Two trains pairs daily from December 2023, through services from/to Skopje. From 27 March 2024 one pair was suspended. |
Deletions since previous edition
| - | Tabanovci - Preševo (Serbia) | There has been no passenger service over this section since 1 October 2018. |
| - | Veles - Kočani | This service was suspended in May 2021 and has now been removed completely from the timetable |
| - | Skopje - Đorče Petrov - Kičevo | This service was suspended in May 2021 and has now been removed completely from the timetable |
| - | Skopje - Đorče Petrov - Volkovo - Hani i Elezit/Đeneral Janković (Kosovo) | This service was initially suspended in March 2020 due to Covid travel restrictions, but the line onwards to Prishtinë was then closed temporarily as part of the Route 10 Rehabilitation Project which removed any purpose for this connection. The upgrade work within Kosovo has now been completed but there is no sign yet of a passenger service restarting and the service no longer appears in the timetable. |
| - | Gevgelija - Idomeni (Greece) | Suspended from 21 August 2015. Since then, services between Gevgelija and Thessaloníki have been provided by bus. |
