History of the Railways in Macedonia
In 1873, the construction of the section of the first railway line in Macedonia was completed, and on August 9 of the same year, the first train that arrived from Thessaloniki was solemnly welcomed in Skopje. At that time, it was the most modern means of transport and the conditions were created for Macedonia to be connected to the railway network of Central and Western Europe and, together with that, to come into more intensive contact with European culture.
Soon after the launch of the Thessaloniki – Skopje line, in 1874, Skopje was connected by a railway line with Kosovska Mitrovica. The opening of the first line in Serbia (1884) from Belgrade to Niš and its extension from Niš to Vranje (1886) the Thessaloniki-Skopje line was extended to the Turkish-Serbian border at that time, so that in 1888 a connection was established between the Macedonian railway and the central and western railway network in Europe.
In the period from 1916 to 1922, the narrow-gauge railways were built:
• Gradsko – Prilep – Bitola
• Skopje – Gstivar – Kichevo – Ohrid – Tasmoruniste
In the period before the Second World War, due to the economic development in the region, many activities were undertaken to build the railway network. During that period, the following railways were put into traffic:
• Veles – Kocani on August 25, 1926
• Prilep – Bitola on April 7, 1931
• Veles – Prilep on January 20, 1936
During the Second World War, railway workers took an active part in the liberation movement of Macedonia. During the war, a large part of the railways, railway bridges and tunnels were completely or partially destroyed by the enemy during their retreat.
After the liberation in 1944, the Directorate of Railways in Macedonia was established, which had the task of rebuilding the destroyed railways, bridges and tunnels and making them ready for regular traffic.
In parallel with those activities, the construction of new railway lines was also started, namely:
• Railway line Skopje – Gostivar opened on May 25, 1952
• The Kumanovo – Beljakovci railway opened in 1956
• The Bakarno Gumno – Sapotnica railway opened in 1957
• The Gostivar – Kicevo line with the Zajas – Taymishte branch was opened on November 29, 1969.
• Skopje railway junction and new passenger station Skopje opened on 27.07.1981
The work organization that was established in 1944 as the “Directorate for Railways in Macedonia” has been transformed and reorganized for the entire time of its existence in accordance with the legal changes in R. Macedonia.
In 2007, PE Macedonian Railways was transformed and divided into two companies: PE Macedonian Railways Infrastructure and Macedonian Railways Transport AD.
The railway infrastructure, as a good of general interest for the Republic, is the property of the Republic of North Macedonia and no right of ownership can be acquired over it.
The public enterprise for railway infrastructure Railways of the Republic of North Macedonia-Skopje, as the manager of the infrastructure, approves access to the railway infrastructure for which the carriers enter into an agreement with the manager of the infrastructure.
Today PE ŽRSM Infrastructure is a member of the International Union of Railways (UIC), a member of the Community of European Infrastructure Managers and Railway Transport Companies (CER), as well as a member of the European Organization of Infrastructure Managers (RNE).