History
First railway in the territory that today belongs to Montenegro was narrow gauge (760 mm) Gabela - Zelenika line in 1901. This railway was built by Austria-Hungary, as it governed the territory of Boka Kotorska at the time.
However, the works on first Montenegrin railway, the Bar - Virpazar line, begun in 1905. This 750mm gauge, 43,3 km long railway was opened in 1908. The extension of this line from Virpazar to Cetinje was planned, but never came through, due to the lack of funding, and the beginning of the First World War. This historic mountain railway line overcame a rise of 550m over a 22 km run on the Sutorman mountain, with a maximum grade of 40‰. Despite the steep gradient, the railway was not using rack technology, due to the innovative route design by Italian engineers. The operating speeds on the line were 18 km/h for passenger transport, and 12 km/h for freight movement. In 2008, on the 100th anniversary of the line opening, and at the same time the anniversary of Montenegrin railways as a whole, it was planned to transfer the steam locomotive Lovćen from Podgorica Rail Station to Virpazar. This locomotive, which operated on the line, should become a part of a Montenegrin railway museum in Virpazar, which, due to lack of funds, never came through.
The railway network in Montenegro expanded during the period of Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In 1927, the Podgorica - Plavnica line (600 mm) was opened, followed by Bileća - Nikšić line in 1938. At that time, the railway network of Montenegro measured 143 km in length, with 760 mm narrow gauge as a most common standard. However, the railway network was not integrated, and 600 mm, 750 mm and 760 mm were present, additionally complicating the network operations. Multimodal transport was used for freight transport between Bar and Podgorica, as goods were transported by rail from Bar to Virpazar, then ferried across the Skadar Lake to Plavnica, followed by rail transport to Podgorica once again. Thus, it is fair to say that railway network in Montenegro was underdeveloped and unorganized prior to World War II.
Following the World War 2, the railway line Podgorica - Nikšić was completed (1948), with 760 mm gauge. The first real advance towards modernisation of railway network was the start of construction of the Montenegrin section of Belgrade-Bar railway. The first section from Bar to Podgorica was completed in 1959, and this is the first section of standard gauge railway in Montenegro. At the same time, narrow gauge Podgorica - Plavnica and Bar - Virpazar lines were decommissioned.
In 1965, the Podgorica - Nikšić corridor was upgraded to standard gauge, thus standardizing the entire connection from Bar to Nikšić via Podgorica. The section from Nikšić to Bileća was decommissioned at the time, as well as the Gabela - Zelenika line. The Montenegrin section of colossal Belgrade-Bar railway project (from Bar to Vrbnica, border with Serbia) was completed in 1976, connecting Bar and Podgorica with the northern Montenegro, Serbia, and European rail network. At that time, the length of Montenegrin railway network was 215 km, with transition to standard gauge complete.
The latest addition to the Motenegrin railways was Podgorica–Shkodër line, which opened in 1986. This was a freight-only line since its opening.
Read more about this topic: Rail Transport In Montenegro, Railway Infrastructure of Montenegro
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