Although the railway line from Bitola to Kremenica on the Macedonian-Greek border has already been built, passenger trains will not be running anytime soon. The Greek railway operator – TrainOse is not interested in introducing a borderline train between Bitola and Florina. RSM Railways – Transport told “Meta”, that a meeting with the Director General of the Greek Railways was held on May 30th in Skopje, where they discussed the initiatives for the country’s railway for a better rail connection with the southern neighbor.
The two countries have established regular rail traffic on the routes Thessaloniki – Florina and Skopje – Bitola, 3 times a day.
The idea for the local railway was to use the trains traveling to both sides of the border to introduce a borderline train, which will be used by citizens of both countries to travel between Bitola, Florina and Thessaloniki.
RSM Railways – Transport emphasized that the Greek operator TrainOse is only interested in the year-long maintenance of the railway line from Skopje to Thessaloniki via Gevgelija. In the second half of June, a delegation from the local railway will pay a working visit to Thessaloniki, where a final agreement is expected to be reached on a possible introduction of an express train between Skopje and Thessaloniki that will travel throughout the year.
In April, RSM Railways – Transport successfully tested the newly built line from Bitola to Kremenica. In the 17 kilometer long track line, 17.2m euros were invested, in the hope that the second rail link between North Macedonia and Greece will provide an increased volume of goods and passengers between the two countries.