Slovenian Railways (, SŽ) is the state railway company of Slovenia, created in 1991.
Slovenia is a member of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The UIC Country Code for Slovenia is 79.
History
What is now Slovenia received its first railway connection in the 1840s, when the Austrian Empire built a railway connection – Südliche Staatsbahn or Austrian Southern Railway – between its capital, Vienna, and its major commercial port, Trieste. Thus, Maribor was connected by railway to Graz in 1844. The stretch was extended via Pragersko to Celje in 1846, and further via Zidani Most to Ljubljana in 1849. A double-track line was continued via Postojna, Pivka, and Divača, finally reaching Trieste in 1857.
Before World War I, numerous other railways were built. In 1860, Pragersko was connected to Ormož and further to Čakovec, Croatia, thus connecting the Austrian and the Hungarian parts of the empire. In 1862, a single-track railway (expanded into double-track in 1944) along the Sava river was built, connecting Zidani Most with Zagreb. In 1863, the "Carinthian railway" was built along the Drava river, connecting Maribor with Dravograd, Klagenfurt and Villach. In 1870, a railway along the upper Sava river valley was built, connecting Ljubljana with Kranj, Jesenice and Tarvisio, Italy. In 1873, a line from Pivka via Illirska Bistrica connected Rijeka, then the most important commercial port in the Hungarian part of the empire. In 1876, a line from Divača connected Pula, the Austrian naval base, via Prešnica. In 1906, Bohinj Railway was built, connecting Villach with Jesenice, along the Soča river valley to Gorizia and further to Trieste, with two over 6000 meter tunnels.
Few lines were opened after World War I. One of them connected Ormož with Ljutomer and Murska Sobota, and opened in 1924. After World War II, a single-track electrified line connecting Prešnica with Koper was built in 1967.
Slovenian Railways (, SŽ), the state railway company of Slovenia, was created in 1991 from the Ljubljana division of the former Yugoslav Railways after the breakup of Yugoslavia.
In 1999, a single-track line between Murska Sobota and Hodoš was rebuilt, offering a direct connection with the Hungarian railway system. The line was originally built in 1907 and closed down in 1968, among numerous other lines closed down during the 1960s. In April 2016 the electrification of the Pragersko - Hodoš line was completed.
Numerous ex-Yugoslav Railways steam locomotives are plinthed at stations around Slovenia and there is a railway museum at Ljubljana.
Rolling stock of the Slovenian Railways
System
Slovenian Railways operates 1,229 km of standard gauge tracks, 331 km as double track, and reaches all regions of the country. Slovenia is well connected by rail to all surrounding countries, reflecting the fact that it used to be part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and later part of Yugoslavia. Left-hand running is used on double-track sections, unlike the remainder of the former Yugoslavian railways.
Electrification is provided by a 3 kV DC system and covers 610 km, with electrification from Pragersko to Hodoš on the Corridor V completed in April 2016. The remainder of the former Yugoslavian railways that have been electrified operate with the 25 kV AC system, so trains to Zagreb have to change engines at Dobova in the absence of dual voltage engines. The DC system was inherited from the Italian Ferrovie dello Stato on the Sežana-Pivka-Postojna and Pivka-Ilirska Bistrica-Šapjane lines, which were electrified in 1936; starting in 1962, further electrification was conducted with the same system, to preserve compatibility. This also necessitated different rolling stock compared to the rest of Yugoslavia: after World War II, the newly formed Slovenian division of Yugoslav Railways received 17 FS Class E.626 locomotives as war reparations for operation on the formerly Italian-owned lines, with newly produced electrical traction vehicles coming in 1962 after electrification was extended from Postojna to Ljubljana (JŽ class 362), 1964 (JŽ class 311), 1967 (JŽ Class 342) and 1975-1977 (JŽ class 363). Due to the Croatian sector of the national railways (as well as the sectors of the other republics of Yugoslavia) choosing the more modern 25 kV system, a voltage break was created in Dobova, which necessitates locomotive switching. Another voltage break arose in Croatia in Šapjane in 2012 after Croatia switched their own 3 kV network that ran around Rijeka to the 25 kV standard.