Missing Services
Passenger trains between Nova Gorica (Slovenia) and Gorizia Centrale (Italy) ceased in 1997, leaving just 3.0km of track (and just 7.5km between the two main stations) without a passenger service. The line remains active for freight and is not electrified, but nor is the network on the Slovenian side. Currently passengers have to cross the gap between the Slovenian and Italian rail networks on foot or by bus. With Nova Gorica nominated as European Capital of Culture 2025, and with the Slovenia-Italy border bisecting the square outside Nova Gorica station, it is high time these two towns โ linked in so many ways! โ are also once more linked by train.
What needs to be done: Slovenian railways Sลฝ needs to extend Jesenice โ Nova Gorica trains to Gorizia Centrale, or run a simple connecting shuttle service Nova Gorica โ Gorizia Centrale
European Commission Analysis
In 2018 the European Commission published its “Comprehensive analysis of the existing cross-border rail transport connections and missing links on the internal EU borders”. The main report (74 pages, PDF) summarises the issues, and Annex 3 of the report (384 pages, PDF) analysed every single border.
For the sake of simplicity, I have made a PDF just of the relevant pages of Annex 3 that cover Nova Gorica-Gorizia – you can find that PDF here.
Photos from this location
