Train rides in Kosovo:A painful experience

 Train rides in Kosovo: A painful experience

There are huge problems with the method of transportation that are train rides from city to city in

Kosovo. The problem in general is the train itself, though there were quite a few people on the

train who seemed like they use it often, but for me and my friend who never had used train as

transportation were not so impressed. It was a frustrating and tiring experience, the seating was

really uncomfortable and the weather the day we chose to get on the ride was very rainy and it

did not help the ride at all. Some windows were cracked open too, so it was cold in there, there

was not any service, and they clearly don't clean it up because there was a very bad smell there.

We learned that a very bad train experience can turn into a nightmare, our initial target was Peja

so we got on the train at the train station in Pristina but we couldn't make it to Peja because of

the bad conditions so we stopped at a station in Fushè Kosove.

The worst thing was I was very excited to finally get on a train an experience I've never had

before this one and it was very disappointing. There was also lack of service, which to us didn't

matter that much since our ride ended faster than most people on there but if you have got to go

all the way to Peja from Pristina and with the journey being that long you need some service to

help you, maybe some drinks food etc. and the other issue we found was how much noisy the

train was it is understandable because of how old it must be but it really was annoying and hard

to just forget about it. But there is also of course a reason people choose trains over buses, and the

main one being the time it takes you to get to your destination, with the bus it's probably twice as

much as with a train so that can be the main factor that students/workers would choose trains as

they can get to their destination on time more quick.

I believe there is huge potential in train rides in general in Kosovo, if they get rid of certain

issues and focus more on making it a more modern train ride, that would be good for the people

that use it as their primary transportation option or for people that want to try it out, it can also be

very attractive for tourists that come from all over the world.

In conclusion there is way more people that use any other method of transportation instead of

trains because of the conditions and how unpractical the train is in Kosovo, and this issue hasn'

been addressed for the longest of times.

Photographer: Erëza Ismajli

Blog by:Erlis Jusuf