Trains and other things: Celje, Pragersko, Pivka, Trieste

After spending 2 nights on night trains, this night I spent in a hotel in Slovenia.

One thing in hotels that can't beat trains, is the breakfast

I have traveled many km south, but it feels that I have been traveling north. It is a very cold morning.

Celje is the third-largest town in Slovenia. It is a cozy and picturesque small town with a walking distance between the station and center.

My phone shows -6C

Savinja river

St. Cecilia Church - Župnijska cerkev sv. Cecilije

Opatijska c. Sv. Danijela

Assumption of Mary Church - Minoritski samostan z Marijino Cerkvijo

This was my hotel

Entering the station

Celje is located at the South railway that continues all the way from Vienna to Trieste, and it is basically the main railway through Slovenia

Celje Castle - Stari grad Celje

The station

Travel to Trieste for 8EUR

SŽ 814

SŽ class 310

ICS (InterCity Slovenija) is the high-speed train in Slovenia

It is operated on the line Ljubljana-Maribor and it stops here in Celje

It is based on Italian ETR460 Pendolino, but it has only 3 coaches

Before I'm continuing my journey south to Trieste, I will be taking a short trip north to Pragersko

342 027 is the same locomotive as I had the day before, as it is the same Eurocity train returning back from Zagreb to Vienna.

SŽ Class 342 is an Italian locomotive from the 70's

This Eurocity has a 1st class coach with compartments, all of them were empty

It is rather cheap to travel by train in Slovenia, even though the country has Euro as currency. ICS train is more expensive than EC.

Arriving at Pragersko

The train continues to Vienna

The larger settlement of Pragersko developed only after 1845 as the Southern Railway Station; it was designed in a chessboard format. The settlement became even more important in 1859, when it became the starting point of the Eastern Railway, and in 1872 when a large railway station was built.
During the construction of the railway in 1846, mostly workers and officials of German descent settled here. The line to Ptuj and Čakovec (Eastern Railway) was completed 14 years later. (Wikipedia)

The line south to Ljubljana

An old steam locomotive and a car are located here

The line Pragersko-Hodos is currently under modernization and will make it possible to travel with 160km/h

Slovenian Railways operates 1.229 km of standard gauge tracks, 331 km as double track, and reaches all regions of the country. It is remarkably well connected to all surrounding countries, reflecting the fact that Slovenia used to be part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and later 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 about 503 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 that trains to Zagreb change engines at Dobova until dual system engines become available. The DC system was inherited from the Italian Ferrovie dello Stato on the Sežana-Pivka-Ilirska Bistrica-Šapjane line. Further electrification was conducted with the same system to preserve compatibility. (Wikipedia)

SŽ class 363 was built in 1975-1977 by the French manufacturer Alsthom. They have a typically Alsthom C′C′ wheel arrangement with monomotor bogies. They share their "Nez Cassé" body design with SNCF Class CC 6500 and NS Class 1600, with their electrical system adapted for the Italian-developed 3 kV DC catenary. (Wikipedia)

The SŽ series 664 (formerly JŽ series 664, subseries 100), nicknamed Reagan is a diesel locomotive operated by the Slovenian Railways.
The locomotives are an GM-EMD design, assembled under license by Đuro Đaković in 1984. (Wikipedia)

A freight train is arriving from Port of Koper

Koper is one of major ports in the region together with Trieste and Rijeka. Much of the freight is then transported by rail to the rest of Europe.

This train is bound for Hungary

For a while, I got a bit nervous, as the freight train was slowing down, while I had only minutes left before the departure of my next train.

Finally, I could cross the tracks

Another train is arriving, this time from Hungary

The train has stopped here, probably to let the passenger train pass ahead of it

My next train is a Regional train operated with Class 312, which is a Siemens Desiro EMU

Traveling by a speed of 120km/h, the top speed for this train is 140km/h

Some parts of the railway are still under construction

I have arrived at Zidani Most station, where I will change trains

A train to Ljubljana

ICS train arriving from Maribor

Two trains, both bound for Ljubljana

I'm taking the ICS train

There are 3 cars, one of which is a combined 2nd and 1st class

There is a bistro car, but it was closed. Think it is only operated Monday-Friday, and today is Sunday.

When the weather is clear as it is today, it's possible to see the Alps

1st class part of the coach

2nd class

Made by Fiat

Ljubljana station

I have some time before my next train, I'm visiting McDonalds

My next train will take me to Pivka

Lunch in the train

Arriving at Pivka

Although the Pivka region has been a strategically important location since ancient times, it became even more important with the construction of the railway from Vienna to Trieste (the Austrian Southern Railway) in 1857 and the railway from Št. Peter na Krasu to Rijeka twenty years later. In 1930, while it was under the Italian control, the strategic hills over the town were heavily fortified and included in the Alpine Wall system of defenses, which stretched from the Bay of Genoa to the Kvarner Gulf. (Wikipedia)

363 027 is the same locomotive I saw earlier at Pragersko. As I expected the freight train left right after the passenger one and was heading to Koper.

The speed is low here, so the trains are coming very quite. I could not hear this one until it was almost near me.

541 016 is an ES 64 U4 from SŽ - Slovenske Železnice

363 003

As I expected the traffic is very busy at this line

The line to Rijeka

1293 023 Vectron MS

The station building seems to have apartments

There is no ticket office at the station

My next train will take me to Italy

Sežana - last stop in Slovenia

190 109 ES 64 U4

Villa Opicina is the terminus for this train and the station located in Italy. There are two daily direct trains to Trieste, but I would not make it to my night train, so I will take a bus to Trieste instead.

The station has many platforms, but they all seem to be occupied by freight trains

There is a bus stop right outside the station, but according to the information I have it is better to walk a little bit to take another bus.

The walk is through the neighborhoods of the Villa Opicina

Chiesa Cattolica Parrocchiale S. Bartolomeo Apostolo

After a short walk, I have arrived at the Opicina tram station

Unfortunately, the tram is not in service for the time being, so I will take the bus instead (the bus can be seen here further in front of the tram).

It is important to buy a ticket before boarding the bus (there is a ticket machine at the tram station). The bus driver do not sell tickets.

The bus nr 2 is going directly to the center of Trieste, following the tram line.

Here is the tram stop in Trieste

I have arrived well ahead of the departure of my night train, so I'll take a walk here

Christmas market

My dinner, a hot dog and a beer

Punch is served here as well

Trieste train station

My night train today will be ICN 1570 to Rome

A church inside the station

The night train is already at the platform, but it is not open yet

ICN stands for Intercity Notte

There are 3 types of cars in the night train: Deluxe

Comfort

Basic

There is a supermarket at the station, better to buy something as there is no restaurant at the train

The train station has a bar

For a while, I could see that the locomotive needed to help to be started

My coach

I'm traveling in what is called Deluxe car, with compartments of 3 beds

The bed is prepared for the night

The compartment has a washing basin. The WC is shared between all passengers in the car. There is no shower in this train.

A kit with shampoo, toothpaste etc., is provided. Why to give a shampoo if there is no shower...

The beer was purchased at the station. A bottle of water is provided as well as the coffee in the morning.

Before I finish my post of today, I need to talk about the weather. As it can be seen on the map of Temperature Anomaly from Wxcharts.com, the temperature is much higher in the north than in the south.