Tourists cycling in Bosnia | Photo: youtube

A joint project between Croatia and Bosnia aims to revitalise the old railways built by the Austria-Hungarian Empire by creating a network of bicycle trails, which will also help unlock the tourist potential of the region.

“The goal of the project is to restore the trail which was once used by the railways,” Ana Soldo, director of the public company Vjetrenica, the project’s implementing organisation, told BIRN on Tuesday.

Work on the renovation of the lines has already started and should finish by the end of the year, Soldo told BIRN.

“We will ensure the cleaning of the path, the creation of signals and touristic information and we also are developing a network of subjects that could be of interest for the touristic development of the trail”, Soldo told BIRN, adding that “two former train stations have already been converted into motels”.

The project, which has a total cost of 296,000 euros and is being covered by the EU’s Instruments of Pre-Accession Assistance for increasing cross-boundary cooperation, started back in 2014 under the name “Through history by bicycle” or “Revitalisation of the narrow gauge railway – Ciro”.

The railway was first built in 1901 by the Austro-Hungarian authorities, which then ruled Bosnia and Croatia. It connected the coastal city of Dubrovnik in Croatia to the inland towns of Trebinje and Capljina in Bosnia and stretched for a total of 200 km, of which 120 are in Bosnia.

A popular steam train, which was known as “Ciro”, operated until 1971, when the Yugoslav authorities closed all lines that were not profitable and terminated railway connections to Dubrovnik.

According to Ana Soldo, renewing the path that “Ciro” used to follow will have a great importance for the community.

“The railway was of vital importance for this whole region,” Soldo told BIRN, adding that “as soon as it was closed, people started gradually to leave.”

Once it is finished, the cycle trail will connect several tourist destinations in the region, like the natural reserve of Hutovo Blato and the cavern of Vjetrenica, which is the biggest in the country.

Ramiz Bazic, an expert at the Tourist Board of the Herzegovina – Neretva Canton, also said the work will have a positive impact on the development of the region.

“It’s an ambitious project, which will definitely be good for our Canton as it represents an opportunity to aid the development of smaller places, like Ravno, which are on the track,” Bazic told BIRN.

Bazic added that cycling is steadily acquiring greater importance in terms of tourism in the region generally.

“Over the past five years, the number of tourists wishing to discover this region by bicycle has boomed. We already opened two trails, one north of the city of Mostar and one in the west of our territory,” said Bazic. “This project will surely help increase cooperation between Croatia and Bosnia,” he concluded.