Skopje–Veles passenger trains reduced since 1 September, operator blames driver shortage

Local passenger train service on the Skopje–Veles corridor has been reduced since the start of September, leaving commuters with fewer daily options and longer waits for connections to the capital.

From 1 September the afternoon local train that departed Skopje at 13:20 and returned from Veles at 14:25 was cancelled. At the same hour a so‑called city train to Zelenikovo now departs Skopje at 13:20 and returns at 14:00, a change that coincided with the disappearance of several Veles–Skopje departures. The 08:00 morning train from Skopje to Veles and the 12:10 service from Veles to Skopje are also not running.

Passengers left at Veles station in the middle of the day say they often find there is no service to Skopje or the intermediate stops and must wait until evening.

“For a long time the passenger train that left at 12:10 for Skopje has been gone. We travel to the first station Rajko for the village S'lp. Now there is no transport, because there is no road to there, we have to wait for a train until the evening. And those few passengers we were, now they have all chased us away,” a resident of Veles who used the midday train to Skopje said.

Rail operator points to staff shortages, not the city service

Environmental activist Igor Smilev, who describes himself as one of the last regular users of passenger rail, warned that an already thin timetable is shrinking further.

“With the introduction of the city train to Zelenikovo all local trains from Veles to Skopje were sacrificed except the night one, for which there is no witness that anyone has ever seen it. The Veles railway station yawns empty, there are no passengers, the spirit and tradition of the town are broken. From a railway town with thousands of students and workers who used the train nothing remains, passengers can be counted on the fingers of one hand,” Smilev said.

Officials at Macedonian Railways (MŽ) - Transport reject the claim that the new Zelenikovo city service caused neglect of other passenger routes. They say the morning departure from Skopje and the afternoon train from Veles to Skopje are temporarily suspended because of low ridership, and that the wider problem is a shortage of trained drivers.

“The morning from Skopje and the afternoon from Veles to Skopje is temporarily stopped due to the small number of passengers. With the other lines the problem is the reduced number of drivers, we have a problem with skilled staff. This that is happening has no contact link with the city train for Zelenikovo. I don't know why people connect it with the other lines. There are enough trains for rail traffic, we have six passenger cars. Two locomotives that are designated only for passenger traffic. We have not had as many sets for traffic as we have now. Three diesel, two electric, plus the so‑called 'Spanish', which was repaired,” Goran Jovanovski, director of MŽ‑Transport, said.

In practice, the operator currently runs eight passenger trains: three to Bitola, two to Gevgelija, one to Veles and two to Kumanovo, with the same number returning to Skopje.

Observers also noted that on 1 September — the day train drivers were on strike and trains stood still — the city train to Zelenikovo still ran; those drivers did not participate in the strike.

Annual passenger figures published by the State Statistical Office show a steady decline: last year MŽ carried 177,775 passengers, the year before 237,648, and in 2023 the total was 280,440. Trains to Kočani and Kičevo have not run since May 2021.

Photo: SDK.MK)