dulevoz | Rail traffic in Serbia - A tank train for ammonia transport (6 locations around Pirot) [4K] @dulevoz | Uploaded 1 year ago | Updated 2 hours ago
A tank train for liquid ammonia transportation spotted 6 times at Railway line Niš - Pirot - Dimitrovgrad. These tankers are transporting ammonia between Bulgaria and the mineral fertilizer plant in Šabac. Ammonia is one of the basic products of chemical industry. Such trains appear several times a week on Serbian tracks. The locomotive at this train is a General Motors Electro-Motive Division diesel electric, at Serbian Railways known as series 661. Its well-known and recognizable horn was sounded a few times during recording.

There is not a lot of train traffic on this corridor line, so it is common to chase the same train at several locations for filming and rail photography purposes. This is possible due to the very low permitted train speeds, caused by the very poor condition of the rail infrastructure at this old line. It is non-electrified main corridor railway line between Serbia and Bulgaria (one of the major rail links between European and Middle Eastern railways).

The very poor state of infrastructure on this line contributed to the derailment of the same train near Pirot and a very large environmental incident in December 2022 (only a month since this video was recorded). Freight trains on this line derail very often. Train derailments in Serbia has become usual, almost on a daily basis, and on this line it has become quite common. Passenger train traffic between Niš, Bela Palanka, Pirot and Dimitrovgrad has been suspended a few years ago.

When this was recorded, no one expected that a great tragedy would happen soon. It's almost like Seconds from Disaster documentary. Several tanks of such train derail and overturned from track, near the town of Pirot. Ammonia leaked for days. Official data says that two people lost their lives and 50 were injured. Dangerous goods freight trains run on complete neglected and unmaintained rail tracks all over Serbian railways and there is only hope that such tragedies will not happen again.

Date of recording:
13. November 2022.