UNMIK/FR/035/01
FEATURE RELEASE - May 11, 2001

Transport

Right Track to the Future: Perspective from a Locomotive?

By Eleanor Beardsley 

The very nature of Jan Nilsson's job as a locomotive driver of the minority train in Kosovo places him in a unique realm of experience compared to most other internationals here. Nilsson crisscrosses the countryside daily, transporting those no longer able to move about freely in Kosovo.  The minority train travels from Kosovo Polje/Fushë Kosova to Zvecan twice a day, and is operated by UNMIK, according to the UN mandate to provide freedom of movement to all Kosovar residents.

The route takes Nilsson past Serb and Albanian villages, Pristine countryside, farmers in their fields, houses razed to the ground… 
One month ago, Nilsson took a leave of absence from his position managing a private railway in Sweden to come to Kosovo to help drive the UNMIK Railways minority train.  But he soon encountered problems: "I was getting a lot of uneasy looks from some passengers and the station masters in the first few days. They thought I was Albanian," he says shaking his head in disbelief.  "After that I would step off the locomotive at every station to greet people and to tell them I was their new driver from Sweden.  I gave out pens and trinkets with Swedish flags on them."
As bizarre as this might sound to an outsider, this is the reality of life in Kosovo.  But if UNMIK Railways had its way, Nilsson wouldn't be here driving the train at all.  According to UNMIK Railways General Manager, Gunnar Hallert: "Our goal is to have a Serb and an Albanian drive this train together."  But until that time, UNMIK has hired interim international drivers like Nilsson.

Since UNMIK took over the railway operation from KFOR last March, Hallert and Railways Director, Gani Lahu, are working hard to transform the operation into a commercially-operated civilian railway.  Currently, the top priority for the railways is to generate revenue.  Thus the Department of Transport and Infrastructure (DOTI) has reached agreements with Yugoslav and Macedonian Railways, which will permit the movement of cross-border, commercial freight traffic.  Up to now the only goods being transported on Kosovo's rails have been KFOR and humanitarian wares.  "Getting this freight traffic moving would not only earn money for railway operation, it would unburden Kosovo's overstretched roadways," says Patrick Auffret, Co-Director, DOTI.

Aside from developing freight traffic, other passenger lines are being planned. Recently a Pristina to Peja passenger train has begun operation. 
A politically important issue is getting an Albanian-Serb team to drive the minority train to Zvecan. Not only are Hallert and Lahu negotiating to make this happen, but, according to Hallert: "Since the new railways manager took over in Belgrade earlier this year a total change of tone has occurred.  The Serbian management is encouraging Kosovo's Serbs to join Albanians in running this railway." 
And the Albanian railway workers back at Fushë Kosova/Kosovo Polje say they will be glad to have them back.
Unaware of the behind-the-scenes negotiations, Serbs and Roma pile into the train at every stop.  For the more than 1,000 train passengers a day, it is a lifeline.  They use it to visit friends, go to jobs or to stock-up on provisions in Mitrovica.  Their safety is ensured by the KFOR soldiers riding the train and patrolling every station, and by the helicopter that hovers above. 
35-year-old Suzanna Stefanovic, who takes the train to work, says: "For us, Serbs, this train is so important.  I can't even imagine what kind of life we would have without it," she says.  

Miloslav Drajkovic, father of three, uses the train to take his eldest child to the hospital in North Mitrovica.  "Because all of us Serbs are now forced to live in enclaves, this train is a priority," he says.  "I don't want to leave Kosovo, but I worry for my children's freedom." 
Up in the locomotive, Nilsson concentrates on the track before him. But Nilsson knows that the railways' future, like that of Kosovo, depends on the Kosovar people, not on internationals. "If they could drive this train together it would be such a symbol," he adds.  "Everything could start like that.  A small, symbolic step and then it could grow."

Contact: Peter Ellwood
(038) 504 604 Ext. 5471
E-mail: ellwood@un.org