TRAINS [Main Title]

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  • Title: TRAINS [Main Title]
  • Film Number: UNT 745
  • Other titles: UNITED NATIONS TELEVISION (UNTV) ZAGREB COLLECTION, YUGOSLAVIA [Allocated Series Title]
  • Summary: An alternative perspective on the war in Bosnia. Trains still play a vital part in connecting some parts of Federation territory in Bosnia. Where are the trains still running? Which towns do they link? Who rides them?
  • Description: Scrolling text: This film was made in late April 1995 just before the end of the cease-fire in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Shots of a train travelling over a bridge, view from the driver’s cabin, out of the window and views of the train from above and from the side. The train pulls into a station. Many people are on the platform. Passengers disembark. Interview with the conductor. He says that the train company charges as low a price as possible because people have a low standard of living and there is not much money to spare. He gives the example of a soldier travelling with his wife. In that context he will be charged for a ticket even though he cannot afford it because “he does not get paid in the army”. He says that locally, along the Begor Han and Žepče line, political problems between Croats and Muslims should be sorted out and the railways as well. The conductor tries to charge a couple who are unable to pay. He has to make the decisions about whether people like this are allowed to travel or not. He says that he will get the blame from the company if he lets people ride for free. A woman says that people are often not allowed onto the train and she has to walk to Zenica with her child. She says that currently a ticket on the train costs 180 DM. Shots of passengers on the train: men and women, old and young. Interview with a young woman who says that it would be better if the train was able to cross through Croatia. She thinks that now the conflict is over, they have to live together. Shots of the countryside. The train passes a group of soldiers. The train driver says that his father worked on the railways and that he has always been obsessed with trains. A young man says that there should be trains and that the people of Bosnia should be able to communicate internationally so that they do not feel so isolated. The young woman says that the routes in and out of the country should be opened so that they can import food and lower the cost of food for Bosnians. Shot of a crowded platform. The train crosses a river and pulls into the station. People climb on board. Map graphic shows the train’s journey to Visoko. The driver says that it can be dangerous driving trains through Bosnia but there is no danger of being shelled on the line from Begor Han to Visoko. The young man says that he is a soldier, “a conscript in the Bosnian Army”. He says that if the trains runs near the frontline they feel fear but as it is the third year of war, they are accustomed to it. The train goes into a tunnel. Archive footage of soldiers in woodland. Train comes out of the tunnel and stops to pick up people waiting on the tracks. The driver says “I’m not scared, I feel brave, I have no fears”. The young man says that during the ceasefire people are even more afraid of being taken by surprise by unexpected shells. He friend says that the there has not really been a ceasefire at all and he wishes he could go to Sarajevo like he used to do. He used to go “just for the ride...to see workers on their way home” but now that seems “a beautiful picture of old Bosnia, like a fairytale”. Interview with a woman who has lived at the Visoko railway station for fifty years. She explains that the front line is on the row of hills opposite the station and that it is dangerous to stay here. She stands, arms crossed, in defiance and explains that before the war the station was very lively. People could catch trains from Visoko to Zagreb and Belgrade. Since the war, “everything has died”. There have been no trains and her husband has died. A man at the railway station says that the station is a target for shelling and snipers. He says that the last train left on April 5th 1992 for Sarajevo and many of his friends took that train to the capital. He does not know which ones are still alive now. The woman at the station says that when the ceasefire ends tomorrow, she does not know if she will live. “Everyone is afraid”. Map graphic shows the train route from Pazarić to Konijc to Jablanica. At Pazarić a railroad worker arrives to couple up the train. The soldier looks out of the window. The railroad worker says that it is very difficult to keep the service running without basic supplies and spare parts. One of the passengers says that the ceasefire has expired so they expect shooting. Archive footage of buildings and people under fire. People are waiting, exposed, at the station. Some are inside because they are afraid of shells. The train picks these people up. An old man says that it is not safe to go by road because shells fell on Pazarić this morning. The conductor says that people would like to travel to the coast and he wanted to return to work on the Sarajevo -Ploče line. Archive footage of an old train. At Mostar’s derelict railway station and man says that the railway used to be a source of life for the town. Shots of engineers working to a restore railway bridge across the Neretva River. He explains that construction work began in January giving people here a false hope that life was returning to normal. If war returns, it will all have been in vain. Map graphic shows train’s route from Zitomislici to Metkovic to Ploče. Passengers read newspapers that describe the shelling of Zagreb. One headline translates as ‘Zagreb wounded again’. Footage from Zagreb of injured people being carried through the streets. On the train, children lean their heads out of the window. The passengers are sad that civilians have been killed but one man feels that Zagreb is not special, other towns have withstood heavy shelling for months without any press coverage. The train passes through Metkovic and is then shown pulling into Ploče. The port is empty. The driver says that “there is no life here while Bosnia is closed”. Shots of the sea and distant coastline.
  • Alternative Title: UNITED NATIONS TELEVISION (UNTV) ZAGREB COLLECTION, YUGOSLAVIA [Allocated Series Title]
  • Colour: English (Tape Code A)
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: UNT 745
  • Sound: Bosnian (Tape Code B)
  • Access Conditions:
  • Featured Period: 1990-2000
  • Production Date: 1995-07
  • Production Country: UN
  • Production Details: Bushill, Christian (Production individual) Bobanović, Željko (Production individual) Bramford, Richard (Production individual) Seneviratne, Denise (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords: Bosnia-Herzegovina & Mostar (geography) Visoko, Bosnia-Herzegovina (geography)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: English (Tape Code A) Sound format: Bosnian (Tape Code B) Soundtrack language: Croatian (Tape Code C) Title language: Serbian (Tape D)
  • Technical Details: Format: Beta-SP Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Running time: 25 mins
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    UNT 745

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    UNT 745 X (TRAINS (UNEDITED RUSHES) [Allocated Title])
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