ŽRS trains

ŽRS runs the trains in Republika Srpska, the northern half of Bosnia and Herzegovina, on four short local routes.

It is also the only Bosnian railway that Interrail and Eurail clearly say they accept, which matters more to pass holders than the size of its timetable would suggest. The company is Željeznice Republike Srpske a.d. Doboj, a joint stock company founded in Banja Luka in 1992 and headquartered in Doboj since 1996. Its capital mixes government funds with private holdings, and its payroll leans heavily on annual support from the Republika Srpska budget.

The four routes

In the timetable that runs from 14 December 2025 to 12 December 2026, ŽRS operates daily passenger trains on Doboj to Banja Luka, Banja Luka to Novi Grad, Dobrljin to Banja Luka, and Doboj to Petrovo Novo.

That is the whole passenger network. These are local trains linking towns in the north, useful if you are already there and going between them, and no use at all for reaching Sarajevo or Mostar. ŽRS and ŽFBH do not meet on any line carrying passengers, so you cannot ride from one company's network onto the other's.

ŽRS publishes 416.996 km of line under its control, of which 308.254 km is electrified. Doboj to Tuzla has carried no passenger train since December 2019 and is not in the timetable.

Buying a ticket

Buy at a ŽRS ticket counter and pay in convertible marks. Advance sales open up to two months before travel, and a ticket stays valid for 15 days once your journey begins, which is more generous than most European operators.

ŽRS publishes no online sales channel, so do not expect to hold a ticket before you arrive. It also publishes its timetable inside an interactive journey planner on its own site rather than as a printable table, which means checking your departure through that planner or by asking at the station.

Interrail and Eurail on ŽRS

This is the operator to use your pass on, with two conditions. It has to be a paper pass, because mobile passes are not accepted anywhere in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Bosnia only appears on the Global Pass, since no One Country Pass for the country exists.

ŽRS also lists Inter Rail among its discount categories in its own conditions of carriage, but ties that discount to tickets bought at ŽRS and ŽFBH counters and valid only on ŽRS and ŽFBH lines. That is a discount mechanic rather than free travel on a pass, so ask at the window what your pass entitles you to before boarding rather than assuming.

Reliability, honestly

Honestly, less than you would like, and the reasons are structural rather than seasonal.

The Doboj to Banja Luka line has had repeated short closures for landslides and cable faults, with replacement buses organised at short notice. The passenger timetable was cut back in December 2025 from a previous level of 27 local trains a day, a decision the transport ministry defended on cost grounds while noting that the average age of ŽRS carriages and locomotives is 45 years. Rail unions have gone into dispute over unpaid wages several times in the space of a year, at least three times threatening to halt traffic entirely; each has been settled, most recently when July wages were paid at the end of August 2026, but the pattern is a live planning risk rather than a closed chapter.

None of that makes the trains unusable. It does mean you should confirm your specific departure with ŽRS a day or two ahead, and keep a bus option in reserve for the day you actually need to move. Bosnia's coach network is dense and frequent, and on these corridors it is the fallback that always works.