Скачать или смотреть Pijana Pruga / Drunken Railway (Istria)

Pijana Pruga / Drunken Railway

Just a 15 minute walk away from the Church of the Holy Cross in Zagrad, near Kožljak, Istria, there is this interesting contorted section of railway tracks.

This was part of the original Lupoglav Štalj railway that was built in 1951 to shuttle coal from the Raša coal mine to the ports of Stalji and Bršica, and from there on to Rijeka. There were not enough people to build the 52 km long railway so Istrians were forced to work voluntarily on the construction in difficult conditions, even women. This was one of the many reasons for discontent and why a large number of Istrians emigrated to Italy and globally.

The mining crisis of the mid-60s followed, coal production was reduced and the port of Koper became the hub of shipping traffic to the detriment of Rijeka. The last train chugged through in 2009 before the railway embankment on Kožljak fell. This caused the tracks to twist and bend and led to it now being fondly called the Pijana Pruga (Drunken Railway). It has become a popular site to visit/hike, but people have no idea about the plight of the victims that built it. From the railway line you look down onto the peaceful green Čepićko polje/fields, which was actually a lake until 1932.

Another interesting twist in the Istrian landscape that I had fun exploring with my friends.

Pijana Pruga / Drunken Railway
Nakon samo 15 minuta hoda od crkve Svetog Križa u Zagradu, u blizini Kožljaka u Istri, nalazi se ovaj zanimljiv izvijen dio željezničke pruge.

Bio je to dio prvobitne željezničke pruge Lupoglav Štalja koja je izgrađena 1951. za prijevoz ugljena iz ugljenokopa Raša do luka Stalji i Bršica, a odakle do Rijeke. Nije bilo dovoljno ljudi za izgradnju pruge duge 52 kilometra pa su Istrijani bili prisiljeni dobrovoljno raditi na izgradnji u teškim uvjetima, čak i žene. To je bio jedan od mnogih razloga za nezadovoljstvo i zašto je velik broj Istrana emigrirao u Italiju i diljem svijeta.

Uslijedila je rudarska kriza sredinom 60-ih, smanjena je proizvodnja ugljena, a luka Kopar postala je središte brodskog prometa na štetu Rijeke. Posljednji vlak projurio je 2009. godine prije nego što je pao željeznički nasip na Kožljaku. To je uzrokovalo uvijanje i savijanje pruge i dovelo do toga da se sada od milja naziva Pijana pruga. Postalo je popularno mjesto za posjetiti/pješačiti, ali ljudi nemaju pojma o stanju žrtava koje su ga izgradile. Sa željezničke pruge gledate dolje na mirno zeleno Čepićko polje, koje je do 1932. godine zapravo bilo jezero.

Još jedan zanimljiv zaokret u Istarskom krajoliku koji sam se zabavljala istražujući s prijateljicama.

Created by Diana Karmela Kumst
Sundancer
Photos of me by Ljiljana Kovačić