4K CABVIEW Banja Luka - Doboj (Early morning sunrise train ride - Old ŽRS 441 class ASEA locomotive)

This video shows awakening of the day over the railway line Banja Luka - Doboj and early morning passenger train service journey with a view of the sunrise over the tracks from the locomotive cab. The journey begins at 4:39 AM in the early morning silence, with the occasional sound of night crickets, at the Banja Luka train station. The peace and quiet of the night is suddenly interrupted by the station master's whistle and the engine starting sounds, so the intense drive towards the east begins. Driving at dawn, towards the rising sun, gives a special contrast and scenic charm to this journey.

The recording was done from the train 6401 (Banja Luka - Doboj). The cab ride shows the railway line Doboj - Banja Luka - Novi Grad, in the north of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Republic of Srpska). This line and the rolling stock belong to the Railways of the Republic of Srpska (Željeznice Republike Srpske - ŽRS). The locomotive is an old JŽ series 441 (Today's ŽRS class 441), the old Swedish Rb ASEA locomotive type. On the specific locomotive 441-114, the diode rectifiers are cooled by fans above, which is why the sound of the locomotive's operation is slightly louder in the video.

The line Banja Luka - Doboj stretches through the winding valleys of several rivers. Not long after start of the travel, train enters the Vrbanja river valley. Then it pass through the long tunnel "Tromeđa" and exit directly to the station Snjegotina. It is the highest point on this line. The hilly ride full of curves followed by a descent through the beautiful scenic valleys of the rivers Snjegotina and Velika Ukrina. The flatter landscape is entered in the vicinity of the lignite mine Stanari. It continues until the train passes through the longest tunnel on this route, tunnel "Ljeskove Vode". After crossing a large steel bridge, across the biggest river on this journey, the Bosna river, this line connects to the two-tracks railway line towards Doboj.

Prominent infrastructure facilities along this route are:
Banja Luka train station,
Vrbanja,
Railway tunnel "Čelinac" (L=488m),
Čelinac,
Jošavka,
Tunnel "Tromeđa" (L=1413m),
Snjegotina,
Ukrina,
Prisoje,
Dragalovci,
Stanari,
Ostružnja,
Tunnel "Ljeskove Vode" (L=1514m), the most difficult to build on this route, due to specific geology and exceptional amount of groundwater,
Stanovi,
Large steel bridge over Bosna river (250m long),
Kostajnica and
Doboj, the biggest one and main railway station at ŽRS.

In the enumeration, numerous concrete and steel bridges in the valleys of the mentioned rivers are omitted.

Near the end, the video shows the locomotive shunting operations afrer decoupling and its coupling to the other side of the train. This made the returning train to Banja Luka which is a continuation of this video. Cab ride in the reverse direction in fully sunlit landscapes is shown in the next video.

Recording was done in August 2024.