The new railway timetable for Macedonian Railways is now in effect and will remain valid until December 13, 2025. There are eight connections from Skopje to Veleš and from there three to Bitola, two to Gevgelija and one to Kocani.
(This very popular article is from 2025. For updated information on railway connections, click here.)
Train enthusiasts exist everywhere, and some of them have the intention to travel in or even to North Macedonia. The first railway was installed in 1873 from Thessaloniki to Skopje and the network extended further. But if you thought that you can just ‘google the connection’, you will find that not the clocks, but the trains run a little bit differently.
First, you should know that there are no international routes. You might ask for a connection from Thessaloniki to Skopje on Hellenic railways, but there is no rail answer, not even to Idomeni near the border on the Greek side. Coming from Belgrade, you will be guided till Prešovo, but service exists currently till Niš. Rome2Rio.com will give you a relation from Priština to Skopje, but includes the hint that the service is suspended.
To find the trains inside the country, you can go on the website of the Macedonian Railway MŽ or use the tables that Skopje.in compiled in early 2025.
You will find the passenger relations:
- Skopje – Veles with eight trains/day till Veles
- two of them continue from Veles till Gevgelija.
- one continues from Veles till Kocani
- three continue from Veles to Prilep and Bitola, one of which continues to Žabeni
- four connections Skopje – Kumanovo have been installed in 2025.
For the connections Kumanovo – Tabanovci, Skopje – Tetovo – Kicevo and Skopje – Pristina, no train is planned for 2025 according to the MŽ website (Feb. 5th).
Read on www.Skopje.in
And for the international trains? There has been one train crossing the country on Sep. 13th/14th, 2021 in the context of the European Year of rail. And a high speed railway is planned from Belgrade via Skopje to Greece.
For those who are looking for comfortable and cheap travel today, check Skopje Bus station (English translation) or sites like Flixbus to find hundreds of connections. International connections offer Wifi and chargers, stop regularly for food & comfort breaks and they are faster than the trains in the region.
You just have to be patient at the borders. But that is another story, and this goes for car, rail and bus. (Info on EES)
Updated Feb. 22nd for for the Kumanovo connection.
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