Europe's first chinese build trains! - Macedonian Railways Skopje to Prilep travel experience

In this video we look at Macedonian Railways MZT's relatively new Chinese build trains that traffic the line from Skopje to Bitola and Prilep. I will check out what it’s like to travel on these trains and how they compare to rest of the railways in the Balkans, are they any good? Come along as i look at the North Macedonian railway experience
Travel info:
Train type: CRRC MŽ 711
Route: Skopje to Bitola
Train: IR 643
Distance: 179 km
Journey time: 3h24m
Average speed: 53 km/h
Price: 400 MKD / 6.7 euro return
* Translate*
Во ова видео ги гледаме релативно новите Кинески градби на возови на Македонски железници МЗТ што ја сообраќаат линијата од Скопје до Битола и Прилеп. Ќе проверам како е да се патува со овие возови и како се споредуваат со останатите железници на Балканот, дали се добри? Дојдете додека го гледам искуството со северномакедонската железница
Sunset Strip by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Artist: audionautix.com/

[@Bluz1]

Prilep hosts a famous beer fest in the summer and people from all over the country come to visit it. Me and few friends wanted to go but as broke students transportation was an issue. Luckily the government made the train rides free for students at the time and we seized the chance. Plus these Chinese trains were a novelty at the time and it's a fun experience since most of us travel either by car or bus. One thing I noticed when riding the train is that the tracks are definitely too old not suitable for newer trains which only limits their speed. Also since we were traveling in July it was 40 degrees outside and the air conditioning inside the train was set at like 10 degrees Celsius, it was a freezing 3 hour ride lol

[@chrisg123]

Great video, I would love more content like this. -Cheers from Toronto, Canada!

[@Simon-Andersen]

More to come 😁 Greetings from Copenhagen

[@AndrewG1989]

Very nice trains. Nice livery as well.

[@NonstopEurotrip]

It's actually a much better train than I thought! 🚆 And what a beautiful ride 😍

[@pecebosilkovski7427]

Ќе беше уште многу подобар да беше во многу подобро економски развиена држава, но за жал тие возови на CRRC денес имаат многу проблеми, и не затоа што е лош нивниот квалитет туку заради многу лошата состојба на железничката инфраструктура во Македонија односно старите и дотраени пруги изградени во времето на поранешна Југославија а и пред тоа.

[@Davidtotarget66]

I am from Prilep

[@SpotterCrazyperson]

Great video! Nice trains

[@Simon-Andersen]

Thank you very much!

[@pecebosilkovski7427]

Точно убави возови но но погрешно време и на погрешно место.

[@AndrejNikolov-xw2gi]

I'm from Macedonia

[@EdJonesVideos]

Oof I have some memories of this station from my backpacking days. I was about to leave from the bus station (downstairs from the platforms) for Pristina before realising - ten minutes before departure - that I left my passport back at my hotel. (I made it back in time, but only because the bus was delayed.) I hope that things improve for Skopje and North Macedonia more generally. The city was not in particularly great shape when I visited in 2019 and it felt like the city planners - with their neoclassical obsession - didn't really have much of a clue what they were doing. Public transport in general there seemed to need some work, so I hope this is a step towards improvement.

[@zonetropper]

Thanks for the review/ Благодарам на Рецензијата. Considering the price of the bus faring to Prilep/Bitola. This is quite a bargain nowadays for the added 30min travel time since it takes about 2:30 hours-3hours to reach Bitola, unfortunately the railway network does not stretch to a lot of the other towns and you result in a bus ticket to reach the other smaller cities from the big hub ones.

[@Simon-Andersen]

The railway line unfortunately is not very direct and it seems like a lack of infrastructure improvements in the railway is holding it back 😔 Thanks for the insight 👍

[@rd_0939]

​@@Simon-Andersen here in Macedonia the train drivers are getting paid very low. Most of the drivers leave the jobs or protest, trains aren't popular here, greetings from Skopje

[@riffraff8490]

Great video. Greetings from Sydney Australia. I wonder if it would be a alternative to a taxi from Skopje to Bitola using the train.

[@Simon-Andersen]

I think the main competition is from the busses :-)

[@fidan2fast]

sadly, the railways in Macedonia don't offer direct lines between towns and cities, so unless you want to enjoy the train ride and scenery, and want to get from point A to B, the train is a bad choice... they often have huge delays and they stop in every village along the way, so a trip that can take up to 2 hours by car can last double the amount with a train... also, these are the new trains and there are only 3 of them I think, the older trains (even though some of them got serviced and refurbished) are still pretty unpleasant to ride there was a time when they had a direct line Skopje-Bitola but the ticket was too expensive, the line used the old refurbished trains and there was not much interest in it the trains are mostly used by the residents of rural parts of the country as they stop everywhere as I said

[@Simon-Andersen]

Thanks for the insight. What a shame

[@georgestojkovski1026]

Prilep is the best Macedonia Sity🇲🇰Pozdrav Od Melbourne Australia 🇦🇺 Priep offers you the most beautiful place to live ❤️ 😀

[@cruisingwithcaptaincliff]

Howdy Simon - Is it possible to take the train from Sofia Bulgaria to Skopje then from Skopje to Pristina Kosovo? I understand this is in 2022, and wondering if route to outer countries have been restored. Thank you!

[@Simon-Andersen]

No international trains to and from Macedonia at the moment im afraid!

[@drdewott9154]

These trains seem to be of the same general type as what Leo Express in the Czech Republic ordered... and have since then cancelled their order for, leaving the 3 units without an owner. After seeing this, I gotta say I can kinda see why. I just hope the same isn't true for the Double decker CRRC trains that Westbahn recently ordered too

[@Simon-Andersen]

Can hope they have learned from their export to Macedonia, but i am doubtfull

[@pecebosilkovski7427]

Незнам што се случило во Чешка но можам да ти кажам дека овие возови во Македонија не се толку лоши колку што е лошо нивното одржување и пругите по кој се движат просечната брзина на Македонските пруги е околу 50 километри на час...

[@vuslatsarpkaya780]

Hi Simon! Thanks for nice and informative video! I'll travel Macedonia on Nov and want to go Kosovo too. I was thinking going Kosovo by train but as i understand from your video the Kosovo train is suspended. Is it true? Can't we go Kosovo by train now? Only bus? It'd be very helpful if you answer!

[@Simon-Andersen]

Yes unfortunately the train seems to still be suspended, i went to Kosovo by bus and it looked like the railway line on the Kosovo side is being upgraded so hopefully it will return in the future.

[@maxart3392]

Hummm, 114 km/h the average speed? Or am I seeing double?

[@Simon-Andersen]

It's 53 km/h the animation in the video is correct 😄

[@pecebosilkovski7427]

114 km/h не е ни максималната а не просечната 😉 Максималната брзина на возот кој може да се движи е 160 km/h а максималната брзина на Македонските пруги е околу 80 km/h...

[@jeet-Seattle]

Used to be beautiful station in 90's,it looks so dirty .

[@Davidtotarget66]

Also max speed of CRRC 711 is 140 KM/h

[@Simon-Andersen]

Thanks I've seen conflicting information 😊

[@Athrunwong]

what i see is they need a management revamp, CLEAN UP, the train is decent enough for the travel. They need to fire whoever's responsible for the rail.

[@runoflife87]

Chinese trains in the EU? Strange to face this fact.

[@theodorelow4487]

Yes there are many doe.

[@jgcondron]

Macedonia is not in the EU.