—By O.N.—
The construction of the railway line from Gabela to Hum, Uskoplje and Zelenika began in 1898, while the preparation of the terrain for the railway started a year earlier.
The length of the railway line was 155.5 kilometers.
Today, few people know that the final station of the railway was not supposed to be Zelenika, but Meljine, where the lazaretto was located. The founder of the hotel Plaža, Dr. Antal Madžar, was responsible for extending the railway to Zelenika. He appealed to Emperor Franz Joseph to extend the railway.
At the site of the station in Zelenika, there was a swamp where numerous streams flowed. First, it was necessary to regulate ownership relations with the locals, provide adequate compensation, then proceed with technical measures such as draining the terrain, installing drainage, building deep foundations and connecting the port and railway hub. (Olivera Doklestić, Vlastimir Radonjanin, Đorđe Lađinović, Bojan Matić, Vanja Vučinić, Vladimir Živaljević – Željeznički mostovi u hercegnovskoj opštini, Boka – zbornik radova iz nauke, kulture i umjetnosti 36, 2016, p 147).
The first train from Zelenika ceremoniously departed for Sarajevo on July 16, 1901. The passengers were Austro-Hungarian ministers and dignitaries who had previously sailed to the new port on the ship “Hamburg.” At that time, Zelenika could not be called a settlement, as there were no houses there at all. With the establishment of the railway, the focus of the settlement shifted from the hilly areas to the current center of Zelenika. The place begins to urbanize, and new jobs open up. The railway was exceptionally modern for its time and was counted among the neatest railways in Europe until World War I. Unfortunately, after the war, the newly established state was severely affected and could not take care of the railway, so it declined considerably over the next two decades.
Of the six railway bridges in the municipality, one passed through Zelenika and crossed the eponymous river. In its vicinity were also railway warehouses.
In socialist Yugoslavia, railways were not given any more consideration than during the kingdom. Due more to political than economic reasons, in the sixties, the railway was declared unprofitable and its dismantling began already in September 1968.
It is difficult to assess the importance of the railway for the economic development of Zelenika. In addition to urbanization and the opening of new employment opportunities, it significantly accelerated the work of the port, whose emergence and development ran parallel to the emergence and development of the railway. Therefore, it is not surprising that its abolition dealt a severe blow to the development of tourism in Zelenika.
References:
*Olivera Doklestić, Vlastimir Radonjanin, Đorđe Lađinović, Bojan Matić, Vanja Vučinić, Vladimir Živaljević – Željeznički mostovi u hercegnovskoj opštini, Boka – zbornik radova iz nauke, kulture i umjetnosti, br. 36, 2016, str. 147.