"Meet us at 'Ž'", a sentence that is understandable only to the people of Novi Sad, and to the occasional frequent guest of this city.
Svetlana Paramentić, a BBC journalist, still catches herself about to say it before remembering that 'Ž', the dot around which many people's daily lives revolved, has not existed since November 1, 2024.
Instead of a spatial hub where dozens of departures and arrivals, meetings and branches to other parts of the city intertwine, the Novi Sad Railway Station, surrounded by a metal fence, is now a place that one passes by in silence.
"A few weeks ago we were filming in front of the station, when I saw a man in his fifties, with a serious face and red eyes, barely holding back tears.
"For Novi Sad, this is a place of great pain," says Paramentić.
On November 2024, 16, a concrete canopy collapsed at the reconstructed Railway Station, killing XNUMX people, which sparked mass protests throughout Serbia, which are still ongoing.
The station building, which has been reconstructed twice in recent years, was closed after the accident.
While a decision is awaited on the fate of the building built in 1964, several government representatives have announced that the platforms could be opened to passengers.
It is necessary to put the Novi Sad Railway Station into operation as soon as possible, said Žarko Mićin, Mayor of Novi Sad.
"There is a car passage that leads to both platforms and it could be arranged completely independently of the main building, where the canopy fell, and a place for selling tickets could be set up there, and passengers could get to the platforms absolutely safely," he said in an interview with Politika.
Since the accident, trains from Novi Sad have been operating from Petrovaradin station, near the famous fortress, one of the symbols of the city, and a station in the Detelinara neighborhood, which are further away and less well connected to the city center.
"The opening of the platform at the Railway Station, where the canopy collapsed, must be preceded by an expert inspection and analysis, not a cursory assessment of whether everything is in order and safe."
"Opening the platform could be a temporary solution to get the train station we desperately need, until it is determined what would be best to do with the station building," Ana Ferik Ivanovic, president of the Novi Sad Society of Architects, told BBC Serbian.
- Canopy collapse in Novi Sad: Indictment returned to the prosecution for additional investigation
- Student witnesses canopy collapse at Novi Sad station
- Canopy collapse in Novi Sad: What experts say
What does life look like without a train station?
When the Soko high-speed train began operating from Belgrade to Novi Sad, many accepted jobs in one of these two cities, 80 kilometers apart, counting on them arriving quickly, says Svetlana Paramentić, who has been traveling on this route every day for the past two years.
People were looking to rent apartments nearby, he adds.
"For two years, Železnička was my everyday stop."
"I knew where I bought breakfast, and if I had a few minutes before departure, I would look for the cat that lived on the platform," says Svetlana.
During 2023, the Soko high-speed train transported around 1,7 million passengers from this station, according to data from Srbijavoz.
After the canopy collapsed, passengers heading to Belgrade were transferred to Petrovaradin station, which is also served by a free bus from the city center.
However, travel times have increased for many.
Passengers now travel half an hour longer, estimates Dušan Dobromirov, a professor at the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad.
When considering the total number of passengers who used the Novi Sad Railway Station, this means that 4.971 hours are lost per day, Dobromirov writes in the assessment of damage from the collapse of a canopy in Novi Sad.
Translated into money, this means that 26.644 euros are lost every day, the analysis adds.
"These are rough estimates and the actual amounts could be higher," Dobromirov, a member of the independent inquiry commission investigating responsibility for the canopy collapse, told BBC Serbian.
In addition to lost hours, the decline in Srbijavoz's revenue should also be taken into account, as the number of passengers has decreased due to the closure of the train station, which Dobromirov estimates at around 8.000 euros per day.
"The state already significantly subsidizes Srbijavoz, in 2023 it was 54,7 percent of total revenues, and we can expect that amount to be higher now," he adds.
There are also costs that cannot be calculated at this time - from the costs of demolishing or reconstructing the building to introducing new city transport lines that transport passengers to Petrovaradin, says Dobromirov, a member of the Political Council of the opposition Movement of Free Citizens.
Although the closure of the train station makes everyday life difficult for many, most Novi Sad residents do not want to talk about it.
"Most of the people who travel daily could easily have been under the canopy at the time of the collapse."
"People feel uncomfortable complaining about the length of the journey when they could have been killed themselves," says Svetlana, who passed under the canopy three hours before the accident.
High-speed rail and platform opening
Minister of Construction Aleksandra Sofronijević, Mayor of Novi Sad Zarko Micin, and former Prime Minister Milos Vucevic They said in recent days that the old train station could soon be open to passengers.
"We are considering using the platform section with the passage under the corridor, which is completely safe, as a stop when Serbia and Hungary agree on opening the high-speed railway to passenger traffic at a certain date," she said Sofronijevic.
The works at the Novi Sad Railway Station were part of a large infrastructure project to reconstruct the railway from Belgrade to the state border with Hungary.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, accompanied by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, attended one of the two official openings after the reconstruction.
Trains should operate on this route at a speed of 200 km/h, and Vučić announced that the line could be open by July 7th.
Radar Weekly he announced However, Utiber, the company in charge of supervising this project, warned of several irregularities on this line even after the canopy collapsed.
The Ministry of Construction did not respond to questions from BBC journalists about the claims published in the Radar article.
The irregularities that Utiber finds are such that they endanger the safety of passengers, says Danijel Dašić, a civil engineer.
"There are places where serious damage to the railway substructure has been recorded."
"The rails are practically standing in the air here," he says, based on photos published in the media.
"At this moment, it is impossible to obtain a usage permit for the railway," Dašić added to BBC Serbian.
"First because of the railway station, where the canopy collapsed, and then because of all the problems that have been observed in other facilities from Novi Sad to Kelebija, and the serious structural errors that supervision has pointed out," he claims.
Trains will not operate without a high-speed rail usage permit, Minister Sofronijevic recently stated.
"This means that all work was carried out in accordance with the technical documentation and that their release into traffic is safe and secure," she claims.
At this moment, it is impossible to open only the platforms, says Dašić.
"You definitely can't let people near a building that could collapse."
The "side part", whose use is being announced, "was built independently of the railway station hall and should not have suffered any earthquakes or damage," points out architect Ana Ferik Ivanović.
Checks, however, are necessary before any use of the platform, he adds.
But the question is who will be entrusted with these analyses, works and supervision, warns Dušan Dobromirov.
"I don't trust that the same people who caused the accident are doing this job."
"I would have a lot more confidence if someone else came along who could make a good assessment of how to do it," he says.
Watch the video: Novi Sad after the tragedy - shock, sadness and anger
What will happen to the building?
After the canopy collapsed, the station building was closed because it was unsafe.
"The canopy had an important function in the statics of the entire building, as it serves as a counterweight for the interior," says engineer Dašić.
At the beginning of the year, the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad, together with the Institute for Materials Testing, was awarded the job of testing the stability of the building.
The contract award decision, published on the Public Procurement Portal, states that these checks should be completed in five months.
However, they have not even started yet, it was confirmed on FTN for BBC Serbian.
FTN was unable to answer additional questions about the reasons for the delay.
It is possible that additional expert examinations will be conducted in the building during the investigation, explains lawyer Vladimir Beljanski, one of the defense attorneys for the defendants in the canopy collapse case.
This expertise is also carried out by professors from the Faculty of Technical Sciences.
"The prosecution asked the defense whether they agreed to allow experts to enter the station building and conduct a stability assessment."
"However, the same experts who did the expert assessment would be engaged in assessing the stability of the building, and the question is whether this creates a certain conflict of interest, or whether they are being paid by someone who is a possible subject of criminal proceedings," says Beljanski.
Among the defendants in the proceedings for the collapse of the canopy are several former state officials.
Most of the defense attorneys who spoke did not agree with the FTN working to assess the stability of the building now that the investigation into the canopy collapse is still ongoing, Beljanski said.
He did not comment on whether the building's stability analysis should be allowed at this time.
Meanwhile, the Serbian Railway Infrastructure has issued a new call for building stability testing, suggesting that this work will ultimately not be done by FTN, but by another institution.
"Once the building stability tests are complete, it should be clearer what will happen to the building itself," says the Minister of Construction.
It is uncertain when the building's stability check will begin, as the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office, by order of the High Court in Novi Sad, is still completing the investigation.
"The building will be demolished, reconstructed or partially used where it is completely safe," said Sofronijević.
"The train station is an extremely significant facility and a symbol of the city," says Ana Ferik Ivanović.
"Novi Sad residents cannot imagine Novi Sad without a train station," he says.
He adds that there needs to be a way to commemorate the tragedy that occurred at this location.
"Everyone should get involved in choosing a place of remembrance, and return the station to its function so that it can serve for several more decades," says Ferik Ivanović.
Svetlana Paramentić said it is important to "clearly mark the area where people died."
"So anyone can come forward and express their feelings," he says.
If the station reopens, Svetlana doubts she will "be able to get through it."
"I will always use side entrances that don't have some kind of roof," the BBC journalist adds.
"It took me a month to get all the way to the station, to look at the broken glass, the bars on the floor."
"'Ž' has become a place of remembrance, re-examination, and a multitude of feelings."
BBC is in Serbian from now on and on YouTube, follow us HERE.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube i Viber. If you have a topic proposal for us, contact us at bbcnasrpskom@bbc.co.uk
- How safe are Serbian trains and why do collisions occur?
- The former main railway station in Belgrade: From a worldly lady to an abandoned old woman
- Transportation and production of hazardous materials in Serbia: Four black points
Bonus video:
