Is There a Train Between Montenegro and Albania? No

People ask this constantly, and the reason it keeps coming up is that the answer looks like it should be yes. Both countries have railways. The two networks touch. Open a map and there is a line drawn straight from Podgorica to Shkodër.

You still cannot get on it.

Is there a train between Montenegro and Albania?

No — and this is not a service that was cut. There has never been a passenger train between the two countries.

The Podgorica–Shkodër railway is real and it works. It is not electrified, and as of 2026 it carries freight only, which is what it was built to do. No timetable has ever existed for passengers on it.

Long-term plans to open it to passenger traffic do exist. Neither government has allocated funding, and there is no date.

But there is a line on the map

There is, and that is exactly why the question is asked so often. The rails run from Podgorica south to the border at Bajzë and on to Shkodër. Freight moves along them. There is simply no passenger train, no ticket and no station calling for one.

A railway on a map tells you where the track goes. It tells you nothing about whether anyone is allowed to ride it.

So what railways do work in each country?

Montenegro has a genuinely good one. The main line runs from Bar on the Adriatic coast through Podgorica and Bijelo Polje to the Serbian border, and it is one of the most spectacular railway journeys in Europe. A second line runs Podgorica–Nikšić, reopened to passengers in 2012. If you want to travel by train inside Montenegro, or onward to Belgrade, you can.

Albania has very little left. What survives runs around Durrës, Tirana and Elbasan, and even that is disrupted: the Durrës–Tirana line is being rebuilt, with work expected to finish in 2027, and the new alignment is planned to serve Tirana airport.

The two systems do not meet for passengers, and the Albanian one does not reach anywhere most visitors are going.

Is there a train from Tirana to Sarandë?

No. There is no railway in southern Albania at all.

This surprises people more than the border answer does, because Sarandë is a substantial place — the ferry port for Corfu and the gateway to Ksamil and Butrint. The rails simply do not go there. The modernisation money currently being spent goes south only as far as Rrogozhina, in the middle of the country — nowhere near the coast below it.

Tirana to Sarandë is 253 km and it is a road journey or nothing.

Can you reach Croatia or Bosnia by train from Albania?

No. Albania’s network does not connect to any neighbour for passengers. Montenegro’s does — but northward, to Serbia, not west along the coast.

There is no railway to Dubrovnik at all, which closes the other question people pair with this one: no train from Albania or Montenegro to the Croatian coast, because there is nothing at the Croatian end to arrive at.

So how do you actually cross?

By road, at Hani i Hotit — the main crossing between the two countries, north of Shkodër on the Podgorica road. It is the same corridor the freight railway follows, which is a neat illustration of the whole problem: the infrastructure is there, and only lorries are using it.

Neither Albania nor Montenegro is in the EU or Schengen, so the crossing is an ordinary exit-and-entry stop rather than an external EU border.

Typical distances once you accept that it is a drive:

• Podgorica → Tirana — 159 km
• Kotor → Shkodër — 107 km
• Kotor → Tirana — 198 km

Whatever you choose on the road — coach, taxi or a booked car — the decision about the mode was made for you. There is no third option and no rail alternative to weigh it against.

The short version

• No passenger train between Montenegro and Albania — there never has been one
• The Podgorica–Shkodër line is real and freight-only in 2026; reopening it to passengers has plans but no funding and no date
• Montenegro’s railway works: Bar on the coast, through Podgorica, to Serbia
• Albania’s runs around Durrës and Tirana and is under reconstruction until 2027
• No railway in southern Albania — Sarandë has never had one
• Crossing means the road, at Hani i Hotit

If you are planning this leg, our border crossings guide covers what actually happens at the post, and the Tirana transfer hub has the road options in both directions.