Albania anyone who travels by train here should have plenty of time and be ready for surprises. Only a few train still run through the country. Move they travel through stunning nature and a long lonely coast. But its unclear how much longer they will continue to run. The routes are slowly being closed down. And before long passenger trains could be a thing of the past. But for now they are still running. At 40 kilometers an hour. The last trains in albania. Its 5 in the morning and vladimir sheets he is on his way to work. The 62 year old has been going to work at the train station in do this almost every day for more than 35 years. Or lottie as everyone calls him is a train driver and a mechanic and works for albania state well wait. Every very maining passenger train in the country departs from and returns to do this. 5 times a week lottie brings passengers to the north south or east of albania. He is one of the last remaining 50 train drivers in the country. Most of the heavy Diesel Locomotives were built in the soviet block and have been in use for over 40 years they were deemed too old by the former czechoslovakia but albania found them good enough. And they are still in operation today. Even though they are beginning to show their age. So here you still have to do some manual work when shunting and coupling the locomotive to travel in the opposite direction. Is a. Rather. Eat. Lightly drugs the engine with its 3 carriages north the last stop is located about 100 kilometers away just before the border with montenegro. In albania passenger trains only run within the country there was no International Connection to or from albania and there was only one freight line abroad to montenegro the line to school is the only one that still goes all the way to its original destination the albanian Railway Network has shrunk over the past 2 years and. It takes 4 hours to get to school more than twice as long as by car ever since the modernization of roads began the country seems to have forgotten its trains. Lead. Level crossings some of them have sufficient safety measures. Albanias National Railway company is called had. It operate as a single track Standard Gauge Network and on the last pedestrians cars and grazing animals often overlook approaching trains. Over the years that he has gotten to know many of the passengers who. Regularly travel north. Lottie originally wanted to be a writer but that didnt quite work out although he has written one novel that story is of course about a train journey. Of the body of a good boy that you buy like my job and. Why because id like to read a scene a steam engines and i still do today. If no one here if i feel good here and i take pleasure in my work i wouldnt trade it for anything other than measure except of course. The british. We train drivers and naturally well suited to this profession we work day and night which is. The goal of all the loaded on. The train trundles along the coast through hilly landscapes and across numerous rivers. Things flow into the edge of the attics sea between do this and scroll down. Often there isnt a Single Person to be seen. I am sure. This is the 10 kilometer long cape road on. It was named after a raid on the god of wanderers and sailors revered by the illyrians. Who are. Numerous bunkers remain from when the former dictator and their hocks i was in power here watch i not only completely isolated the country in terms of Foreign Policy but between 1000. 72 in 1984 built hundreds of thousands of these steel and concrete structures throughout the country he feared invasion by former communist allies reminders of a dark period in albanian history. On its journey north the train stops at 10 small stations often only one or 2 passengers board or disembark. Bad. Albanian railways have been using these carriages since 2004 they were previously used by communist east germany. So it is hardly surprising that they are old and elaborated they also lack safety features. After 4 hours finally comes into sight. The train will return to do this at 630 the next morning. Was called the lies between the rivers keir grin and bruno. And lake scutari. Is one of the oldest cities in albania most of its one 115000 inhabitants are catholic most christians in the country live in the north near the montenegrin border. Even early in the morning the streets are buzzing with activity. But hardly anyone takes the train anymore. Just before 6 am laurie slowly drives the locomotive back to the station. He spent the night at a friends house sometimes he also sleeps in the drivers cabin. Oh what. I spend most of my time here this is our sitting room our bedroom and dining room and our workplace to of course work comes 1st that was a little. Bigger than this book if you ask what it was but lets be realistic nobody misses the old days we all want the new but they might also be happy to have an electric train but the situation is as it is and im adapting to the other thing or theyre going to. Go but the new generation is not like me the next generation will be a bit more demanding like all albanians today of course if you show folks to do your trip the courtship of. The train back to do this leaves on time. To cool is the conductor and train manager the 62 year old has been working for the state railway since 982. She actually lives in the capital tirana. Right. But the leader as everyone calls her is used to being away a lot. I never would like to hear. Of his ownership without it but in my job as the train manager so im responsible for the train from the drivers cabin at the front to the very end but you know i look after the staff and the passengers as the train manager. Im responsible for everything from the moment the journey starts to the final destination the only open door. After the fall of communism albania focused on building roads nowadays few people take the train many buses and cars are not necessarily safer but they are more comfortable and much faster. This partly explains why the carriages are so neglected. Travelling by train is an adventure in albania. During the trip leda sits in one of the empty compartments to write the daily report. There are 2 trains a day from sco trying to do this and back they have to follow the timetable exactly after all there is only one track. And his little brother lady on are on their way to lunch between school to and 2 of us they have made the journey often but this is the 1st time theyre travelling without their parents latch is a popular pilgrimage site and albania. By car it takes about one hour to get from school to lapse the train journey is often twice as long. But a ticket costs no more than 170. 00 lek around one euro 40. 5 of you this is a real bargain but thats not what appeals most to layo that are so warm and of a. See methadone as these come that would stop i prefer travelling by train because its special to. A train is the old way of traffic and here i can breathe fresh air that she got out but he had to come i can lead out of the window and look out i like cars but not as much to the other more dangerous than trains because theyre fast in place yet you are. The boys are going to St Anthony Church up in the hills behind latch it was destroyed during the communist era and wasnt rebuilt until the early 1990 s. After the ban on religion was lifted. The unit. Every year in june the Franciscan Monastery attracts thousands of pilgrims. But there are visitors here all year round they come to pray to st anthony who is supposed to help those who have lost things such as their faith. Here it doesnt matter which religion you belong to. You know theres every chance that one of the things that special about the church is that its visited by people of different religions by muslims catholics or orthodox. Saw go its a Catholic Church the people of other religions come and pray here as well and like candles for their relatives or for themselves i pray for my family and for myself and for all of my relatives as well as for all people in need like the homeless the elderly pushing the bus i pray for everyone who needs help so that god may help. But i also pray for my future so that i can become a good person and above all a good football thats my dream theres that i. Its a dream that many albanian boys share with layo and lady on. To make it come true the brothers this at lunch several times a year. From here the train continues further south. But. Nearly 50 percent of albanias working population are involved in agriculture. Thanks. They mostly work without heavy equipment and rely on the help of donkeys goats and sheep. In the flats coastal plain west of latch is a sanctuary for rare birds such as domination pelicans and flamingos. You. After the fall of communism the shooting up birds and other wildlife skyrocketed. So in 2014 the government imposed a strict ban on hunting since then wildlife populations have been slowly recovering. In the early evening we return to duty us. Rail travel and albania comes to a halt at 6 in the evening. Service doesnt resume until the next morning. The station is right next to albania as the largest commercial port do this is sometimes called the gateway to the mediterranean. Italy is not far away. This morning the 1st train departed shortly before 7 it is headed for. In central albania. Is only 80 kilometers from duress but the train journey takes 3 and a half hours. The eastern route is considered the most beautiful in the country it used to go further to the North Macedonia border but the section beyond eldest son was closed 5 years ago. Anyone who wishes to travel further now has to go by car or hike. Man. Bloody and his colleagues are sad that some routes have been closed. It. Was really putting forward but the kitchen i dont want to get into politics but the fact is that all previous governments are to blame for the current situation. You should be guilty of since 1991 there have been no repairs to the tracks causes or no investments except for a few Railway Crossings shot. Because. And this is the result like the shrinking Railway Network. Its the only reason. We still have the trains we had under communism thats a fact because i want you. All to bridges and Railway Tracks run alongside newly paved roads to the right and left our historic buildings. To trail a castle is part of a defense of complex built by scandal back in the 15th century. Ruled over an area stretching from eldest son to tehran a today the castle is popular with daytrippers. Trailer overlooks the as and valley. Further south the tracks one parallel to the school being never. It is one of the largest and most important waterways in the country and has always formed a sort of border between the north and south of albania in cultural religious and also in linguistic terms. Before the train arrives and. Lida and her colleagues clean the compartments. They get water at one of the small stops everybody. Will go. A lot of dirt is blown into the carriages through the broken windows so compartments toilets and corridors are mopped and cleaned every day lida also lays out covers a newspaper on the seats for each trip or let out on im cleaning this carriage ready for my colleagues when i take over tomorrow. The train will do the same journey to obasanjo and we dont have any cleaning staff at the moment so we do the job ourselves. And right now there arent any passengers in this carriage i do both jobs clean and i manage the train and i check the tickets ok and all that is my responsibility thats why were in a hurry to clean up because soon will be reaching the next station the. Air melinda mama tie doesnt normally travel by train she is here for her work the 28 year old botanist wants to compare the vegetation along the busy and unused railway lines. How many very well known for its biodiversity a wild landscape which i think we need to preserve and a lot of highways and roads are our posing fragmentation as a high threat to our current door slammed by diversity and biodiversity so when it comes to fragmentation the railway themselves goes very nicely put into the wild landscape of painting its kind of a pain cause landscape we like it but at the same time with the helps to keep the bio corridor and the. Excess plant. Emma linda is meeting a colleague in el bus on from there they will continue one foot. Will start from doris and then 12 bus than when we stop and i will move on from one of us to the branch to pray us up to the border to see how it is developed. Shortly before el bus on road and rail traffic run parallel through a wide valley and extension of the coastal plain the adriatic sea is only 60 kilometers away. At 1036 the train arrives punctually in el bus on. Wildlife specialist every slaughter is waiting he too wants to take a closer look at the area east of us on. Were next to the school being river runs the via it cannot see are built by the romans in ancient times it formed an important trade route that connected rome with constantinople. The last train passed through here 5 years ago. Nature has since reclaimed the area. Near the small town of li but asked the valley of school bean is surrounded by the yeah plenty its a mountain range. It doesnt take long for air melinda to spot plants which she had not seen alongside the tracks still in operation. For example this is in the gale our bank says this is one of my favorite flowers that is very beautiful it is ruder but even the environment was under frequent pressure from the plant it wouldnt be here is the train runs through have only. One plants which through her lawyers in. In a falling seize up like a spring and they will not go they will not be like here around or the train but just around it and as they were very disturbed they will not have the force to create more no conditions for no other plans to come so almost everything that we see here we will not find in other places. And its not just plants that benefit from the disused Railway Tracks in many of the tunnels swallows and rare bats have taken up residence. Albania is known as the land of the bats of the 55 species protected in the e. U. More than 30 to live here back to expert b. C. Knows them all. For this for. Apart from the Swallows Nest which we saw at the entrance i saw at least 2 types of back in the tunnel them at the. Age of the do young voter protected species under you law and threatened with extinction. And that makes this tunnel a very interesting site which we must preserve. And i hope the trains will not pass through it again because im. Sure. They do it the 4th even though of course that means its a blow to the Railway Network. Moved in most of the. Although biologists consider the train to be the lesser of 2 evils compared to road traffic they also know that nature can develop best when there is no human interference. As can be seen in the sparsely populated east. Than. The people here are poor almost all families in the region live from agriculture and the official unemployment level is 14 percent although unofficial estimates suggest it is twice that. Was hit. Back in. The city is the 4th largest in albania with almost 130000 inhabitants and it has a colorful past thanks to its favorable location it became a prosperous trading town during the Ottoman Empire era. Nowadays the city is known for Steel Production and is home to albania as biggest metal plant every day freight trains come to the old factory which opened in the 1960 s. During the communist era. Local residents and authours today still suffer the negative consequences environmentalists Protection Measures for the plant or. Said to be inadequate many farmers believe that air pollution is having a negative impact on their vegetable and fruit harvest and that the soil is contaminated. One of those who opposes the factory is chef named bash molly he says it has become increasingly difficult for him to find good quality fruit and vegetables in recent years. Examines the products at the local market there a carefully. Yes out everybody has what they want to hear and stop shop over for the farmers from the area around the plant used to solve vinyl and i know youre going to have a future but for now not but we cant use this produce anymore if its from here especially the vine leaves have suffered which we used for a special local dish called the opera that the beemer hippias i use now they are 2 contaminated by nearly great fruits and ground vegetables are all spoiled because of the massive soil and air pollution. So im against the plant as a chef and as a citizen if. 9 wants to make tough to make antarctic corsi to local dishes they are lamb with herb send unripe plums and yogurt cake with goat they will be eaten at the feast of sacrifice celebrated at the end of ramadan. In the yogurt cake with goat the whole animal is used to head brain and eyes are regional specialities. I besides being a chef now i am also teaches at the university and elder son this means he only cooks in his free time on special occasions. A lot of. The whole family celebrates by a dom in his Fathers House across the river not far from elba son center. Not. Yet. Nines father yaho bus molly who worked as a cook for 40 years when he was young trains even traveled to albania remote areas. Fresh eggs and flour make up the basis of the main course stuff a corsi yogurt cake with goat. No big deal. Meanwhile. Prepares to make lamb with herbs and on the right plans. The family meets at 9 parents home every weekend on. A mission will remember. You are pretty much by your now your neighbor has also emerged. They will be meeting again tomorrow for a bio when they will sacrifice a goat. The animal seems to sense its a looming fate. On route to the south of the country there are always 2 drivers in the cab today thats a lottery and a colleague while lotty keeps an eye on the track and the safety of the passers by his colleague drives the locomotive towards fear of the car. The train used to go on to florida but that section was also deemed on profitable today the coastal town can only be reached by road. The train passes through all of plantations and that suitable fields fear the last station on this route is located in the 1st child new such a plane this used to be swamp land but it was drained a few decades ago. The train passes numerous small villages. Where you know. The top of the next big usually its dangerous we have a lot of problems on this route because of the crossings. To stall stall. In the bridge. He was riding his bicycle. Hes gonna forget it hes gone. To heaven for sure were here at the. People in the country so i dont have their wits about them but we gladly travel so slowly. My gawd if the train went at a normal speed that would be a disaster if it wasnt. If you dont like it. But that wont happen because the tracks are in such a poor state that we have to travel slowly of the hotel. Little bit but its dangerous. For. Sure there are too many crossings but those are nothing to listen to them or. There is just one train a day going south. The small stations just before fear seem deserted. When. A little further south lies the coastal town florida which used to be the last stop on the Southern Railway line the service was discontinued 3 years ago. The town and the nearby lagoon are popular Summer Vacation destinations. South of here the albanian riviera begins. In. The region is known at home and abroad for its mediterranean climate and long often deserted beaches. The old Railway Station in the Central Florida is falling into decline who knows when or if a train will ever stop here again. After an hour stop its time to begin the journey back north. For lita it might be the last time she travels this route. She will be retiring in just a few days time. Among men. Sometimes i. And cry you know when youre in the mornings when im getting ready i often think but then i pull myself together living im sorry its a whole lifetime since i was 24 years old and now its over i guess everybody goes through this. Maybe i will start another job why not im used to being on the road for 38 or 39 years i was always on the move when i was the thought of staying at home feel strange but it will pass it will be difficult but then im sure i will feel better when the facts are clear the. Bunch of national that i loved travelling by train although these days they dont care about the Railway System as you can see. Love being on a train anyway even if the rocking motion is a bit tiring. But i still like it very much. Not everyone can say that after 38 years in the same job. After 2 and a half hours the train has traveled to 80 kilometers back to do this its the end of the line for leda and the passengers. Every evening the old locomotive is uncoupled from the carriages and driven to the nearby depot where it stays overnight. The. Most of the time its a lobby for checks. The locomotive before heading home as a mechanic he is also responsible for maintaining the engine. This is one of the 62 year old favorite moments of the day. I fell in love with trains because i was able to raise my children thanks to them. Its my passion and. I feel like im at home with them. Im so happy here its hard to describe. This engine was there when i raised my children when i got engaged and married if you know thats why im so passionate about trains and i cant separate from them i dont know what ill do when i retire. So. Just steps lawdy has 2 more years to think about that then he too will retire. To. Its still unclear whether the Diesel Locomotives will still run without him. But albania is always good for a surprise maybe the trains will run longer than most people expect. Theres a lot of energy. Theres enough of it available in case of waco go for it. Unfortunately after its peak not seal is released. But green energy is just future. And its already here. Made in germany. 90 minutes on t. W. Every 2 seconds a person does forced to flee their homes nearly 71000000 people have been forcibly displaced the consequences of the disastrous our documentary series displaced depicts dramatic humanitarian crises around the world you know. What a good thing we dont need. I didnt go to university to kill people. Or to have my boss come to me and tell me to kill someone if they got mad if i dont theyll kill me. She can feel for their mothers and their future so they seek refuge abroad but what will become of us who stay behind it is simply a belief my husband went to peru because of the crisis that the mother that if he hadnt gone there we would have died of hunger the money down the. Plane. Starts october 16th dont. Play. With the noose a lie from our land and athens Court Delivers a landmark verdict in a marathon trial protesters clashed with Police Outside the court while inside leaders of the far right Golden Dawn Party are found guilty of running a criminal organization. Also coming up an alleged russian hitman goes on