Pruga prema moru jutros je bila zatvorena, pa je vlak kasnio gotovo sat vremena.

Yes, but they refer to different things:

• pruga = the railway line / rail route / track
• vlak = the train

So the sentence first says that the rail line toward the coast was closed, and then says that the train was delayed because of that.

Literally, prema moru means toward the sea.

In context, Croatian often uses more to mean not just the sea itself, but also the coast or the seaside area. So here pruga prema moru is best understood as the rail line toward the coast / seaside.

Because prema requires the dative case.

The noun is:

• more = sea

Its dative singular form is:

• moru

So:

• prema moru = toward the sea

This is a very common pattern in Croatian: after prema, you normally use the dative.

Jutros means this morning.

It is an adverb, so it does not change for case, gender, or number. You just use it as it is.

Examples:

• Jutros pada kiša. = It’s raining this morning.
• Jutros je vlak kasnio. = The train was late this morning.

Because je is a clitic: a short, unstressed word that usually goes in second position in the clause.

So Croatian often places clitics after the first stressed word or phrase.

That is why you get:

• Pruga prema moru jutros je bila zatvorena
• pa je vlak kasnio...

Not because je specifically belongs to jutros, but because Croatian likes these little words near the beginning of the clause.

This is one of the most important word-order habits in Croatian.

Because je zatvorena would mean is closed in the present, while je bila zatvorena means was closed in the past.

So:

• je zatvorena = is closed
• je bila zatvorena = was closed

Here the sentence is talking about a past situation from this morning, so the past form is needed.

Because it agrees with pruga, which is a feminine singular noun.

Croatian adjectives and participle-like forms agree with the noun they describe.

So:

• pruga is feminine singular
• therefore: bila zatvorena

If the noun were masculine, you would expect masculine forms instead.

Because kasnio agrees with vlak, and vlak is masculine singular.

So:

• vlak = masculine singular
• therefore: kasnio

This is the same agreement principle you see in bila zatvorena with pruga.

Here pa means something like:

• so
• and so
• therefore
• as a result

It connects the two parts of the sentence and shows that the second happened because of the first:

• the line was closed,
• so the train was delayed.

It is a very common everyday connector in Croatian.

Sat vremena is a very common Croatian expression meaning an hour in the sense of an hour of time.

Literally it is something like:

• sat = hour
• vremena = of time

So sat vremena = an hour’s time / an hour

You will often hear both:

• kasnio je sat
• kasnio je sat vremena

The version with vremena sounds very natural and common.

Because Croatian often expresses duration directly, without a preposition.

So you can say:

• kasnio je sat vremena = he/it was late for an hour
• čekao sam dva sata = I waited for two hours

This is different from English, which often uses for.

Here:

• gotovo = almost / nearly
• sat vremena = an hour

So gotovo sat vremena means almost an hour.

Yes. Croatian word order is fairly flexible, although not completely free.

For example, the sentence could be rearranged for different emphasis. But the original version is very natural because it presents:

1. the cause first — the line was closed
2. then the result — so the train was delayed

What usually stays important is the position of clitics like je, which still tend to appear near the beginning of their clause.