Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Oleg Butkovic visited on Tuesday workers working on the reconstruction of the railway running from the Zagreb West Rail Station to Savski Marof.

Minister Butkovic underscored that the project was a part of a large transport infrastructure investment cycle worth HRK 20 billion (approx. €2.67 bn), with work on the railway accounting for €1.5 billion of that amount.

The reconstruction of the railway is worth HRK 366 million (excluding VAT), most of which is covered by a loan aproved by the World Bank, that is, the International Bank for Resconstruction and Development (IBRD).

The works on the reconstruction began in May.

The contract for the reconstruction works was signed in February this year between the HZ Infrastruktura railway operator and the Austrian Swietelsky company. The deadline for completion is 27 months, which means the railway should be completed in summer 2022.

The railway from Savski Marof to Zagreb West Rail Station, which is about 18 km long, is the most frequented railway in Croatia, with over 160 trains passing along the route every day, and it is a part of the RH1 railway corridor, which is very significant for international freight transport and urban-suburban transport.

The reconstruction should increase the level of safety and the carrying capacity of the rail line, as well as reduce the cost of maintenance, while the trains are expected to be able to travel at 120 km/h.

Large transport investment cycle

During his visit to Savski Marof, Minister Butkovic underscored that together with another large construction site nearby – the reconstruction of the railway from Zapresic to Zabok – an investment of about HRK 900 million was being made in railway reconstruction in that area alone.

Minister Butkovic announced that investments in railway would continue in the coming years, and next week a contract would be signed for the purchase of 22 new trains for the rail transport company HZ Putnicki Prijevoz, a project worth more than a billion kuna.

According to the data he presented, the total transport performance so far this year is at about 50% of last year’s results, and rail freight transport, and even passenger transport, he said, have not seen much damage because there was even more demand for that type of transport during the coronavirus crisis.

President of the HZ Infrastruktura railway operator Ivan Krsic underscored that the works on the reconstruction of the railway from Zagreb West Rail Station to Savski Marof were progressing well, noting that the railway was last overhauled in 1974.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)