The HZ Infrastruktura rail company signed contracts in Karlovac on Thursday with the Strabag AG-Strabag d.o.o.-Strabag Rail consortium and the AZD Praha company for HRK 2.7 billion works on the 44-kilometre-long Hrvatski Leskovac to Karlovac railway line and the renovation of the stations and stops on the route.

This was said at the signing ceremony, which was attended by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and several ministers.

The construction works should start within 42 days, and the deadline for the realisation of the contract is 30 months, after which trains will be able to run at a speed of up to 160 kilometres per hour.

Prime Minister Plenkovic said that the competitiveness of the Port of Rijeka and its connectivity with Central European markets would increase after the construction of a second track on that line, and especially once the entire Zagreb to Rijeka railway line is modernised, on the route of the lowland line of the Mediterranean Corridor. This will lead to Croatia’s economic development and strengthen the country as a transport hub, he added.

The prime minister said that the time ahead would be a decade of investment in railway infrastructure.

Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Oleg Butkovic stressed that these were contracts for the reconstruction of the railway line as well as the construction of another track, which is a large project 85% co-financed by the European Union through the Operational Programme Competitiveness and Cohesion 2014-2020.

“Two days ago we inaugurated Peljesac Bridge worth HRK 2 billion, without VAT, and today’s signing is equally valuable,” said Butkovic, noting that this was just a part of a large investment cycle in transport infrastructure, in which about HRK 25 billion is being invested.

He recalled that during this government’s term in office three airports had been opened, a large investment cycle had been launched for ports on the Adriatic coast, and that now a ten-year investment in railways of HRK 3.5 billion was coming, adding they would reconstruct about a thousand kilometres of railway lines.

HZ Infrastruktura board chairman Ivan Krsic said these contracts marked the beginning of modernisation of the Zagreb to Rijeka railway line, one of the busiest routes, which would contribute to increasing the capacities of the Port of Rijeka.

He announced the opening of railway projects Savski Marof to Zagreb, Zapresic to Zabok, and Vinkovci to Vukovar this year, as well as a tender for the Dugo Selo to Novska line.