Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Oleg Butković, accompanied by executives of the HŽ Infrastructure and HŽ Passenger Transport rail companies, on Wednesday took a train ride on the line between Krapina and Zabok, northwest of Zagreb, after the reconstruction of this section.

The reconstruction of the 16-km-long section cost nearly €15 million. Trains will now be able to run at a speed of 80 km an hour, which will reduce the travel time between the two towns to 15 minutes, or about 20 minutes with stops. Last year, because of the poor state of repair of the railway, trains had to reduce their speed from 40 to 20 km/h.

Butković said that investment in railway infrastructure would mark the next ten years. “We have taken a €900 million loan from the European Investment Bank for local and regional railway lines. This major investment cycle is also beginning here in Krapina-Zagorje County, as well as across Croatia.”

HŽ Infrastructure is investing a large amount of money from EU funds in the main railway corridors, and plans to invest €6 billion in the next decade. Thanks to the loan secured by the government, last year it started to reconstruct local and regional railway lines, its plan being to upgrade about 550 km of railway in the next two to three years. In that way, it plans to reconstruct about 40 per cent of the railway infrastructure in the next 10 years, it was said in Zabok.

The Mayor of Krapina, Zoran Gregurovic, highlighted the importance of the railway for the local economy and for students, workers and travellers in general.

In the last 10 years, €38 million was invested in the railway infrastructure in Krapina-Zagorje County, of which €24 million came from EU funds. An additional €85 million was invested in the modernisation and electrification of the Zapresic-Zabok line, which partly runs through Krapina-Zagorje County and partly through Zagreb County.