The HZ Infrastruktura and the Swietelsky company on Tuesday signed a €27 million contract on the reconstruction of the railway section between Zagreb Main Railway Station and the Zapadni Kolodvor station in west Zagreb, which should be completed by early 2024.

The contract was signed by the president of the board of HZ Infrastruktura (HZI), Ivan Krsic and the director and procurator of Swietelsky, Davor Mavar and Zvonko Dundovic, at a ceremony held in the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure.

The reconstruction of the 3.4 kilometres of the railway should be completed in 18 months’  time from the commencement of works.  The reconstructed section of the rail line should be open sometime in early 2024.

The signing of the contract was attended by Transport Minister Oleg Butkovic and Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomasevic. Both officials underscored the increasingly active cooperation between the ministry and the City of Zagreb in agreeing on transport projects important for the capital city.

Tomasevic said that the section between these two stations is one of the most important for Zagreb, noting that the Zapadni Kolodvor station is the first railway station in Zagreb and its building is a listed building.

“An integrated transport system in Zagreb including railway infrastructure and higher train speeds are very important for citizens and when this section is overhauled, trains will be able to travel up to 120 kilometres per hour. We are also negotiating other transport projects with the ministry, which will be financed by funds from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP)”, Tomasevic said.

Ivan Krsic from HZI said that this section of the railway is very important for HZ because about 210 trains run through it daily, 70 of which are suburban and the rest are international.

Once this section is completed that will round off the completion of the reconstruction of the railway from Savski Marof to Zagreb. The work on that section has been ongoing for about two years and should be completed at the end of the year.

“Apart from the railway itself, all bridges, viaducts, access roads and other infrastructure are being reconstructed on that section. The reconstruction of the section between Hrvatski Leskovac and Karlovac is also starting, which marks the start of work on the lowland railway to Rijeka,” said Krsic.

He added that HZI currently has projects worth €1.5 billion and that it has been cooperating with the Swietelsky company for many years, which has proven to be a good partner.

The director of that company, Davor Mavar, said that it has been present in Croatia for about 20 years.

(€1 = 7.5 kuna)