As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes, although the Republic of Croatia actually does have an extensive network of railways, 635 kilometres per million inhabitants to be more precise, the network is outdated with non-standardised parameters, that is, it only has a small number of kilometres of double-track and electrified railways, and according to many indicators, Croatian railway lines are at the very back of the EU in terms of service efficiency.
With that being said, large investments in Croatian railway lines, trains and overall infrastructure should soon change that, and on that track, the HZ Passenger transport (Putnicki prijevoz) tender has just been announced for the procurement of two battery electric train prototypes and six connections for charging those drive batteries along the country’s railway network.
As explained from HZ Passenger transport, the company currently organises Croatia’s train network with 60 diesel engine trains that are older than 40 years and whose service life is rapidly running out.
When taking into account this obsolescence and generally large financial investments in an additional electrification system, a logical way thinking and a solution to the current situation is offered by introducing battery electric trains. In this case, this would mean the acquisition of two new train prototypes and the delivery and commissioning of six stable energy connections for charging the drive batteries at locations in Varazdin, Bjelovar, Virovitica, Osijek, Split and Pula.
The battery electric train (BEMV) has a battery that is charged at the terminals, but also along the electrified part of the track as it runs along it, and they would be used on mixed tracks for the destinations Zagreb – Varazdin, Bjelovar, Virovitica and Osijek.
On the other hand, the battery motor train (BMV) is charged only at stable energy connections and would be used along mostly non-electrified tracks on the routes from Zagreb to Split and Pula. The deadline for the delivery of these battery trains to HZ Passenger transport is 20 months from the signing of the contract.
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