April the 15th, 2026 – An extensive 190 million euro railway renovation project is set to be completed in 2028. 100 kmh travel travel will finally become Croatia’s norm should all go to plan.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the largest regional railway reconstruction project in all of Croatia is the one on the Kloštar-Koprivnica-Varaždin and Varaždin-Čakovec sections. This is a 190 million euro railway renovation project that will be completed by the end of 2028, according to predictions made by Transport Minister Oleg Butković who recently toured the works. The reconstruction of sections is about 90 kilometres long in total, and is being financed from the state budget and a loan from the European Investment Bank.
“Regarding financing from European funds, we’re mainly focused on projects regarding the main corridors. These are much larger financial projects, but since we couldn’t manage to finance and meet all the needs of the reconstruction of regional and local railways from regular funds, we entered into a successful arrangement with the European Investment Bank, and their loan is also financing the reconstruction of this railway line,” revealed Oleg Butković.
The President of the Management Board of HŽ Infrastruktura, Damir Lončarić, pointed out that the completion will ensure better traffic conditions, with the speed of 100 kilometres per hour becoming the norm, which is the standard for regional railways.
Varaždin County Prefect Anđelko Stričak also visited the works, claiming that this is an extremely long-awaited investment cycle and that it’s important not only for traffic connectivity and traffic safety, but also for environmental protection. He added that the goal of Varaždin County is to build an intermodal centre in Varaždin, and there has also been an initiative to build such a centre in Ludbreg.
