While railways have been neglected for years, the future is looking brighter.
The passengers on the rail service from Zagreb to Koprivnica have already gotten used to an interruption in their travels. The train can reach only Vrbovec, where passengers switch to buses which take them to Križevci, where they board another train, reports Večernji List on September 8, 2017.
However, the interruption is actually good news. The reason for it is not some technical issue with the train, but the largest infrastructure project in Croatia – the reconstruction of the railway live from Dugo Selo to Križevci.
“This is one of the biggest infrastructure projects in Croatia in history, which can be compared with the construction of certain motorway sections,” says Tihomir Lažeta, project manager from Croatian Railways Infrastructure public company, which is the investor of the project. The contractor is a Croatian consortium consisting of DIV, Dalekovod and Zagreb Montaža.
The works on the 38-kilometre line are not just most extensive, but also most expensive in Croatia at the moment. They will cost 1.5 billion kunas, of which as much as 85 percent has been secured from the European Regional Development Fund, while the remainder is funded by the government.
The second track is being constructed on the whole section, while the existing track will be reconstructed. For now, the works are being performed just on the Vrbovci to Križevci section, while the section from Dugo Selo to Vrbovec will be reconstructed in the second phase. The whole project should be completed by 2020. The first phase was launched last summer, while the second phase started this week.
On the way from Zagreb to Prigorje section, a small section to Dugo Selo was reconstructed several years ago. Passengers feel that trains on this section “fly,” and the final destination is reached in less than 20 minutes. But, the train now has to slow down, so it is no surprise that passengers cannot wait for the day when the rest of the railway line will be as fast.
For now, it takes more than half an hour for trains to cover a distance of just 30 kilometres, while in three years, the trains will run at speeds of 160 kilometres per hour.
Translated from Večernji List.
