October the 1st, 2026 – Transport Minister Oleg Butković has stated that today the signing of the largest contract in the history of Croatian Railways will be signed.
Minister of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butković announced the signing of a contract for the reconstruction and upgrading of the Dugo Selo – Novska railway line, worth almost 900 million euros. Index reports that this is the largest contract in the history of Croatian Railways.
The Dugo Selo – Novska line is part of one of the main corridors that runs through Croatia towards the east of the country. “This is truly the largest contract in the history of Croatian Railways – almost 900 million euros for 83 kilometres of track reconstruction and the construction of a second track. We’ve been working on this project for a long time, preparing it, a public tender was carried out and now the procedures are complete,” said Butković.
first cooperation with an indian company
After the realisation of this project, he added, the Okučani – Vinkovci section will still remain. “Then we will have a fully reconstructed and built railway line from the Slovenian border, because Savski Marof – Zagreb has been reconstructed, that is, from Zagreb to the border with Serbia,” the minister said. Butković confirmed that this is the first time a company from India has won a job in such a tender. “As far as we have inquired and according to the documentation they submitted, they have very good references. They have worked on one of the largest projects in India and the world, so I believe everything will be as it should,” he said.
The minister is aware that large projects also bring challenges. “Some things today you cannot predict and you cannot influence them. I hope there will be as few of them as possible,” he said. The start of works is planned for the first quarter of 2027 and they should last five and a half years. Butković expressed the hope that there will be no new major crises in the world that could, like previous ones, cause disruptions and price increases.
the lowland railway project
The minister also spoke about the lowland railway, a project that has been in preparation for a long time. “We have started with the Hrvatski Leskovac – Karlovac section. As for the reconstruction of the lines around Zagreb, mostly everything has been reconstructed: towards the west, towards Zagorje and towards Bjelovar. By the end of the year we are finishing Dugo Selo – Križevci, which is actually almost done, and Križevci – Koprivnica – Hungarian border,” he said.
He emphasised that it is now important to move towards Rijeka, where the most expensive section from Karlovac to Rijeka remains, whose value is estimated at more than 2.5 billion euros. “There has been an increase in prices due to all the disruptions I spoke about, but we have accelerated the entire project.
A tender for technical assistance is currently underway. We would go for the so-called Alliance model, in which design, obtaining building permits and execution of works would be in one package,” he explained. Under that model, the selected contractor would lead all procedures, which would shorten public procurement and appeal procedures, and the deadline for construction of the line would be five to six years.
another decade before any real change
Asked when passengers will feel real progress and get fast trains, Butković replied that passenger transport around Zagreb is already functioning well. “We’ve more than 70 new trains in passenger transport. Of those, 42 trains have been procured in the last four years. Contracts are constantly being signed and funds secured. This was also shown these days during the strike, when the trains helped a lot, especially in the suburban area,” he emphasised.
Nevertheless, the complete reconstruction of the railway network will still take time. “I always say that we have to be patient for another ten years or so. In those ten years we would manage to mostly reconstruct and build everything on the main corridors and reconstruct a large part of the regional lines. We have already spent around 900 million euros on the reconstruction of local and regional lines across Croatia,” he said.
the continuation of motorway construction
The minister also commented on motorway construction. He announced that the Istrian Y will be completed by the end of the year or the beginning of 2027. “We’re strongly and decisively going ahead with the construction of the Adriatic-Ionian Corridor, Križišće – Žuta Lokva. Two contracts have been signed there. Today we received the building permit for the first section and we are starting the works. That is around 400 million euros,” he said.
Bids have also been opened for the first section of the motorway towards Dubrovnik. Although the new bids are also above the estimated value, the tender will not be cancelled again. “We would not have cancelled the first one either if there had not been really large differences in price compared to the estimated values. The bids that arrived in the new tender are around 40 to 50 million euros lower compared to the previous tender,” Butković concluded. He said that they are decisively proceeding with the completion of the Adriatic-Ionian Corridor, that is, the motorway towards Dubrovnik and the Križišće – Žuta Lokva section.
