As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, owing to maintenance works being carried out at this moment in time on the railway section from Okucani to Strizivojna, Croatian trains running along it are unfortunately being delayed by up to 50 minutes at a time. As a result, passengers are also being made late for work, school or scheduled medical appointments. Such people can count on a payout for their lost time.
Croatian trains are often late and therefore so are their passengers. At the station in Slavonski Brod, Marica was waiting for a passenger to arrive from Novska, so far, that passenger is about 20 minutes late, but last time, she explained, it was like this: “They announced that the train would be half an hour late, then it was 60 minutes, then 50 minutes, then 70, in the end it was 60,” explained Marica from Zadubravlje.
There are still irritated and anxious passengers boarding Croatian trains, but also those who are already for issues to arise and those who are more than used to delays. “It causes issues throughout the day for everything for me when this happens, it’s a disaster. This has been going on for some time now, too,” stated another annoyed passenger, refering to an accident in Novska which be believed caused additional stress and problems.
HZ Infrastruktura (Infrastructure) has denied this. Croatian trains are late, they note, due to the maintenance of the railway infrastructure on the Okucani-Sibinj and Strizivojna-Slavonski Brod sections.
“The accident that happened recently happened between Novska and Okucani. We’re working to exclude construction work and that has nothing to do with signalling,” said Darko Barisic, a member of the HZ Infrastructure Management Board, on October the 6th, 2022. While the aforementioned works are in progress, Croatian trains will continue to run more slowly and be delayed by around fifty minutes at a time.
Everything should be finished at the beginning of next month, and passengers were asked if they think HZ should compensate them for lost time.
“Well yes, they should. People are being made late for work, what can people do about that?” they commented.
“HZ Infrastructure must do its work and there will be no compensation”, is the message of Darko Barisic, but that isn’t quite the case. There is compensation of sorts to be had, but only if the train is delayed for more than an hour.
For a delay of 60 to 119 minutes, compensation is paid in the amount of 25 percent of the ticket price. For delays longer than 120 minutes, compensation is paid in the amount of 50 percent of the ticket price. Along with the request to exercise this right, it is necessary to attach a certified ticket and send everything by post, email or hand it over at the cash desk.
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