December the 30th, 2024 – A long lasting pilot project will result in free Croatian train transport for multiple groups of people in 2025.
As Poslovni Dnevnik/Josipa Ban writes, free public Croatian train transport, a privilege that has so far been enjoyed solely by retirees, will be extended to children, primary and secondary school students and full-time students from the beginning of next year.
This is a pilot project that the government has adopted in order to increase population mobility, support demographic revitalisation and improve people’s overall quality of life and standards, assure Andrej Plenković, Prime Minister, and Oleg Butković, Minister of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure.
The pilot project ensuring free Croatian train transport will last for a period of one calendar year, from the beginning to the end of 2025, and will cost around 8.7 million euros in total. The money that will be deducted from the account of HŽ Passenger Transport (the lost revenue) will be compensated by the Ministry of Transport.
It will be interesting to see whether these decisions will increase the number of people choosing to travel by train. Croatia’s relationship with train travel hasn’t been good for a very long time. Old infrastructure, unreliable trains and a host of other issues have seen people choose safer options. This has seen the populace almost entirely lose the habit of travelling by train.
The infrastructure is outdated and poorly invested in, the trains are often late, the timetable is often unknown… Given the above, the decision to travel by train in Croatia is truly risky. Free Croatian train transport might turn it around, at least for 12 months.
