Documentation preparation project launched for Krizevci-Koprivnica rail line

The rail infrastructure company HZ Infrastruktura on Friday unveiled a documentation preparation project for the reconstruction of the railway line running from Krizevci to Koprivnica to the border with Hungary.

The document preparation project is worth 5.3 million euros, of which 85% will be covered with EU funds. The project will be prepared over the next three years in cooperation with foreign partners, and work on the reconstruction of the existing track and construction of a new one is expected to begin in 2016.

The partner company and project leader is Polish rail operator URS Polska, which is also involved in the reconstruction of two sections along the railway line running from the northern Adriatic port of Rijeka via Zagreb to the border with Hungary.

The presentation was attended by the Minister of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure, Sinisa Hajdas Doncic, and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds, Branko Grcic.

Hajdas Doncic said that after the completion of the three projects Croatia would have a modern two-track line from Rijeka to the Hungarian border. As of July 1, when Croatia joins the EU, this line will no longer be referred to as Corridor Vb but as the Core Mediterranean Corridor.

Grcic said that the present government had contributed to the better absorption of EU pre-accession funds, adding that Croatia had so far prepared projects worth 20 billion euros.

Richard Masa of the EU Delegation in Zagreb said that the purpose of all these projects was to help Croatia improve its railway infrastructure from 2015 to 2017 and that it would most likely be granted funds for these projects because they aimed to connect the country to the EU's railway network.


(Hina)