ZAGREB, February 4, 2020 - The state-owned rail company HŽ Infrastruktura and the Austrian company Swietelsky signed an agreement in Virovitica (150 kilometres east of Zagreb) on Monday for the reconstruction of the 21-kilometre-long railway line between Virovitica and Pitomača, a project worth about HRK 170 million (€23 m).
The work is expected to be completed in 18 months. The project will be financed with a commercial loan backed by a state guarantee. The upgraded line will allow trains to run at a speed of 100 kilometres an hour, which, compared with the present 80 km/h, will cut travel time and make travel safer.
The Virovitica-Pitomača section is part of the railway line connecting Varaždin, Koprivnica, Virovitica, Osijek and Dalj and is the first of the total of three sections for which HŽ Infrastruktura has secured 449 million kuna (60 m euro) for the next five year period. The other two sections are Pitomača-Virje (22 km) and Virje-Koprivnica (20 km).
Transport and Infrastructure Minister Oleg Butković said that this project was part of a major railway investment cycle. "Currently we are building railway infrastructure worth a total of 1.5 billion euro. These are mainly the most important transport corridors in Croatia, but we are also taking care of regional lines to ensure that all counties are adequately connected," he said.
Zvonko Dundović of Swietelsky said that this company has been present in the Croatian construction market for more than 20 years and has reconstructed more than 500 kilometres of railway tracks to date.
More news about railways in Croatia can be found in the Travel section.
