ZAGREB, 12 Sept, 2021 - The Connecting Europe Express train, travelling across Europe to mark the European Year of Rail, has stopped over in Zagreb, and its passengers gathered at the Esplanade Hotel on Sunday morning for Orient Express theme breakfast, organised by the City of Zagreb Tourist Board.

The train started out from Lisbon on 2 September and is due to end its journey in Paris on 7 October. It will cover about 20,000 kilometres, travelling through 26 countries and 100 cities to promote railways as a safe, sustainable and "green" means of transport. From Zagreb, where it stayed for the night, it will continue to Belgrade, stopping along the way at Slavonski Brod and Tovarnik.

On arriving in Zagreb, about 50 passengers took a sight-seeing tour of the city.  At the breakfast at the Esplanade they were welcomed by representatives of the Ministry of Transport, Croatian Rail (HŽ) company, the European Commission and its representative office in Zagreb, and the City of Zagreb Tourist Board. The passengers are members of the European Commission, which organised the journey, and representatives of EU travel agencies and the transport and tourism sectors.

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September the 3rd, 2021 - Yesterday, the Connecting Europe Express train, a special train marking the European Railway Year of 2021, departed from the station in Lisbon, and on its way to Paris, where it will arrive on October the 7th, it will stop in more than 100 places and cities.

As Novac/Ljubica Vuko writes, on this five-week journey from Lisbon to Paris, the Connecting Europe Express train will also stop in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana. As such, as reported by the European Commission, they will connect the Portuguese, Slovenian and French presidencies of the Council of the EU.

"Railways have shaped our rich common history. But they're also the future of Europe: they're one of the components of a carbon-neutral transport sector and a way to mitigate climate change and boost economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic," said Transport Commissioner Adina Vălean.

She added that the Connecting Europe Express train would become a travelling laboratory, a conference room and a forum for public discussion over the coming weeks on how rail transport could become the first choice for both passengers and businesses.

As announced, various events will be organised at the stations of arrival of the Connecting Europe Express train. Discussions and conferences on the EU's infrastructure policy and the role of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) will be held on the train, and broadcasts from Lisbon, Bucharest, Berlin and Bettemburg will be available on the Internet.

The Connecting Europe Express train is expected to arrive in the Croatian capital of Zagreb on Saturday, September the 11th, and according to the announcement at the main station, it will be welcomed by representatives of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure, the City of Zagreb and the Zagreb Tourist Board, as well as representatives of HZ Infrastruktura (Infrastructure) and HZ Putnicki prijevoz (Passenger transport).

This train, which will work to connect Europe for the European Year of Railways, is the result of cooperation between the European Commission and the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Enterprises (CER), European railway undertakings, infrastructure managers and many other partners at both the EU and local level.

"The Connecting Europe Express train is proof of the success of the European Year of Railways, but it also points to the challenges ahead. CER members are committed to the success of the Green Plan. We can't achieve our climate goals without a strong European railway sector," said Andreas Matthä, president of CER and Director General of the Austrian Federal Railways.

He also said that there are currently many obstacles to cross-border rail traffic, and crossing country borders by train is very complicated.

"We must continue to strive for freight to be transported by rail, not road, so that people can travel daily by train to work and to add day and night lines in international long-distance passenger transport. I'm convinced that the Connecting Europe Express train will encourage everyone to think about it. I'd like to give my thanks to the collaborators and partners who made this project possible, and I wish the Connecting Europe Express train a happy journey," Matthä said.

It should also be said that due to the different widths of European railways, the Connecting Europe Express train will actually consist of three trains, the Iberian train, the standard train and the Baltic train, which will meet along the way. This project, as explained by the EC, seeks to draw attention to the lack of interoperability between some parts of the European railway network, but also to point out the excellent cooperation between railway undertakings and infrastructure managers.

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