Project of the Decade: The railway on which Croatian trains will finally run

The first serious works on the currently largest infrastructure project in Croatia began. It is about the construction of the second track and the reconstruction of the existing railway track from Križevci through Koprivnica to the Hungarian border near Botovo in Podravina. The investment is worth about three billion kuna including VAT, which is about 20% more than the construction of the Peljesac Bridge.

The Turkish company Cengiz Insaat selected as the contractor

The well-known Turkish company Cengiz Insaat, which was selected as the most favorable contractor, was introduced on June the 25th last year. However, the real works started recently, between the Podravina towns of Drnja and Botovo near the Hungarian border. The route is being cut down and the installations are being moved. At the beginning of March, the main project manager from HŽ infrastructure Ivo Jurić reveals, works on the tracks and the construction of a new station symbolically called Novo Drnje will begin.

The Turkish company Cengiz has a lot of experience in large infrastructure projects. It is a company with annual revenues of almost seven billion kuna. They built, for example, a new large airport in the Turkish capital, Istanbul, and were given the job of building the second pipe of the Karavanke tunnel between Slovenia and Austria. However, they almost didn’t get a job at all in a tender with as many as ten bids, all of which were higher than the estimated value of around 2.5 billion kuna.

Unprecedented modernization of railway transport

However, what will Turkish Cengiz build on the route from Križevci to the Drava bridge near Botovo, except for 42.6 kilometers of the new two-track railway? The list of facilities is truly impressive. About 25 kilometers of noise protection walls will be built, eight stations and stops will be renovated and built, seven bridges and three viaducts will be built, a 338-meter-long steel bridge on Drava, 11 overpasses and underpasses, nine new pedestrian and bicycle underpasses.

And it will not only be the benefit of a megaproject that will, no doubt, revive passenger and freight rail traffic on that section. After the renovation, it will be able to use the longest compositions that Croatia has ever seen. HŽ Infrastruktura states that the project of reconstruction of the existing and construction of the second track on the section Križevci – Koprivnica – state border will enable the achievement of the speed of 160 km/h with an additional increase of traffic safety, a significant increase of capacity with reduction of time and increase of travel quality. It will also be possible to receive interoperable freight trains 750 meters long with a maximum permissible weight of 25 tons per axle, or trains for passenger transport 400 meters long, and will additionally protect the environment and increase the quality of life of people along the line.

Reconstruction of the train stations

Four railway viaducts and galleries will also be built, two of which will be passages for animals. The stations Lepavina, Koprivnica and Novo Drnje, as well as the stops Majurec, Vojakovački Kloštar, Carevdar, Sokolovac, Mučna Reka and Peteranec will be thoroughly renovated or built.

As part of the major reconstruction of the station in Koprivnica, which will become an important European railway hub, a new underpass will be built below it. The station will be completely reconstructed and trains will be able to run through it at a speed of as much as 160 kilometers per hour.

Source: Vecernji.hr