Ljubljana, 20 December 2013 – With its decision of approval of 19 December 2013 the European Commission awarded 64.8 million euros under the Cohesion Fund for the project “Reconstruction, electrification and upgrade of Pragersko-Hodoš railway track for the speed of up to 160 km/h – phase II: modernisation of level crossings and construction of passages in railway stations”. The project, which is worth 135.6 million euros, is part of the Operational Programme for Development of the Environmental and Transport Infrastructure for the period 2007-2013.
The project is part of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T), namely the railway axis Lyon-Trieste-Divača/Koper-Divača-Ljubljana-Budapest-border with Ukraine, which is a priority project TEN-T No. 6 and also runs in the European transport corridor V, which is one of the ten priority railway corridors between the European Union and other European countries. Modernisation of level crossings is an integral part of the project for the modernisation and upgrade of the railway track Pragersko-Hodoš, which is essential for meeting the demanding standards and capacity for the foreseen increase in local and international traffic. The existing level crossings would, indeed, represent bottlenecks in the railway and road traffic. This would result in reduced speeds which would hinder the realisation of the objectives for the modernisation of the entire railway track.
The main objective of the 2nd phase is the arrangement of 78 level crossings, namely:
• construction of 5 bridges over railway, 12 underpasses and two pedestrian crossings
• construction or reconstruction of 42 kilometres of connecting roads
• arrangement of 27 level crossings with motor vehicle insurance for the foreseen increase of the speed of trains
• abolishment of 32 level crossings
• upgrade of 2 passenger stops (Cirovce and Grlava)
More information: Ministry of Infrastructure and Spatial Planning.