December 27 (SeeNews) - Croatia has signed a European Union funding deal for the planned upgrade of the 44 km Hrvatski Leskovac-Karlovac railway section worth 2.72 billion kuna ($407 million/365 million euro), the transport ministry said on Friday.
Under the signed grant contract, the EU is providing 85% of the project financing via its 2014-2020 Cohesion Funds, the transport ministry said in a statement.
This is one of the largest infrastructure projects in Croatian history - the second largest after the Peljesac bridge, which is being built by China's CRBC in the country's south, transport minister Oleg Butkovic said in the statement.
Earlier this month, the European Commission said it has approved more than 311 million euro ($346 million) in financing for the Hrvatski Leskovac-Karlovac revamp project, which will reduce travel time, increase safety, and limit the negative impact of transport on the environment by contributing to the shift from road to rail for both freight and passengers.
The Hrvatski Leskovac-Karlovac section lies on the Zagreb-Rijeka railway, one of Croatia's main logistics routes. The upgraded section is expected to be operational in October 2023.
In July, Croatian railway infrastructure operator HZ Infrastruktura said it will open a tender for the revamp of the Hrvatski Leskovac-Karlovac section at the end of the year. The section is part of the Rijeka-Zagreb-Budapest branch of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T) Mediterranean corridor, and of European Rail Freight Corridor 6, which runs through the Mediterranean region.
The Mediterranean corridor connects Croatia to neighbouring Hungary and Slovenia, and Southern Europe to Eastern Europe, from Spain to the Ukrainian border. The Croatian part of the Mediterranean corridor stretches from the border with Hungary via Zagreb to the Adriatic port of Rijeka, thus helping to increase the port's cargo traffic and strengthening its competitiveness.
(1 euro = 7.44620 kuna)