February 19 (SeeNews) - The European Investment Bank (EIB) said it is considering lending some 250 million euro ($283 million) to Slovenia’s state-run project company 2DTK to finance the construction of a second railway track linking the port city of Koper to Divaca junction.
The Koper-Divaca railway track was put on the EIB’s list of projects under appraisal, the bank said in a statement last week.
The total cost of the project, which forms a part of the Baltic-Adriatic and the Mediterranean core TEN-T corridors, amounts to around 1.2 billion euro, the bank said.
"It is intended to contribute to increasing rail modal share and, thereby, enhance sustainable transport and contribute to reduction of noise, pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and therefore to climate change mitigation, in line with EU objectives," EIB said.
The company operating the Adriatic port - Luka Koper, said last month that the second railway track to Divaca is planned to be completed by 2025 and begin operations the following year. The new, 27-kilometre long track and the existing track will offer a combined capacity of 231 trains per day or 43.4 million net tonnes of cargo per year, the company said.
($ = 0.88383 euro)