November 17 (SeeNews) - Slovenia's government has approved a 79.3 million euro ($94.1 million) project for the overhaul of the country's section of the Karavanke railway tunnel, the government office for development and European cohesion policy said on Tuesday.
The EU Cohesion Fund will provide 49.2 million euro towards the cost of the project, which aims to increase the maximum speed of trains passing through the Karavanke tunnel by improving its technical features, the government office said in a statement.
The Karavanke railway tunnel, eight kilometres in length, is situated under the Rozca mountain pass between Rosenbach in southern Austria and Jesenice in northern Slovenia.
The railway tunnel is scheduled to reopen in September 2021 when the maximum speed of trains will be increased from the current 50km/h to 120km/h, according to data from the Slovenian infrastructure agency.
In August, Slovenia and Austria started a project for the construction of a second tube of the Karavanke motorway tunnel, which runs in parallel with the eponymous railway tunnel.
($ = 0.842517 euro)