On April 20, Croatian railway infrastructure operator HZ Infrastruktura stated that it has received 15 bids for the reconstruction of the Leskovac-Karlovac section of the railway. The project investment is estimated at 2.04 billion kuna (325 million USD/ 269.4 million euros).

HZ Infrastruktura said in a statement on April 19 that a consortium composed of China Railway Second Engineering Group and China Railway Fourth Engineering Group submitted a minimum bid of 1.29 billion kuna. The highest bid was 2.9 billion kuna, proposed by Serbia’s Rading, who was only bidding.

A total of seven companies and eight consortia submitted bids for the transformation of the Hrvatski leskovaca-karlovac section, which is part of the Rijeka-Zagreb-Budapest branch of the Trans-European Transportation Network (TEN-T) Mediterranean Corridor, and Europe that runs through the Mediterranean region. Tender for Railway Freight Corridor 6.

Leskovac-Karlovac Railway Reconstruction Project

The project envisages the reconstruction of the existing section of the 44-kilometer Hrvatski Leskovac – Karlovac section and the construction of a second track. The project also includes the conversion of three stations into stations, the reconstruction of four existing stations, the construction of noise barriers and the reconstruction of existing level crossings. Under this project, new electronic signal and interlocking equipment ETCS level 1 and a new control command infrastructure subsystem with remote control of external components will be installed.

The maximum speed of this section will be adjusted to 160km/h, but due to space constraints, except for Mavračići, Jastrebarsko and Karlovac, these two areas are 120km/h and 140km/h, respectively. Through the implementation of this project, the current single-track 25 kV AC 50 Hz electrified line will become a dual-track line.

The grant contract for the project was signed in December 2019 by the Ministry of Oceans, Transport and Infrastructure, the Central Agency for Financing and Contracting of EU Plans and Projects, and HŽInfrastruktura. The value of the project is 3.45 billion Norwegian kroner (455.1 million euros), of which 2.72 billion Norwegian kroner (358.5 million euros) is the qualified cost of the project.Editor/Huang Lijun