Slovenia and Serbia want to speed up rail transport and travel; after that, both countries will set up international task forces dedicated to boosting railway transport speeds.
Such an announcement has been made by the Infrastructure Minister of Slovenia, Alenka Bratusek, as well as the Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure of Serbia, Goran Vesić, following his visit to Slovenia, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
According to the British Serb Magazine report, the reconstruction of the Belgrade-Zagreb-Ljubljana railroad, together with the introduction of this new train, and also the establishment of a night train that connects Ljubljana and Belgrade.
The Serbian Minister of Transport and Infrastructure stressed that it would take “just more than two hours” to get from Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana to Belgrade.
“At present, we have built 85 km of high-speed rail, we are building 108 km towards Hungary as well as another 228 km towards the south, and it is very important for us to connect with European countries through the corridor that goes through Slovenia, so the people can have the possibility to use high-speed trains” Vesic pointed out, based on the ministry’s official website.
He also revealed that he talked to Matteo Salvini, the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport of Italy, regarding the issue.
Serbian Minister noted that they agreed to start a joint meeting between Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Serbia, and Croatia with the participation of the European Commission in order to create a joint body that would help to coordinate the work on the railroad reconstruction and also prepare the timetable and everything else that ensues once high-speed trains are introduced.
In addition, he stressed that such a decision would be great for all countries, after people would be connected while the goods would go faster, stressing that “we already have an established as well as functioning goods terminal with Slovenia.”
Alenka Bratusek, the Minister of Infrastructure of Slovenia, stressed that in this year’s budget, they had reserved more than 420 million euros for the railway reconstruction in Slovenia, that they have nearly 1,200 kilometres of rail and they will restore a large part of the railway infrastructure, in the future.
“The most significant project in the country right now is the Divaca – Kopar railway, which will enable our Port of Kopar to become as competitive as possible while goods from the Port of Kopar will be eligible to go to Serbia more quickly,” she pointed out.
Authorities in European countries are continuously attempting to speed up rail transport, helping travellers to reach their destinations in a more eco-friendly way.
Source : Schengenvisa News
