Austrian contractor Strabag has been awarded a contract worth 鈧�226 million, to modernise 44km of railway line in Croatia.

Railway tracks in Zagreb, Croatia. Photo: Adobe Stock

A consortium of Strabag鈥檚 Croatian subsidiary, Strabag AG and Strabag Rail will reconstruct the existing track between Hrvatski Leskovac and Karlovac, as well as building a second track on the route.

The scope of work also includes the rebuilding of a number of stations, while a number of level crossings will be replaced with over/underpasses.

Construction work is expected to start within the next month, with completion set for 30 months.

The rail project includes the modernisation of signalling and telecommunications facilities. This element of the project will be undertaken by the Czech AZD Praha.

The value of the project is reported to be around 鈧�360 million, with 85% of the total coming from the European Union鈥檚 Cohesion Fund.

Once in service, the line will see trains travelling at speeds of up to 160kmh.

The new rail line is on the Rijeka-Zagreb-Budapest route, which is part of the Mediterranean Corridor of the Trans-European Core Transport Network.

Croatia has unveiled plans to modernise some 230km of railway line by 2030, in an effort to improve transport connections between the port of Rijeka and markets in Hungary, Slovakia and Poland.