In one year, all HŽ trains were delayed by a total of two years, writes Jutarnji list on Sunday, stating that the snail is literally 10 times faster because while HŽ is electrifying 800 meters of track, this snail travels as much as 8,700 meters.
If the few remaining who still have to travel by train from Zagreb to Koprivnica to work were to write memoirs, it would undoubtedly be among the most intriguing readings published in Croatia.
Many more famous works of the theater of the absurd would be put to shame, and at the same time one could faithfully read from them the tragic fate of the national railways, into which the state, since independence, poured billions, so that today passengers would be transported by them only when they do not need to reach their destination there is absolutely no other means left.
All of this is perfectly visible from the dust and noise of the construction site on the Dugo Selo – Križevci route, which is already an exemplary example of the inefficiency of the railway infrastructure manager, who has not been able to complete an investment worth 200 million euros even with the help of money from EU funds for years, since 2016 to be exact. .
Completion deadlines have already been extended several times, and the last time we wrote about the state of the railways, in January of this year, HŽ Infrastruktur announced that the project would finally be completed in the middle of 2023. Unfortunately, that has also changed in the meantime, so the company is already aware that, despite signing the new, fifth addendum to the contract, it will not be able to complete the work before the end of next year.
“Given the circumstances on the construction site related to the new redistribution of works and the time required for a new start of activities, it is already clear at this moment that the physical works will last at least until the end of 2023,” said HŽ Infrastruktur, which has completed 72.15 percent of the planned works so far.
Perhaps one would still see through their fingers if the situation that passengers on this route experience every day did not indicate that the HŽ system, apart from the infrastructure that requires huge investments, has a systemic problem at all other levels for which lack of money can hardly be an excuse. Not only is the timetable not followed, but the trains wait without heating in the winter or without air conditioning in the summer, no automated notifications are available to passengers, which have been standard at European stations for decades, not to mention notifications inside the trains, and no information about why the train is late is not available. possible to get a thread from HŽ employees?
In short, the system of the Croatian Railways is in shambles, and the detailed scan of their operations made by Jutarnji list for the past ten years reveals a shocking picture of the state’s lack of concern for the infrastructural and operational system, which is so neglected that one has to wonder – is there anything left to do here? to save, write Jutarnji list journalists Dora Koretić and Karla Zupičić.
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