Construction of the second track, renewal and modernization of the rail section Škrljevo - Rijeka – Jurdani

The basic aims of the Construction of the second track, renewal and modernization of the rail section Škrljevo-Rijeka-Jurdani project are divided into two groups:

a) general aims: They are the result of new transport policy and strategy of EU and the Republic of Croatia, based on the White Book „Plan for the Single European Transport Space“, 2011, Regulation 1315/2013 on the Guidelines for Development of the TEN-T Network , Strategy of Transport Development of the Republic of Croatia (2017– 2020), further development of the Croatian part of the TEN-T network (Core and Comprehensive), a shift in the distribution of the passenger transport in favor of the public transport and modes of transport with the zero emission of harmful gases, which includes the public transport in the agglomerations and the local regional context, the shift in distribution of the freight transport in favor of the rail and maritime transport and transport via inland waterways; decrease of impact of the transport system on the climate changes, decrease of impact of the transport system on the environment (environmental sustainability), increase of safety of the transport system, improvement of the integration of the transport modes in Croatia (management, ITS, VTMIS, P&R etc.), further development of the potentials of one of the main logistic centers of the Republic of Croatia, the Port of Rijeka, improvement of the freight transport Corridor from the Port of Rijeka towards the markets with the biggest potential for the Port (Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovakia, Italy, south Poland and Serbia); complement through adequate development of transport, especially in favor of the public transport complement, the development of the tourist sector of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, as an important economic factor.

b) specific aims: The capacity increase on the rail section, increase of the transport demand in the rail passenger and freight international transport, increase of the modal distribution of the transport demand from the road to the rail transport in freight and passenger transport, better integration of the railways into the systems of local transport in the City of Rijeka and within the functional region, through inclusion of the railways into the public urban and suburban passenger transport, including reconstruction of the existing and construction of the new stops, reduction of the journey times and enhancement of quality of the transport service in the urban and suburban passenger; relief of the urban and suburban passenger transport by reducing the congestion and elimination of the bottlenecks; reduction or delay of the planned financial investments into the urban road infrastructure due to the lesser road transport volumes as a result of the new modal distribution; increase of safety on the rail-road and passenger crossings, increase of safety by introducing of the new electronic signaling and interlocking equipment and automatic blocks, increase of the efficiency of the Croatian railway system by introduction of the transport control system (ETCS), and building of the Operational Control Centre for the Western Croatia in the area of the Rijeka Station, reduction of the transport costs, which are considerably smaller for the rail transport compared to the road transport, reduction of emission of the greenhouse gases and external costs of transport.