Prešnica – Koper railway line

Divača – Koper
Hrastovlje railway station
Route length:	31.5 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	3 kV  =
Maximum slope :	25  ‰
Dual track :	planned
Legend from Ljubljana - 00.3 Divača 433  m. i. J. from Trieste 07.4 Rodik 525  m. i. J. 11.8 Hrpelje-Kozina 491  m. i. J. Divača – Pula railway line 15.7 Prešnica 496  m. i. J. 16.5 0.0 Prešnica cepišče junction Divača – Pula railway line 05.5 Črnotiče 387  m. i. J. 10.5 Zanigrad (262 m) 270  m. i. J. 13.4 Dol (602 m) 550  m. i. J. 14.4 Hrastovlje 198  m. i. J. 19.5 Loka (100 m) 19.7 Rižana (66 m) 21.4 Rižana ( depot ) 35  m. i. J. 28.0 Abzw. Bivje 29.0 Koper tovorna freight yard 2  m. i. J. port 31.5 Koper potniška 2  m. i. J.

Freight train on the way to Koper, between Črnotiče and Hrastovlje stations

A Taurus locomotive as a sliding locomotive behind a freight train in the direction of Prešnica

Koper Potniška Railway Station

The Prešnica – Koper railway is a steep, single-track , 31.5 km long railway line in Slovenia , which connects the port of Koper to the country's railway network in standard gauge .

history

construction

Under Austrian rule , the focus was on the port of Trieste . It was not until 1902 that Trieste and Koper were connected by the narrow-gauge local railway Triest – Parenzo , the first rail connection for Koper, which was shut down again in 1935 .

As a result of the demarcation between Italy and Yugoslavia after the Second World War , the most important regional port on the Adriatic , Trieste , came to Italy, but its entire hinterland to Yugoslavia. This prompted Yugoslavia to expand the neighboring port of Koper , which was in its own country. Its traffic volume developed positively. Therefore decided Yugoslavia, Koper with one of the railway line Divača-Pula outgoing branch line to bind to the rail network. The operating company of the port of Koper assumed the costs of planning and construction. Construction began in 1964. The first freight train reached Koper on November 16, 1967; the official opening took place on December 2, 1967 in the presence of President Josip Broz Tito . It was initially operated with diesel locomotives . The line was electrified from 1974 and electrical operation began on December 27, 1975.

business

Since the line was built primarily for freight traffic, Koper's first passenger station was a makeshift solution: In the freight station, a track was given a platform. From there, travelers were brought into town by bus. It was not until 1979 that Koper received its own passenger station, Koper potniška , which is closer to the city center.

Since the fall of Yugoslavia, the line has been located in Slovenia and has been operated by the Slovenian Railway (SŽ) ever since . Koper also became the country's only Adriatic port. This made the route even more important. Due to its steep ramp and tight curves, it is not particularly powerful and represents a bottleneck in freight traffic . Currently around 180 freight trains per week use the route, including 16 trains to Graz, and three kerosene trains run to Vienna-Schwechat Airport . In 2017, around 24 million tons of goods are said to have been transported over the route.

Incidents

On June 25, 2019 , probably due to a damaged track, a train loaded with kerosene for Munich Airport derailed in the Dol tunnel, immediately south of Hrastovlje station . Two of the 18 tank wagons from the leasing company GATX , which made up the train, hit the tunnel wall and were so severely damaged that almost 16 m³ of kerosene leaked, 5000 liters of which could be collected, the rest seeped into the ground. This was threatening with regard to the groundwater , as the karst mountains consist of very porous limestone . 160 m³ of upper and lower construction material had to be excavated and replaced. In addition, the superstructure was damaged over a length of 150-200 m. The SŽ managed to repair the heavily used, single-track line within four days. Around 200 freight trains were blocked during this time.

Infrastructure

The railway line had to be led through the Karst Mountains in northern Istria , which resulted in a very demanding route. Tunnels, two loops of around 180 degrees each and gradients of up to 25 ‰, with which almost 500 meters of altitude can be overcome, had to be built. The electrification was carried out with 3000 volts direct current .

Planning

Political Aspects

For many years there was talk of how the capacity of the line could be increased by expanding the existing facility or building a new line. The key point at which all projects initially failed were the costs of the project. In 2017 Slovenia passed a law to ensure funding. A public-private partnership was planned for this . The cost of the project is estimated at around 1.2 billion euros , of which Slovenia intends to take on 522 million euros. There was a loan offer from Hungary , which is very interested in the connection, for 200 million euros, but Slovenia refuses to accept for political reasons, a financing commitment from the EU for 109 million euros and a long-term loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and developing over a third of the costs seem questionable. The opponents of the project fear a loss of sovereignty for the country because of the foreign donors.

They achieved through a referendum that a referendum should be held on the project. This took place on September 24, 2017, with 53.5% of those who voted (only around 20% of those entitled to vote) supported the project.Subsequently, a civil society group, with the support of several opposition parties, sued the result because they accused the government of having financed the campaign in favor of the route with taxpayers' money of 95,000 euros. The country's highest court upheld this lawsuit in mid-March 2018 and ruled that the referendum had to be repeated. Prime Minister Miro Cerar then resigned on March 15, 2018.

Only 14% of eligible voters took part in the second referendum. Because of the low participation, the result is not legally binding. The government continues to operate the project, although 50.07% of the voters voted against it. The expansion law for the railway line is to be passed soon (as of June 2018).

The intention is to double-track the line by 2026.

Technical design

The new line is also to be built as a single track over 27.1 km, completely independent of the existing line. It runs in two places along the Italian border. The second route enables directional operation in a combination of both routes . How such a directional operation over two different routes will affect passenger traffic is completely open. In terms of its technical parameters, the new line is to be designed to be far more favorable than the existing line, although it should be almost half the length. The maximum slope should be only 17 ‰, the apex at 433 m above sea level. almost a hundred meters lower. The maximum speed is to be increased to 100 km / h. This is only possible if the route runs mainly in tunnels . Eight tunnels with lengths between 128 m and 6,714 m are required for this. The second line will increase the total capacity of the connection to 231 trains per day and 43.3 million tons of goods per year.

implementation

The investor and license holder of the project is 2TDK . The project was divided into two construction sections : Divača – Črni Kal and Črni Kal – Koper. For the first lot, 15 tenders were submitted for the project tender, and 14 bids for the second.

The financing is to take place via

• 400 million euros from the Slovenian state budget
• 250 million euros from funds from the European Union . The European Investment Bank has made a corresponding commitment in the amount of EUR 250 million.
• 250 million euros from a loan from the Slovenian Export and Development Bank
• 112.5 million euros of a loan from Nova Ljubljanska banka (NLB). A corresponding loan agreement between NLB and 2TDK was concluded on May 29, 2020.
• Increased charges for road and rail infrastructure use

Worth knowing

The steel bridge over the landslide area near Podpeč was installed in a second use. It comes from the 1966 disused section of the Tarvisio – Ljubljana railway between Tarvisio and Jesenice .

literature

in alphabetical order by authors / editors

• bac: Slovenes say yes to the second track after Koper . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International 1/2018, p. 22.
• bac: Slovenia invests in the railways . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International 5/2019, pp. 246–248 (246).
• Railway Atlas Italy and Slovenia / Atlante ferroviario d'Italia e Slovenia . Schweers + Wall 2010. ISBN 978-3-89494-129-1 , p. 27.
• koll: Extension of the line to Koper . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International 6/2017, p. 296.
• Egbert Peinhopf: Railways in Istria - then and now . bahnmedien.at , Vienna 2017, ISBN 978-3-9503921-8-0

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Railway Atlas Italy and Slovenia , p. 27.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Peinhopf: Railways in Istria , p. 240.
3. ↑ koll: expansion .
4. ↑ bac / an: Derailment on the Koper – Divača line . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International 8–9 / 2019, p. 425.
5. ↑ bac: Slovenia invests in the railway . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International 5/2019, pp. 246–248 (246).
6. ↑ ineu: Expansion project Koper: Slovenia with Hungary . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International 4/2018, p. 209.
7. ↑ bac: Slovenes .
8. ↑ Slovenia's Prime Minister Cerar resigns due to failed railway project. Der Standard , March 14, 2018.
9. ↑ inew: Slovenian government promoted extension of the line to Koper . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International 7/2018, p. 370.
10. ↑ Koper Second Track investment plan approved on railwaygazette.com (English), accessed on January 29, 2019
11. ↑ ^{a b c} . pd / md: Great interest in the expansion of Divača - Koper . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International 3/2020, p. 144.
12. ↑ bac: Slovenes say yes .
13. ^ Bac: Loan agreement for the construction of the second Divača - Koper track . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International 8–9 / 2020, p. 415.
14. ^ Bac: Loan agreement for the construction of the second Divača - Koper track . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International 8–9 / 2020, p. 415.
15. ^ Bac: Loan agreement for the construction of the second Divača - Koper track . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International 8–9 / 2020, p. 415.