The modernisation programmes and construction of new railway sections in the Balkans are proceeding at a forced pace. As part of a broader mosaic of interventions involving European corridors in the Balkan peninsula, the latest developments feature railways in Croatia, North Macedonia and Bulgaria. In December 2024, a section just under 15 kilometres long was opened, offering new prospects for connections along a fundamental railway route between Croatia and Hungary. The completely upgraded double-track line connects the Croatian hub of Koprivnica with the Hungarian station of Gyékényes, located in the municipality of Zákány. Less than a month later, still in Croatia, modernisation works were completed on the line between Vinkovci and Vukovar, near the Serbian border. In addition to renewing the railway bed, bridges over several canals were reconstructed and signalling, telecommunications and electric traction systems were enhanced.
The modernisation of this section will benefit Croatia's largest port on the Danube located in Vukovar. The line is part of the Ten-T Rhine-Danube corridor and required an investment of 61 million euros, co-funded by the European Union. Work will soon begin on upgrading the section between Krapina and Zabok, near the Slovenian border. Currently, Croatian railways HŽ Infrastruktura are undertaking a record investment programme for this country, worth six billion euros, affecting one thousand kilometres of the national network. There are also developments in North Macedonia. In January 2025, the first section of the new railway line that will connect Skopje with the Bulgarian capital Sofia was inaugurated. The newly completed section extends for 31 kilometres between Kumanovo, which lies on the main route of Corridor X between Skopje and Belgrade, and Beljakovce. The project required an investment of 78 million euros, also funded by the European Union and EBRD.
The line follows the route of the historic railway inaugurated in 1956 but closed to traffic in 1994 due to serious infrastructure deficiencies and general disinterest. Now, new geopolitical prospects have profoundly changed the need for cross-border connections throughout the Balkans: suffice it to say that some of these railway routes were started in the early 1900s, never completed and then abandoned. But that is not all, because in 2022 the Turkish construction company Gülermak won the contract worth 155 million euros to build the next 34-kilometre section between Beljakovce and the Kriva Palanka junction: part of the works have already been completed. Meanwhile, the first construction sites have also begun on the subsequent section, just over twenty kilometres long, connecting Kriva Palanka with the Deve Bair border crossing where the line connects to Bulgaria's railway network at Gyueshevo. The entire route between Kumanovo and Gyueshevo involves numerous engineering works, particularly the excavation or restoration of over fifty tunnels, about thirty of which had already been partially excavated and then abandoned for decades.
Piermario Curti Sacchi
