Croatia has signed a €677 million construction contract to double-track the 83 km Dugo Selo–Novska railway, eliminating the last single-track section of the RH1 corridor that carries freight and passenger traffic from the Slovenian border towards Serbia and destinations further east. Construction is expected to start in the first half of 2027, with EU funds covering 90% of the project's nearly €900 million total cost.

Infrastructure manager HŽ Infrastruktura signed the contract with Indian construction company Afcons Infrastructure Limited on 1 October. The Croatian government describes the scheme as the largest railway project in the country's history.

What will the project deliver?

The works cover the line east of Zagreb between Dugo Selo and Novska, part of the former Pan-European Corridor X. The scope includes:

• reconstruction of the existing railway and construction of a second track;
• station upgrades at Ivanić-Grad, Popovača, Kutina and Novska;
• grade separation of more than 30 level crossings;
• installation of ETCS Level 1 and new signalling equipment.

Once completed, the upgraded line will allow trains to run at up to 160 km/h, adding capacity for both passenger and freight services on the international west–east axis.

Who is paying, and when will trains run?

The €677 million construction contract sits within a wider project budget of almost €900 million, which also covers land acquisition, documentation, supervision and other costs. According to Croatian public broadcaster HRT, 90% of the overall funding will come from the EU.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said construction should begin in the first half of 2027. The works are scheduled to last five years and ten months, putting completion around 2032–33 if the timetable holds.

What happens next on the corridor towards Serbia?

Double-tracking Dugo Selo–Novska removes the remaining single-track bottleneck on the RH1 corridor within Croatia, but the route towards Serbia still needs further modernisation. Transport Minister Oleg Butković said HŽ Infrastruktura is preparing project documentation for the Okučani–Vinkovci section, which is needed to complete the wider corridor upgrade.

The minister put Croatia's current railway infrastructure investment pipeline at around €1.5 billion. HŽ Infrastruktura expects approximately €6 billion to be invested in renewing and modernising the country's rail network by 2035.

If the 2027 start date is met, the corridor's last single-track gap in Croatia will close within a decade, giving freight operators a continuous double-track, ETCS-equipped route between Zagreb and the Serbian border by the early 2030s.