Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina intend to revitalize the Una cross-border line, which is currently unused, and which will serve to launch rail transport services between the two countries.
This is one of the railway projects discussed by the Croatian Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Oleg Butković, and his counterpart from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Edin Forto.
“Croatia is in the midst of a program of major investments in the railway, under which approximately EUR6 billion will be invested over the next ten years. We are ready to give our full support to this project (the Una cross-border line), although we are aware that there are a number of technical and other challenges that need to be resolved together,” said Minister Butković.
To revitalize the Una line, Bosnia and Herzegovina is currently conducting a specialized study that will specify clear solutions and measures, as well as estimate the costs for this project. “With regard to the Una railway line, political debates often give priority to road transport at the expense of rail transport, but I personally believe that this approach needs to be changed. Bosnia and Herzegovina has a railway network that needs to be revitalized, and the Una line is certainly part of this process. We have already begun preparing studies for this project and hope that the Croatian side will also be actively involved in the next steps. It is extremely important for us to know that this project has prospects and support from Croatia,” said Minister Edin Forto.
The cross-border line, important for the region
The rehabilitation and opening of the Una line is considered one of the most important infrastructure projects for strengthening rail connectivity between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, but also for regional connectivity.
The Una cross-border line connects Novi Grad and Bihać in Bosnia and Herzegovina with Knin in Croatia, allowing the Croatian cities of Split and Zagreb to be connected with Belgrade in Serbia. This railway is 178 km long, of which 124 km are in Bosnia and Herzegovina and 54 km in Croatia, and much of its route runs along the border, crossing the borders of the two countries at seven points.
Before the war, this line carried 1.5 million passengers and 4 million tons of freight annually, with most of the traffic volume running on the Una railway line, as it was a shorter and flatter section, allowing for higher speeds than the Lika railway line, which connects the Zagreb–Rijeka line to the Knin railway junction.
The line is also of particular interest to Croatia, especially as it can handle a large flow of traffic to and from the ports of Split, Šibenik, and Zadar.
During the destruction of the war in the 1990s, the Una railway line was devastated and traffic was interrupted. It has been partially rehabilitated on Bosnian territory and is used only for local traffic. In July 2018, the first passenger train was launched on the rehabilitated Blatna–Bihać section (47 km).
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