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Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia signed a Declaration
today (July 30, 2010), envisaging the formation of a joint railway company with the aim
of speeding up goods transport on Corridor 10.
Following the signing Mrkonjic announced that the document would be
implemented as of 1 September and that the joint railway company would be run by Slovenia because it a member of the EU.
The Declaration was signed in Belgrade by Serbian Minister of Infrastructure Milutin Mrkonjic, Slovenian Minister
of Transportation Patrick Vlacic, and Croatian State Secretary of the
Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Danijel Mileta.
The Minister
declared that the document binds the three countries to simplify and
accelerate procedures at border crossings in terms of customs,
phytosanitary and veterinary control.
Mrkonjic noted that around 700 trains operated on railway
Corridor 10, from Ljubljana, via Zagreb, Belgrade and Dimitrovgrad, to
Istanbul. As for Corridor 4, which goes through Hungary and is much
longer than Corridor 10, around 7,000 trains are used to transport goods
and people there.
If we manage to attract a portion of these
trains to our railways, and we will succeed in that if we shorten the
travel time from 60 to 35–40 hours, the three states will gain €50
million a year, Mrkonjic explained.
He said that the railway through Serbia must be modernized, noting that certain sections had not even been electrified yet, while Croatian State Secretary Danijel Mileta said that the part of Corridor 10 in that country was the best railway section.
Slovenian Minister Vlacic said that Slovenia did not have as good railway infrastructure as it would like to have and added that they planned to invest between 5 and 8 billion euros in that sector within the next five years.
When asked by the press how the new company would be named and if the name of the Railways of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians was acceptable, the representatives of the three countries first laughed and that Mrkonjic said that it was a good idea.
- I give the media an opportunity to suggest the name for the new company - said the Serbian Minister.
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