Croatia and Slovenia sign train services agreement within the CONNECT2CE project

Credit: @CONNECT2CE

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the improvement of international train services between Croatia and Slovenia within the CONNECT2CE project was recently signed by the Director of SŽ Passenger Transport Darja Kocjan and the President of the Management Board of HŽ Passenger Transport Željko Ukić and members of the Management Board Mladen Lugarić and Damir Rubčić.

CONNECT2CE aims at tackling the weak accessibility of regional, peripheral and cross-border areas of central Europe to and from main transport networks and hubs, which is caused by the long lasting phenomenon of urbanisation.

With the signing of the MoU, both parties will undertake activities to facilitate better quality travel and provide sustainable international services. The main activities will be to improve the service on trains between Zagreb and Ljubljana in order to better connect the two neighboring countries.

At the MoU signing, Željko Ukić emphasised: “Given that approximately 130,000 passengers travelled by train between Croatia and Slovenia in 2019, I believe that based on the activities defined in the Memorandum, we will be introducing new offers and services. We are committed to promoting strategic partnerships and working to improve services on international trains to attract even more passengers and generate more revenue. With small steps, marketing activities, successful communication and, above all, cooperation, we can influence the existing offer and improve the business and positively influence the future of transport.”

Darja Kocjan said: “Today, we are witnessing fierce competition from road transport, and we, as railway operators, need to act to make more passengers use the train as the most environmentally friendly mode of transport. I want to emphasise that we have been cooperating with HŽPP for years on our timetables, special offers for travel and rail promotion. I believe that by working together, we can contribute more to strengthening rail passenger transport, which will result in an increase in the number of users of our services.”