HŽ Infrastruktura signs EUR 278.8 million rail modernisation contract with Comsa

Croatian railway infrastructure manager HŽ Infrastruktura has signed a contract with Spanish company Comsa worth EUR 278.8 million excluding VAT for the modernisation of the 44-kilometre Hrvatski Leskovac – Karlovac section on the Zagreb – Rijeka line. The works include the reconstruction of the existing track, construction of a second track, electrification, upgrading of signalling and telecommunications systems, renovation of the railway stations in Hrvatski Leskovac, Jastrebarsko and Karlovac, as well as the construction of new bridges and viaducts.

Once completed, trains on most of the section will be able to operate at speeds of up to 160 km/h. The project is scheduled to start in summer 2026 and to be completed by 2029.

The section forms part of Croatia’s broader lowland railway project between Zagreb and Rijeka, a strategic transport corridor intended to improve the connection between central Croatia and the Port of Rijeka, one of the country’s most important maritime gateways. The modernisation is expected to strengthen the role of the corridor in linking the Adriatic with Central European markets and wider EU transport networks.

The project is being 85% co-financed by EU grants under the Competitiveness and Cohesion Programme. The contract follows a renewed tender procedure after the previous agreement, signed in 2022 with a Strabag-led consortium, failed to move forward due to permitting issues. In the new tender, Comsa’s offer was selected as the most economically advantageous, although it was not the lowest bid.

IDR commentary

This contract is important not only for Croatia’s domestic rail modernisation, but also for the wider logistics architecture of the Danube–Adriatic area. Upgrading the Hrvatski Leskovac – Karlovac section strengthens land access to the Port of Rijeka, which is increasingly positioning itself as both an alternative and a complement to other Central European transport hubs. In strategic terms, this reinforces multimodal links between the Adriatic, the Danube region and inland EU markets. For Central and South-Eastern Europe, the project is also a telling example of how EU-backed infrastructure investment is transforming transport corridors from isolated upgrades into integrated, high-capacity logistics axes.