• Published: 10.04.2015.

PM: These trains are result of the labour and design of our people, we can sell them abroad

  • Photo /Vijesti/2015/travanj/9 travanj/vlak - ZM (1).JPG

A new electric train was formally launched at Zagreb's central railway station and the first ride was taken by Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic, Deputy Prime Minister Branko Grcic, Finance Minister Boris Lalovac and Deputy Transport Minister Zdenko Antesic.

The train is the first in a series of 44 commuter trains produced by the Koncar Electric Vehicles company under a HRK 1.63 billion contract signed in January 2014.

The contract will be implemented in two stages. The first stage includes the delivery of 20 electric trains and one diesel-powered train, while in the second stage 12 electric and 11 diesel trains will be produced. Two trains will be put in operation every month and all trains should be in operation by the end of 2017.

The electric trains can reach a speed of 160 kilometres an hour and the diesel ones can run 120 km/h. All the trains will be equipped with video surveillance and Wi-Fi, and adjusted for the transport of people in wheelchairs and for the transport of bicycles.

Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said in Koprivnica on Thursday that he had arrived on the first of 44 motor trains that were constructed by the Koncar-Elektricna Vozila rolling stock company for the HZ national railway operator and were entirely a Croatian product.

"The trains will come from Croatian factories and are the result of the labour and design of our people, financed by HZ Passenger Transport, the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development. This is a completely Croatian story that we should try and sell abroad," Milanovic said.

"That is why we are going to central Asian countries and former USSR countries because they have a need for these sorts of things," Milanovic said.

"This is an example of how the economy should be functioning all round: domestic know-how, a fully domestic company, a domestic bank and a domestic customer," Deputy Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Zdenko Antesic said.

He added that "by early 2017, we should have a completely upgraded rolling stock and the railway should slowly position itself in society where it belongs."

(Hina) sp



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