L214 railway (Croatia)

The Gradec-Sveti Ivan Žabno railway, officially designated as L214 railway is a 12.5 km (7.76 mi) railway line of local significance in Croatia that connects stations Gradec and Sveti Ivan Žabno, representing the first newly built railway corridor in Croatia since 1967. The main purpose of the railway's construction was to bring the city of Bjelovar and its region closer to the City of Zagreb and to provide better mutual connection between Bjelovar-Bilogora, Koprivnica-Križevci and Zagreb counties. Trains on the new line provide the inhabitants of the region faster and better daily migration to work and school as the travel time between Bjelovar and Zagreb became shortened by about 50 minutes, meaning that the riding with fast or limited-stop services between these two towns now takes approximately just over na hour. Work on the construction of this railway began in December 2015 and the railway was put into operation on December 15, 2019.[1]

Gradec-Sveti Ivan Žabno railway
Overview
StatusActive
OwnerHŽ Infrastruktura d.o.o.
Line numberL214 (HŽ)
LocaleZagreb County; Koprivnica-Križevci County
Stations5
Service
TypeLocal rail
Operator(s)Croatian Railways
History
OpenedDecember 15, 2019
Technical
Line length12.5 km (7.76 mi)
Number of tracks1
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
ElectrificationNon-electrified
Operating speedUp to 120 km/h (74.6 mph)

Passenger trains running on this line provide regular, limited-stop and fast services and operate exclusively as diesel motor units on routes such as Zagreb-Bjelovar-Zagreb, Zagreb-Bjelovar-Virovitica-Zagreb and Zagreb-Bjelovar-Virovitica-Osijek-Zagreb (from December 2022)[2] except for the summer- seasonal overnight fast service train Osijek-Virovitica-Bjelovar-Zagreb-Split-Osijek introduced in 2022 which operates as a classical compounded train (railcars hauled by a locomotive) and which represents the first direct railway connection of Bjelovar and Adriatic coast.[3]

Prior to the construction of the Gradec-Sveti Ivan Žabno line, all DMU trains running between Zagreb and Bjelovar (or furthermore to/from Kloštar/Virovitica) have been using the M201 line between the Gradec stop and the station Križevci (located about 12 km northeast from Gradec) where a change of driving direction had to be made, considering that from Križevci the L203 railway (Križevci - Bjelovar - Kloštar) continues in the opposite direction towards the station Sveti Ivan Žabno (located about 14 km southeast from Križevci and about 20 km west from Bjelovar) and vice versa.

After the Gradec - Sveti Ivan Žabno bypass was put into service, limited number of local trains still daily serves the L203 stations between Križevci and Sveti Ivan Žabno.[4]

Railway construction

The construction project of the new railway Gradec - Sveti Ivan Žabno included the following:

-construction of lower and upper railway structure with embankments, notches, cuts, drainage of railways and railway-road crossings

-construction of three overpasses, three underpasses and one bridge reconstruction of state, local and county roads in the length of 1.3 km

-construction of new connecting and bypass roads and field and forest roads in the length of about nine kilometers

-construction of three railway stations with canopies and parking lots for personal vehicles in Lubena, Remetinec Križevački and Haganj

-reconstruction of the station building in Gradec and the existing railway station Sveti Ivan Žabno, where a new station building with parking for cars and bicycles was built

-installation of signaling and safety and telecommunication devices in accordance with the requirements for railways of importance for local transport

-construction of electric power connections and external and internal lighting

-construction of noise barriers

References
  1. "Izgradnja nove pruge za prigradski promet na dionici Gradec-Sveti Ivan Žabno | HŽ Infrastruktura". Retrieved 2022-04-13.
  2. "HŽ uvodi direktni brzi vlak na relaciji Osijek – Bjelovar – Zagreb". tportal.hr. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
  3. "Direct Railway Line Between Bjelovar and Split Will Start this Summer". www.total-croatia-news.com. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
  4. "HŽ Putnički prijevoz". prodaja.hzpp.hr. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
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