CROATIA TO SET ASIDE DM4 MILLION FOR RECONSTRUCTION OF UNA RAILWAY

ZAGREB, April 4 (Hina) - The Croatian Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Communications will this year set aside 16 million kuna (about DM4 million) for the reconstruction of a 60-km-long Croatian section of the so-called Una River railway running from Martin Brod to Knin, Croatian Railway (HZ) officials said. This is a very important section for the HZ because reopening railway traffic from Sisak via Sunja and Bihac (in western Bosnia- Herzegovina) to Knin would re-direct transport of freight to the Split and Sibenik ports from the railway running through the central Croatian region of Lika to the Una railway. Croatian and Bosnian railway directors held a meeting in March at which they expressed mutual interest in reopening the Sisak-Sunja- Bihac-Martin Brod-Knin railway and the Ploce-Mostar-Sarajevo- Slavonski Samac-Djakovo-Osijek-Beli Manastir-Budapest railway, which makes the C-siding of the fifth pan-European traffic corridor. After the meeting, a commission was set up to establish the state of the Una River railway, suggest necessary works, and set a deadline for the opening of the railway for traffic. HZ officials said the railway running through Lika, which is used for the transport of most freight travelling toward Dalmatian ports, is a bottleneck because of its poor technical characteristics but also because it is frequently closed for traffic due to reconstruction works. (hina) rml