Luka Svetina from Tema dneva hosted Minister of Infrastructure, Jernej Vrtovec. They talked about the current government’s investments in infrastructure, projects that are already underway, those planned for the future and how much this government supports development and progress in general.
Minister of Infrastructure, Jernej Vrtovec, was a guest at Tema dneva with Luka Svetina. They discussed the effects of the epidemic on the Ministry’s projects, ongoing projects and those planned in the future, for which money has already been provided.
The Minister noted that the Ministry is taking advantage of the current situation – decline in traffic – to carry out works on highways, such as resurfacing. They are also currently working on a 10 million investment on the Gorenjska railway line from Kranj to Jesenice (partially due to the closure of the Karavanke tunnel). He added that the current government is very much in favour of investments. In fact, the supplementary budget this year allocated 40 million euros more for infrastructure investments.
Lots of investments are aimed at renovations of railway trails and stations
The Minister acknowledged that Slovenian railways, including trains, look like an open-air museum and that renovations are urgently needed. He announced investments in the renovation of the Grosuplje, Domžale, Škofja Loka and Brežice-Krško railway stations. He also announced the renovation of the Styrian part of the railway system from Zidani Most to Maribor and onwards and in Prekmurje Beltinci-Redava-Redič towards Hungary, which he especially pointed out as a great opportunity for connecting Prekmurje and their economy to other parts of the country.
When asked about the speed of trains in the future, he said that they are working hard to shorten travel times as much as possible, and that many things can be solved by double-track to Kranj, Kamnik, Grosuplje, Vrhnika, and a new railway connection to Maribor.
Regarding the so-called Emonika, he said that it is a big investment, that they have already adopted a memorandum, which is now inter-ministerially coordinated and will soon be adopted by the government, and signed by the Hungarian investors, who had wanted to leave Slovenia, but the government’s efforts paid off and they had remained. It is 350 million euros of money that otherwise would not exist. He announced the start of the investment launch for 2022.
New trains will be on Slovenian tracks this year
Regarding the new trains, the Minister pointed out that the documentation that is supposed to confirm the serviceability of the new trains from Stadler is already on the table and that some new trains should start traveling on Slovenian railways this year. Slovenian trains are really in a “museum” condition, they are old, slow, worn out and this is an investment that Slovenian railways needs.
Uber is coming
Finally, they talked about the new rules for truckers on Slovenian highways, which from January onwards will not be allowed to overtake on the highway A1 – from Šentilj to Koper, and about the establishment of Uber, which the current government anticipates to happen in Slovenia. The mentioned ban will be a daily ban, and the minister believes that it will not create one long lane and traffic jams, although he is aware of the importance of investing in the construction of third lanes on Slovenian highways.