Slovenske Železnice has opened the 3.7 km Počehova – Pesnica rail section as part of the project to upgrade the 18-km Maribor – Šentilj railway line.
The first train left on the new 3.7-kilometer section from the direction of Maribor to Šentilje on August 14, 2023, crossing a new tunnel and Pesnica viaduct. Under the project, six levels crossings are removed and replaced and another two replaced by an overpass.
The construction, which included two larger structures, began in September 2020. The special feature of the currently longest railway viaduct in Slovenia is that it is the first viaduct in Slovenia that was built according to the concept of integral railway viaducts without track beds.
The inauguration of the Počehova – Pesnica rail section took place one year after the breakthrough of the new Pekel railway tunnel where the last works are in progress including for Pesnica viaduct before the opening of both facilities and their commissioning. A load test of the viaduct was also carried out with two locomotives of the 664 series. The 1,530-meter-long tunnel and the 896-meter-long viaduct replaced the structures that were built in 1846, which were part of the Southern Railway from Vienna to Trieste.
As some works are not currently finished due to the difficulties with the connection from the old to the new track, Slovenske Železnice says that they are expected to be completed in October 2023.
EUR 120 million was the value of the contract for Počehova – Pesnica rail section including the tunnel and the viaduct carried out under the Maribor – Šentilj railway upgrade project worth EUR 286.65 million. For the implementation of the project, a EUR 114.7 million co-financing was provided through the Cohesion Fund, while EUR 13 million from the Climate Fund.
The project will reduce travel times, improves traffic safety and increase the capacity and train speed to 120 km/h on the Maribor – Šentilj railway which ensures connection with Austria.
The project will increase the number of trains running between Maribor and Šentilj from 67 to 84 per day which takes account of increases in traffic volumes to 2039 upgrade the track category between Maribor and Šentilj and increase transport safety by building traffic crossings at different heights.
Photos: gov.si/Benjamin Berlič
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