On 16 May 2023 a press conference was held at Ljubljana rail station where the Head of Railway Investment Division at Slovenian Infrastructure Agency (DRSI), the Director of the infrastructure manager SŽ – Infrastruktura, and the Director of Slovenske železnice’s passenger operator, SŽ – Potniški promet, outlined engineering work currently underway on Slovenian rail network.
The Head of Railway Investment Division at DRSI Dejan Jurkovič said that the current infrastructure investment cycle aims to make up for the lack of investment in rail infrastructure over the past years. Such work unavoidably causes some disruption and delays to train services, however, despite everyone’s best efforts.
Engineering work is currently taking place on various parts of the railway, such as between Maribor and Šentilj and between Brezovica and Borovnica. Renewal works are in full swing at the stations of Pragersko, Šentjur and Zagorje, with the same about to start in Ponikve, Laze, Litija, Nova Gorica, Sevnica, Krško and Jesenice. Delays are also expected in connection to the planned upgrades of the Ljubljana train station.
Matjaž Kranjc, the Director of SŽ – Infrastruktura, Slovenian infrastructure manager, explained that planned engineering work, while impacting on train services, also affects maintenance work elsewhere on the railway. To avoid causing too much disruption, track closures associated with engineering projects are timed together with maintenance-related closures, some train services are rescheduled, and rail replacement buses are operated to carry passengers where track is closed for traffic. Kranjc also pointed out that sometimes problems occur which are more difficult to predict, such as the recent thefts of trackside cables, causing additional frustration and delays. A total of 62 such thefts were recorded in 2022, and the number for this year stands at eleven already.
Darja Kocjan, the Director of passenger operator SŽ – Potniški promet, underscored the pressing need to invest in rail infrastructure despite the challenging nature of such work. She emphasized the importance of keeping passengers up to date on the latest travel information so they can plan their journey accordingly. Information about planned delays can be found on https://potniski.sz.si/info/ and by calling 080 81 11 free of charge. Passengers can also check a special interactive map which shows the trains in service and the associated delays, if any. The map can be used to check the location of any train operating on the network at that particular moment based on the data from the traffic control system.
A list of delays by train service and routes where buses replace trains can be found on SŽ – Potniški promet’s website:
Help and Travel Updates – Slovenske železnice (sz.si)
Image: Screenshot from SŽ – Potniški promet’s website
Kocjan expects to see an additional increase in ridership once the new combined train and bus travel pass becomes available for purchase on 1 June 2023. The results of introducing the pass, which will offer unlimited travel on all trains and buses in Slovenia, are expected to show later in fall. She also pointed out that capacity will be adjusted, as appropriate, to the situation on the network as much as reasonably practicable.
You can find out more about the combined travel pass and Slovenske železnice’s network upgrade projects in “Dobro jutro”, a show broadcast on RTV SLO television channel (the video is available at https://www.rtvslo.si/rtv365/arhiv/174958256?s=tv starting at 14:54) which hosted mag. Matjaž Vrčko from the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Energy and Primož Kokalj from SŽ – Potniški promet.
