The construction of a new rail link between Divača and Koper, in Slovenia, is one of the key projects in Europe, as it is part of two TEN-T corridors. The grand opening of the new infrastructure has already been delayed a few times, and the consortium of contractors is now asking for 350 million euros in compensation.
The consortium, which includes Slovenian construction company Kolektor and Turkish Yapi Merkezi, submitted a claim to 2TDK, the state-owned entity which will manage the future Divača-Koper line. The main bone of contention concerns the works for the Glinščica viaduct between 2021 and 2022. “The value of the claim is 350,025,600.00 euros”, 2TDK specified.
According to the contractors, the implementation of the Glinščica viaduct, which will connect the first two tunnels of the railway (T1 and T2), forced the workers to stop, thus increasing costs as well as construction time. Because of this, they are asking “for a reimbursement of all costs incurred in connection with the stoppage of work”, as 2TDK stated. The consortium is claiming that the delays connected to the Glinščica viaduct had a significant impact on the rest of the project.
“Amount of the claim is unreasonable”
The state-owned company pointed out that the amount of the claim is considered “unreasonable given the circumstances known to us”. Nevertheless, the decision on the matter will be made by a third-party supervising engineer, who will decide whether there is enough evidence to justify the claim. “2TDK handles state funds carefully and strongly emphasises that it has not and will never pay unjustified or unfounded costs”, the company concluded.
While this legal diatribe carries on, construction of the Divača-Koper line continues despite increasing costs, which rose by 23 million euros to a total of 251 million. The opening of the first single-track is expected for March next year. For example, a train recently ran on the section near Škofije to deliver the rails needed in the T8 tunnel, the last one before the stretch that reaches the port of Koper.
Doubling the Divača-Koper
Initially, the project for a new railway between Divača and Koper entailed a single-track line. However, at the end of 2024, the Slovenian government approved the plan to make it a double track. The second line will run parallel to the one currently in construction. Work for this should start next year, with completion planned for 2030.
The construction of the second railway should cost somewhere around 350 million euros. Building the second line should be a tad easier, since many of the service tunnels used for construction of the first line will become part of the second track. In other words, 61 per cent of the infrastructure will be ready to be doubled. 2TDK will manage the whole infrastructure.