The port of Koper announced that the supervisors of the company have decided to form a crisis unit because of the congestions in the Slovenian railway network, and consequently delays in transport of cargo from the port.

The crisis unit will include SŽ - Tovorni promet (Slovenian Railways – Cargo Traffic, RCC (Rail Cargo Carrier), Adria Transport, Zveza špediterjev Slovenije (Freight Forwarder Association, SŽ - Infrastruktura (Slovenian Railways – Infrastructure) and Luka Koper (the Port of Koper), which will start functioning immediately.

Yet not everybody agrees that the situation in Koper is critical; Minister of Infrastructure Peter Gašperšič disagrees as well. In his opinion Luka Koper went a bit too far with emphasizing the problems with the railway network. At the occasion of the meeting of participants in traffic at Brdo near Kranj he said that the Slovenian Railways are doing their best to deal with the delays, but they need the cooperation of Luka Koper as well.

Construction permit soon
In his opinion Luka Koper is lately emphasizing the problems which have been present for some time, and considers that we should stop causing damage to the Slovenian logistics as a whole by dedicating too much media attention to the problem. "I hope the problems will be settled as soon as possible, and that they will be solved at the level of business companies, in offices of directors, and not in full view of both Slovenian and international public," he said.

He also emphasized the fact that the state does not need additional pressure in order to realize the importance of the second railway track, as the decision had already been made. The projects for modernisation of the rest of the railway infrastructure at core corridors are also proceeding. In his opinion the results of the work done on the project for the second railway track will be quite soon visible.

"Our goal is to prepare everything necessary for filing the application to obtain financing of the project from European funds," he explained, and added that the construction permit for the second track is expected within two months.

A. Č.; Translated by G. K.