Friday’s inspection of the railway took place in the rain, a complete opposite to the government’s previous visit last August during a massive fire, when locals who live by the tracks started urging the authorities to re-locate the existing track and build a two-track railway there. They even threatened to call for a referendum.

President of the Črni Kal local community Janko Sever explains that he hopes "to hear the state secretary say some day that a two-track railway would be constructed. In this case, no referendums or anything else would be needed and everyone would be satisfied."

Will Leben convince the government?
Upon inspection, the state secretary noted he was shocked about the conditions in certain sections of the railway line. There are no roads that would provide fire brigades easy access, which means they have to do all their work manually. Additionally, there is lots of noise. All of this needs to be taken into consideration when searching for a suitable solution, emphasized Leben.

As part of the ongoing project of the second railway line from Koper to Divača, the government is thus considering to build a two-track line. Collecting signatures for a referendum, however, is every citizen’s legitimate right, assures Leben before adding: "But it would have an impact on the project, the timeline, tender applications, cooperation with the European Investment Bank and other countries in the hinterland, which is why it’s up to us to seriously consider the possibility to build a new two-track railway on the Koper-Divača line." It is still too early to tell when the final decision would be made, concluded Leben.

Jasna Preskar, Radio Slovenija; translated by K. Z.