The agreement, which was signed by the director of Slovenian Railways (SZ), Ms Darja Kocjan, and the president of the management board of Croatian Railways (HZ), Mr Zeljko Ukic, outlines guidelines and measures to improve the services.

There are currently 14 regular, six seasonal and 20 border services between Croatia and Slovenia. HZ and SZ will look to improve the quality and frequency of international services, including improving the availability of cross-border tickets, introducing catering services, and promoting special fares.

“Given that about 130,000 passengers were transported by train between Croatia and Slovenia last year, I believe that based on the activities defined in the agreement, we will be introducing new offers and services,” Ukic says. “With small steps, marketing activities, successful communication and, above all, cooperation, we can influence the existing offer and improve the business and positively influence the future of transport.”

“Today, we are witnessing fierce competition from road transport,” Kocjan says. “We as railway operators need to act to make more passengers use the train as the most environmentally friendly mode of transport, with special offers for travel and the promotion of rail transport.

“I believe that by working together, we can contribute more to strengthening rail passenger transport, which will increase the number of users of our services.”