Croatian Railways (; abbreviated as HŽ) is the national railway company of Croatia. Croatia is a member of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The UIC Country Code for Croatia is 78. The Croatian rail network carried 20.270 million passengers in 2018.
History
Croatian Railways was founded in 1991 from the former JŽ ("Yugoslav Railways") Zagreb Division, following Croatia's secession from Yugoslavia. Its vehicle fleet was initially the one found at the time of the breakup of Yugoslavia. It has been modernized over time, and further modernization is currently being carried out. The first railway section on the territory of today's Republic of Croatia, then part of the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, was built in 1860 in Međimurje: the railway line from Nagykanizsa in Hungary via Čakovec and Kotoriba continued to Pragerski in Slovenia. It is worth noting that this railway - although only a small part of it passed through Croatian territory (Međimurje was part of Croatia at the time the railway was built, but in January 1861, it was annexed to Hungary by the decision of Vienna) was built only 35 years after the first European railway, which was established in 1825 between the towns of Stockton and Darlington in England. Railroads that connected Rijeka, the most important port in Croatia, with Trieste (and further with Vienna), and with Zagreb (and further with Budapest ) were put into service in 1873.
Organisation
Until 1 November 2012, Croatian Railways was one single company, when in accordance EU Directive 91/440. requiring EU member states to separate "the management of railway operation and infrastructure from the provision of railway transport services, it was divided into three separate and independent companies: HŽ Cargo d.o.o. (responsible for cargo transport) HŽ Putnički prijevoz d.o.o. (responsible for passenger transport) HŽ Infrastruktura d.o.o. (responsible for railway Infrastructure)
Railway network
Types of passenger train lines
Power systems
The original decision in former Yugoslavia was to use 3 kV DC electrification for the railway network. This was performed on the Rijeka–Zagreb line, which due to the mountainous Gorski kotar region had a need for more powerful trains than the traditional diesel powered ones.
Beginning with the modernisation of the Zagreb–Belgrade railway line an electrification system of 25 kV/50 Hz was used. Electrification on other lines in Croatia was then made exclusively 25 kV/50 Hz. Later, the majority of the Zagreb–Rijeka line was re-electrified to 25 kV/50 Hz, but until December 2012 there was still a part that under 3 kV DC. Consequentially a power system break existed at Moravice. HŽ was considering the purchase of dual-voltage locomotives, as an alternative to full re-electrification of 3 kV DC tracks, but the idea was scrapped for good as all electrified railways in Croatia are now using 25 kV/50 Hz.
All railway power systems in Croatia are exclusively of type overhead catenary.
Future developments and projects
The Croatian Rail network dates back to the mid 19th century, when the first train lines were built around Zagreb and Northern Croatia in 1857 though 1860. Of the current network of 2,617 km in operation (some 300 km of rail track isn't operational due to low demand), only 20% allow for speeds over 100 km/h, of these only 5% of the network allows speeds in excess of 160 km/h. Some 1000 km of the rail network is electrified and only 275 km of the rail network is double tracked. In 2007/8 Croatian railways transported over 46 million passengers.