Sleeping spot Trieste – Ljubljana

Cross-border section Trieste -Divaca
Regarding the east part of the axis, from Trieste to Ljubljana, it is important to consider and analyse the future of the cross-border section between Trieste and Divaca.
In December 2008, the European Commission decided to allocate nearly €51 million for the study and design of the Trieste-Divača section. As proposed in the Mid-Term Review of 2010, the project documentation should be finished by the end of 2015, after which construction works on the optimum alignment can start. On the political level, in June 2007 the Italian infrastructure minister Mr di Pietro and his Slovenian counterpart Mr Bozia concluded an agreement about the cross-border section between Trieste and Divaca. A “protocol of agreement” on implementing this section was signed on 17 July 2007, with work scheduled to begin in 2013.

Alignment proposals

1. On the basis of a first hypothesis, the one that the Italian railways prefers, the alignment starts at the new station Ronchi Airport and it continues in a tunnel until Villa Opicina. The entry into Slovenian territory should be located in the northern part of this city. In the proximity of the Valle del Vipacco a link with the present line Nova Gorica-Aidussina is foreseen. The weak point of this solution is the penalisation for Trieste, which risks being left out of the new line if adequate links or connections are not planned.
2. The second option has major consensus in the Slovenian railways and it proposes the link between the new station at Ronchi Airport and the node of Trieste. The entry into Slovenian territory would be in Villa Opicina and then it would continue as far as Divaca alongside the existing highway and railway. After Divaca the line would be in a tunnel as far as Postumia and then on the surface to Ljubljana.
3. The last option is the one proposed by the Slovenian government and it proposes a mainly underground route from Trieste to San Dorligo della Valle, where the entry into Slovenia is planned. From Divaca the route proposed is the same as in the second option.

The technical and administrative difficulties added to those regarding choice of route made it very doubtful that work could start before 2014.
A first alignment parallel to the coastal line was developed at feasibility study level in 2008. However, the study showed that this alignment would have resulted in a considerable impact as far as karst geology and hydro-geology were concerned and, for this reason, Italy proposed to abandon it. In January 2011, agreement was found on a new alignment which runs through the karst highland in places where the presence of underground caves is comparably lower compared to the 2008 solution.

Figures
The completion of the new mixed line from Trieste to Ljubljana (70 km in length) should decrease travel time by about 2 hours. Currently the trip takes more than 3 hours; it should be less than one hour in the future.
Slovenia also presented a funding request to the European Union for the construction works which are in Slovenian territory, on the section from Divaca to Ljubljana.  However, the Commission did not retain the project for funding due to the extremely segmented nature of the works.
There is no information available on the estimated costs of the cross border section.
Aside from scarce funds, the Slovenian tract is considered another weak point for Corridor 5. The uncertainty in this case arises from the risk that the high-speed rail infrastructure projects will move ahead very slowly.