Author: Klevis Paloka
The station of travelers waiting to travel by train from Durrës to Tirana has been empty for a long time. There are no citizens in the waiting room. The benches are empty. The only ones who seem to move tirelessly and with all the time available in these areas are the railway employees. The trains seem to be eternally frozen in the station and their disuse for a long time has led them to total degradation. Now the wagons have been turned into shelters for animals and homeless people.
The last intervention made for the reconstruction of this railway line was carried out in 1999 by the Italian company "Fersalento". An investment that started in 1994 and ended five years later. But this investment was also realized through a loan granted by the Italian government worth about 3 million dollars. Later, in the history of loans, another loan of 1 million dollars was issued by the World Bank, since the loan granted by the government did not cover the 37.6 kilometer line. Even then, the investment was not complete but only a partial intervention on the main line, not including the railway lines and stations of Durrës, Shkozet, Sukth, Vorë, Kashar, Tirana.
According to the Albanian Railways, the "Tirana-Durrës" railway line has been discontinued for eight years.
"Rail transport of passengers on the "Durrës-Tirana" railway line has been suspended since early September 2013 unilaterally by the Municipality of Tirana," states the official response of the Albanian Railways, which has also led to the destruction of the railway infrastructure of the Durrës-Tirana station lines.
But contrary to what the Albanian Railway claims, Jorida Tabaku, the deputy mayor of the Municipality of Tirana in 2013, opposes this fact.
"We were discussing moving the station from the investment to the boulevard, but the railway line was never interrupted, the station was moving to Kashar where the terminal was planned," Tabaku told ACQJ.
The citizens of Durrës have lost hope that train trips will return or that the railway will be reborn. For citizens, traveling by train would have a lower cost. Agimi, a 60-year-old who has been a regular traveler on the Durrës-Tirana line, expresses nostalgia.
"It's been years since the train to Tirana has been running. Even though they promised to do it, we haven't seen anything yet. The resumption of the Durrës-Tirana line would have lower economic costs for us as citizens, but the travel time would also be shortened," says Agimi.
Even that line that has been operating recently has now stopped pending reconstruction.
Capitulation of trains, the next project
The statistics of the Albanian Railway, made available to ACQJ, show that the movement figures have decreased.
In 2019, 59.787 travelers traveled by rail, while in 2020, 17.948 travelers traveled by rail. One of the reasons for this large decrease is the interruption of passenger transport due to anticovid measures.
According to HSH, the railway station of Tirana was the main center for the use of railway transport.
"Tirana Station covered about 53% of the railway's annual income in passenger transport, thus influencing the decrease in overall railway transport income," emphasizes the Albanian Railway.
This railway awaits complete reconstruction. In October, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced that the Italian company INC SPA was the winner of the competition for the rehabilitation project of the 34.2 km railway link between Tirana (Tirana's Public Transport Terminal) and the city of Durrës as well as the construction of about 5 kilometers of the new railway line between Tirana and Rinas Airport.
The total cost of the project is 92.1 million euro, of which 35.5 million euro grant is covered by the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) and 36.9 million euro is covered by the EBRD loan, while the remaining part will be financed by the Albanian government.
Will they give us the keys?
The Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy promises ACQJ that during this summer the dismantling of the existing line will begin and the works will begin in the fall.
"The Project for the Rehabilitation of the existing Durrës-Tirana railway line and the construction of the new railway line with the Mother Teresa International Airport has now been finalized with the signing of the Contract on February 3, 2021, while construction works will begin on September 11, 2021 (after the completion of the first 6-month phase, the completion of the detailed implementation project which is in the drafting process). This Contract is of the "DESIGN & BUILD" typology (Turnkey Contract), drafted in accordance with FIDIC Contracts according to EU standards and rules, where the Works Contractor bears responsibility not only for the construction but also for the drafting of the final Implementation project. In parallel, the Contractor has been activated with the mobilization of the Site and in order to accelerate the implementation of the works during the summer period of 2021, (June - August) work will begin on the dismantling of the existing line immediately after the engagement of "The Bank's Consultant will manage the Environmental and Social Plan on site according to the Bank's requirements. This entire contract, which has already started, has a total duration of 30 months (including the DESIGN period)," the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy's response to ACQJ states.
However, the State Agency for Expropriation states that no request for expropriation within this project has gone to this institution.
"The State Agency for Expropriation has not yet received a request with an expropriation project within the framework of the construction of the Tirana-Durres Railway. An orientation meeting was held on the method of drafting the 'request for expropriation'. The latter aimed at avoiding unnecessary prolongation of the process with returns and completion of files," the ASA's response to ACQJ states.
With the prediction that this project will have a great impact as it will be the most favorable and safe alternative transport, Albanian Railways officially counts the facilities that go in favor of the citizens.
"The investment that will be made in the Durrës-Tirana-Durrës railway line, which also foresees the railway reconnection of the Albanian railway network with the capital of Albania, is the most favorable and safest alternative transport for citizens living between Durrës and Tirana as well as the entire population of the country, who use railway transport. Citizens will not use buses but will frequent the train, spending less," concludes its response to the ACQJ Albanian Railway.
Regarding this fact, ACQJ communicated with a bus driver who serves on the Durrës-Tirana-Durrës route. Deda, who has been describing this axis for several years, says that the investment will bring a positive effect to the citizens. But it will affect him and his colleagues for the worse.
"For citizens, this will have positive consequences, but for me and my colleagues, this will have negative consequences, as citizens will tend to travel by train. The pandemic has hit us a little, but this will hit us later. If it is done according to all the conditions, the bus line to Tirana will be forced to go bankrupt, as it is known that citizens will choose an option that is cheaper and perhaps even safer," concludes the 54-year-old.
The train comes along with the noise
In the non-technical report, it is stated that the construction of the railway line will create noise for the houses that are built near the line.
"For apartments that are very close to the line and the noise level exceeds the norms measured according to the noise level measurement standard SSH EN ISO/DIS 1996-2:2007," the report states.
While this report also mentions that: "The Tirana-Durres railway line passes through areas with an agricultural and often urban character. Also, the new Tirana-Rinas line passes through a rural agricultural area. The project of this line will cross the Tirana and Lana rivers through bridges so that there will be a minimal impact on the ecosystems on the banks of these rivers during the construction phase . "
Meanwhile, from the ACQJ's research, it appears that although these data have been sent to the National Environment Agency for approval, the KTA has not yet expressed a decision on this matter.
