Construction of a bridge underway in Komadinovo Vrelo, which will carry the railway line from Jablanica to Mostar

(Patria) - Work on repairing the damaged section of the railway near Komadinovo Vrelo, close to Jablanica, which began on November 30, 2024, is proceeding according to plan, it was announced by Željeznice FBiH.

Workers from the Turkish company CENGIZ INSAAT SANAYI VE TICARET A.S. – Zenica Branch, which has undertaken the repair of this section completely free of charge, are on site daily. In addition to its employees, Cengiz Insaat has also provided heavy machinery necessary for the railway renovation project.

After the completion of preparatory works on clearing the terrain and constructing a platform for dismantling the damaged railway and ensuring unimpeded access for machinery, the remnants of the track structure, approximately 80 meters in length, were successfully removed. Following this, work began on constructing a bridge that will connect the railway from Sarajevo towards Mostar. The bridge will be built with two side abutments – Upornjaka U1 and U2, and a span structure of 26 meters.

Despite the less-than-ideal weather conditions, all necessary machinery is visible on site. Employees of Cengiz Insaat are making great efforts to complete the work as soon as possible and make the railway functional.

As of December 21, 2024, all drilling and concreting of 11 piles on both sides of the railway, i.e., for both side abutments U1 and U2, six on the Jablanica side (U1) and five on the Mostar side (U2), have been completed.

Furthermore, the parapet beam of the bridge on the Jablanica side has been constructed, as well as the walls of Abutment U1. On the Mostar side, concrete for the parapet slab has been installed, and reinforcement for the parapet beam towards Mostar has been placed, along with its formwork and concreting. At station 88+650, material has been mechanically filled and compacted on the existing culvert, along with formwork and concreting of the foundation slab and the reinforced concrete walls of the culvert. Work is currently underway on installing reinforcement and setting up formwork for the culvert.

A precise completion date for the works cannot yet be stated, but the fact that the work so far is proceeding according to plan, very precisely and in accordance with projected parameters, instills optimism.

Željeznice FBiH once again thanks Cengiz Insaat for everything it is doing to restore railway traffic to the southern line as soon as possible, as well as the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the University of Sarajevo for donating the services of reviewing the project documentation, and Institut IGH d.o.o. Mostar for donating supervision services during the execution.

Railway traffic between Jablanica and Mostar has been interrupted since the devastating floods on October 4, as an 80-meter section of the track collapsed due to a water surge and landslide.