The reforms and investments under the "Sustainable Mobility" component aim to promote the use of public transport and rail passenger and freight transport, the use of alternative fuels in transport, and the digital transformation of rail and road transport.

Reform of the organisation of public passenger transport

Public transport in Slovenia was severely affected during the COVID-19 pandemic, with passenger numbers falling by 75% in 2020.

This reform aims to promote and improve the accessibility and competitiveness of public transport so that it can recover after the pandemic. The reform will establish an integrated public passenger transport operator at the national level, which will support the integration of rail and bus public transport with intercity, urban, school and workers’ transport.

The reform will be implemented with the entry into force of a new law on public passenger transport and the establishment and entry into operation of a new integrated public transport operator. This is expected to be reflected in an increase in the use of public passenger transport.

Reform of the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure

The aim of the reform is to increase the use of alternative fuels in domestic and cross-bordertransport and to reduce the share of greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions from transport. In particular, the reform shall designate an entity to coordinate the needs of the transport and energy sectors, which shall ensure and coordinate the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure and hence make the transition to zero and low emission mobility more resilient.

The reform shall be implemented with entry into force of an Act on alternative fuels in transport and alternative fuels infrastructure which shall also establish a national regulatory framework in the field of alternative fuels in transport.

Increasing capabilities of the railway infrastructure – investment

The investments shall promote rail transport and connectivity with urban centres. They shall also improve accessibility of railway stations to a wider population, including people with disabilities. The selected projects shall improve the transport service, both for passenger and freight transport:

• Through the upgrading of major railway stations on the regional network, Grosuplje,
  Domžale and Nova Gorica.
• Through the upgrading of a part of the Ljubljana – Divača railway line, which represents the main transport link of Primorska to Central Slovenia and is part of the two TEN-T corridors passing through Slovenia, namely the Mediterranean Corridor and the Baltic-Adriatic Corridor.
• Through the upgrading of the Ljubljana – Jesenice railway line.
• Through the upgrading of the Ljubljana railway station.
• Through the upgrading of a part of: the Jesenice – Sežana regional railway line and the Maribor – Prevalje–state border regional railway line.

 This investment is financed both by the Recovery and Resilience Facility and national funding.

Digitalisation of rail and road infrastructure – investment

The aim of this investment is to provide reliable information on the transport system in order to improve the acquisition and exchange of traffic data on the state of transport infrastructure and the real-time movement of vehicles. The investment shall ensure better interoperability of management systems, thus making traffic management more efficient and improving safety by digitising road transport.

Digitalisation of 70 kilometres of road transport: the investment shall comprise, inter alia, the upgrading of the fibre network and the purchase of road detectors for real-time collection of traffic data, including a simulation tool for the planning, control and forecasting of traffic on the motorway network, and an application tool for users. By allowing real-time adjustments of travel speed limits, the traffic manager is expected to be able to prevent accidents and congestions, as well as to reduce emissions. The investment shall be implemented by the Motorway Company in Slovenia, which is entrusted with the legal monopoly for the construction and operation of motorways.

Promoting the deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure in transport – investment

The investment shall co-finance the deployment of recharging or refuelling infrastructures for alternative fuels. Those shall include 368 recharging points for electric vehicles for general use. Further 80 additional recharging points shall be owned by state administration and dedicated for performing of administrative tasks.

Based on of a preliminary analysis of the existing situation and future needs for such infrastructure, critical areas will be identified in which financial incentives will be primarily directed, thus ensuring an adequate geographical dispersion of recharging or refuelling infrastructure for alternative fuels in transport.