He expects that passenger as well as cargo trains will start running in two year's time, when works will be completed on the final 12 kilometres of the dilapidated track.

The reconstruction of the railway is expected to cost around EUR 100m in total, with the final stretch alone costing EUR 40m. Gašperšič said that the funds will be earmarked in next year's budget.

The goal is to redirect traffic from the regional road between Kočevje and Ljubljana, the same road that rendered the tracks nearly obsolete in 1970, after which only the occasional cargo train plied the route.

The tracks were in very bad shape. There was virtually no signalling system, in some places speed was limited to a mere 20 km/h, and the maximum axle load was capped at 16 tonnes.

The minister promised that the project would be treated as a priority by the government. Under the current plan, the reconstruction will be completed nine years after it started, running much longer than the original build in the late 19th century.

The tracks were built by the Hapsburg Monarchy in just over a year, between March 1892 and July 1893. The first train ran to Kočevje two months after the track was laid.