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Montenegro opens 13.5 mln euro tender for revamp of 9 railway tunnels
May 27, 2026, 12:21:13 PMArticle by Iskra Pavlova
May 27 (SeeNews) - Montenegro's state-controlled railway infrastructure operator Zeljeznicka Infrastruktura Crne Gore (ZICG) said it has opened a tender for the rehabilitation of nine tunnels on the country's main 167-km railway line connecting the Adriatic port of Bar in the south to Vrbnica, on the northern border with Serbia.
EU to invest 175 mln euro to upgrade Montenegro's Bar-Golubovci railway line/Photo: EIB
The required works encompass tunnels with a total length of some 2.9 km. The value of the works is estimated at 13.48 million euro ($15.69 million) without VAT. The project is co-financed by the European Investment Bank (EIB) under the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF), ZICG said in a call for offers published on Tuesday on the website of the European Union's tenders electronic daily (TED) journal.
The bidding deadline expires on August 24. The estimated duration of the contract is 24 months. The works will be carried out whilst the line remains in commercial operation, in defined daily traffic intervals.
The Bar-Vrnica line is a key section of Rail Route 4 on the EU's extended TEN-T transport network that connects Serbia's Belgrade to the Adriatic port of Bar in Montenegro, linking the Western Balkans to Central Europe. The rehabilitation project aims to improve rail capacity, efficiency and safety, and to promote a shift from road to rail, contributing to a more sustainable transport system in Montenegro.
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In May 2024, EIB Global signed a 75.5 million euro agreement with Montenegro for the Bar-Vrbnica railway revamp, providing a 40 million euro loan and two EU grants totalling 35.5 million under the WBIF. The Montenegrin government is expected to provide a further 4.5 million euro to support the project.
In December 2025, the EU said it was providing 175.6 million euro to Montenegro for the revamp of the 39 km-long Bar–Golubovci railway section of Bar-Vrbnica. The package comprises a 63 million euro EIB loan and a 112.6 million euro EU grant for the upgrade of the section linking the port of Bar with the town of Golubovci, on the outskirts of the capital Podgorica.
The total cost of the Bar-Golubovci project alone is estimated at 230 million euro, with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) providing a 50 million euro loan in addition to the financing from the EIB and the EU.