The Swiss company has leased space from HŽ Cargo and is entering the Croatian rail vehicle maintenance market. The center is intended for operators on corridors between Central Europe, the Balkans, and Adriatic ports.
Swiss company Wyss&Lila has opened a service branch in Rijeka, on Krešimirova Street, in a space leased from HŽ Cargo, thereby entering the Croatian rail vehicle maintenance market and bringing direct competition to existing domestic providers of these services. The new facility spans approximately one thousand square meters and is primarily intended for the maintenance of locomotives and rail vehicles operating between Central Europe, the Balkans, and Adriatic ports, according to information published by the company itself.
Wyss&Lila positions the Rijeka center as a strategically important link in its pan-European network of service capacities. The company highlighted that the project's goal is to reduce vehicle downtime and increase operational reliability of transport.
"Located at the intersection of key European transport corridors, our center enables rail operators, leasing companies, and equipment manufacturers to receive significantly faster and more flexible servicing, and the main goal of the project is to reduce vehicle downtime on the tracks and increase overall operational reliability of transport,"states the company's announcement, as reported by Lider.
Wyss&Lila CEO Nikola Tubić explained the strategic logic behind choosing Rijeka in statements to foreign logistics media:
"Croatia and Rijeka are strategically important for Wyss&Lila. Our strategy is to build maintenance capacities where vehicles actually operate. Today, we can support rail maintenance from North Sea ports, through Central and Southeast Europe, all the way to the Bosphorus, with Rijeka providing this network with an important Adriatic anchor. For us, it is a starting point for broader development, and Wyss&Lila is ready to invest significantly in the region and turn Rijeka into a major maintenance hub."The value of the investment has not been disclosed.
In addition to regular maintenance and repairs, the Rijeka center will also provide full technical support, including high-voltage installation testing, diagnostics of complex electrical systems, engineering services and technical modifications of vehicles, as well as spare parts management and component logistics. Special emphasis is placed on mobile service teams available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, which can intervene and troubleshoot directly in the field across Southeast Europe, without the need for the vehicle to come to the service facility.
So far, the Croatian rail vehicle maintenance market has traditionally been dominated by domestic companies: TŽV Gredelj, Tehnički servisi željezničkih vozila (TSŽV) owned by HŽ Putnički prijevoz, and Končar - Električna vozila, which already maintains a fleet of electric locomotives and trains. Gredelj has been in business turmoil for years and searching for a strategic partner, while TSŽV is primarily focused on state-owned railway companies, leaving private operators with limited options for rapid intervention.
The context into which Wyss&Lila is entering is marked by serious technical challenges. According to data from HŽ Cargo's operational documents cited by Lider, operational locomotives on Croatian tracks have an average age of over 52 years, resulting in an annual availability of only 70 percent, caused by frequent failures such as problems with main compressors or turbochargers. A particular problem is excessive wheel wear on the Rijeka line towards Moravice, which lowers the utilization rate of key locomotives from 90 to 70 percent and requires frequent turning and axle replacement.
Additional pressure on operational efficiency is created by construction works and frequent line closures on the RH2 corridor and the route towards Koprivnica, as well as infrastructure bottlenecks in neighboring countries. Under such conditions, any unplanned breakdown means direct financial losses for private freight operators, who are the primary target segment of the new Rijeka center. The opening of the Rijeka center is part of Wyss&Lila's broader strategy to build a pan-European network of service centers, and comes at a time of strong growth in rail freight traffic driven by European Union goals and the development of the TEN-T transport network, which encompasses key transport corridors across the entire continent.
