Engineer Drljo: The tunnel should be closed immediately, the damaged poles have only been repainted

Aug 6, 2025

Link to the original article: https://forbes.n1info.rs/vesti/inzenjer-drljo-za-novu-ekonomiju-prokop-treba-hitno-zatvoriti-osteceni-stubovi-su-samo-prefarbani/

Photo: Forbes Serbia

Engineer Edin Drljo warned that the “Belgrade Center” railway station building in Prokop will collapse if the two pillars on which it “stands” fail and appealed that the station should be closed urgently, Nova ekonomija announced today.

“On the platform beams of the Prokop station in the middle of the span, it was observed that cracks appeared in the lower zone. Based on the tests carried out by the Materials Testing Institute from Belgrade, it was concluded that the reinforcement in those beams is smaller than that provided in the previous project,” it was stated in the technical documentation for the tender.

According to the portal, the fear that the authorities are trying to mask the problem and not solve it arose when Drljo, after being in Prokop, published photos on social networks where it can be seen that workers are “smearing” the cracks, i.e. filling them with plaster or glue, so that passengers from the outside will not notice them, but the problem will still exist.

In the technical documentation, it is also written that it is necessary to strengthen the existing platform beams, in order to reduce the static effects in them, and it is proposed to construct new columns under the beams in the middle of the span.

“From what I’ve heard, they would do columns in the middle of the span, which is a radical cut and requires drilling piles and other work. If there was a little lack of reinforcement, they could have done cladding, but obviously that wasn’t enough. That’s a big problem. What bothers me is that they allow 550 people to live in the building that is directly above it. The building practically stands on those two columns and if they fail, the building will fall,” Drljo said.

The tender related to the strengthening of the platform beams will be opened until August 14, and as Forbes Serbia previously wrote, the Railway Infrastructure of Serbia received approval in April for the rehabilitation of two pillars, which are located within the underground part of Prokop.

The new economy writes that the tender documentation specifies exactly which columns were cracked, as well as that the so-called “MEGA” piles of Ø 219 millimeters were adopted, the length of which is about 10 meters “with the fact that the minimum length of the piles should not be less than four meters, so that the load from the piles would not be transferred to the existing collectors”.

According to Drlja, all these works significantly increase the cost of the project itself.

The load is heavy.

“And it confirms what others in the profession warned us about earlier, that the load is high and that so many buildings are not expected to be on the board that carries all those buildings. In June of this year, the use permit was issued for three buildings C1, C2, D1 and a parking lot with 257 spaces, while the building D2, which is mentioned in other documents, does not seem to have a use permit for now,” writes New Economy.

Drljo assessed that the static calculation was obviously not well done and warned that the static calculation of that public building must be made available to the professional public for inspection as a matter of urgency – “for independent verification”.

Construction engineer Danijel Dašić confirmed that statics are a problem, and that there may not be staff or companies in Serbia that could do the rehabilitation work.

“The columns are crumbling so much that now the bearing capacity of the foundation itself is most likely at stake. It is irreparable. Usually the cracks appear in the middle of the beam, they crack left and right and settle. However, if it settles and cracks where the two largest supporting columns are, it is very dangerous and the question is how far can the foundation be built under the already completed building. If the column has started to settle, I am convinced that they do not have a person who knows how to do it, who knows how to do it. Because that is the level of load and weight, as was, for example, the raising of the tower at the St. Sava Temple,” said Dašić.

To the questions related to that case, the Traffic Institute CIP and the Railway Infrastructure of Serbia did not provide answers to the New Economy.

Beta, New Economy