Modernization of Belgrade-Budapest railroad begins in 2015

(Photo: Ivana Vuksa)

The first activities under the Belgrade-Budapest railway restoration project on Corridor 10, which will allow trains to travel at a speed of 100-200 km/h, are expected in 2015, Serbian Minister of Transportation Aleksandar Antic stated on Monday.

After a meeting in the Serbian government with a Chinese working group for the implementation of the project, Antic said that preliminary designs would be prepared in 2014, adding that it would be clearly determined then how the works would be financed and what their cost would be.

The minister said that Serbia would certainly use a total of USD 10 billion for the project, which China had earmarked for investments in 16 countries of central and southeast Europe.

The first estimates show that the modernization of the railway leg from Stara Pazova (Belgrade outskirts) to Novi Sad will cost around EUR 350 million, while EUR 500 million will be needed for the same work on the railroad stretch from Novi Sad to the Hungarian border, he said.

Antic said that maximum EUR 880 million should be set aside for the railway leg through Serbia, while the renovation of the stretch from the border to Budapest will cost almost twice as much since the Hungarian railway is in a worse condition.

The minister said that a joint meeting of three working groups - Serbian, Chinese and Hungarian, would be held most probably in January in order to resume the talks about the project implementation.