Serbia investing 6.5 bln euro to modernise railway

Serbia has earmarked approximately 6.5 billion euro (US$7.7 billion) to upgrade the railway lines with a total length of 1,000 km, prime minister Ana Brnabic reported.

The country is putting significant effort into the project documentation for the Belgrade-Nis high-speed railway, which will be funded primarily through EU grants. It also plans to modernize the Nis-Dimitrovgrad and Subotica-Szeged rail lines, Brnabic indicated in a press briefing.

The government has also noted the railway lines linking Pancevo to the Romanian border via Vrsac and Valjevo to Vrbnica for modernization. 

Brnabic made this known while speaking at the First Western Balkans Rail Summit, held in Belgrade and organised by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The Serbian government has made headway in the railway sector primarily as regards aligning its law with EU rules and standards. 

The First Western Balkans Rail Summit was organised under the supervision of the Serbian infrastructure ministry and is structured to coincide with the Connecting Europe Express train’s arrival to Serbia. The train will cross 26 countries in Europe as part of the European Year of Rail.