Bulgaria's Trace Group-led consortium wins 169.7 mln euro railway deal in Serbia

The agreement covers the overhaul of the Prosek (Sićevo) - Dimitrovgrad section, Trace Group said in a stock exchange filing on Thursday.

The railway line is part of the transport corridor connecting Central Europe to Bulgaria and Turkey through Croatia and Serbia.

The contract was awarded by Serbian Railways Infrastructure, the national company responsible for the management of public railways. The activities under the agreement must be performed within 1,276 calendar days. The project is financed by the European Investment Bank (EIB).

Partners of Trace Group in the consortium are Italy's Consorzio Armatori Ferroviari and Bulgaria's Start Engineering.

Serbian Railways Infrastructure said in January that it intends to reconstruct and modernise about 300 km of railways in 2022 after 450km in 2021.

Serbian prime minister Ana Brnabic said in February that the overhaul of the railway between Nis and Dimitrovgrad is expected to begin by October. According to an earlier statement by the infrastructure ministry, the rehabilitation of the entire line Nis - Dimitrovgrad is estimated to cost 268.3 million euro. The project will be financed by a 134 million euro loan from the EIB, a 73 million euro grant from the Western Balkans Investment Framework and 61.3 million euro from Serbia's state budget.

($ = 1.0323 euro)