June 22 (SeeNews) - Russian railway engineering company RZD International has started preparatory works for the overhaul of the Belgrade-Budapest railway line, the deputy managing director of the company's Serbian unit, Mansurbek Sultanov, said on Thursday.
"We started the preparatory works four days ago," Sultanov said in a video file posted on the website of Serbian news agency Tanjug.
RZD International will be in charge of the overhaul of the Stara Pazova-Novi Sad railway section, which includes the Cortanovci tunnel, and plans to start the reconstruction works in July, he added.
The reconstruction of the Stara Pazova-Novi Sad section is financed with the proceeds from a $800 million (717 million euro) loan extended by Russia to state-run railway operator Zeleznice Srbije in 2013, Serbian infrastructure minister Mihajlovic said earlier this month.
In May, the Serbian government said it plans to start in November the overhaul of the Belgrade-Stara Pazova railway section, funded with a $297.6 million loan from the Export-Import Bank of China.
China, Serbia and Hungary signed a memorandum of understanding for the reconstruction of the 370 km-long Belgrade-Budapest rail route in December 2014.
($ = 0.896227 euro)