Serbia completes 74% of Novi Sad-Subotica railway overhaul

"We can say for certain that the entire project will be completed by the end of this year," Vesic said on Saturday, according to a video published by Tanjug news agency.

Once the renovation of the 108-km railway line between the northern city of Novi Sad and Subotica, on the border with Hungary, is completed, the new infrastructure will require two-three months of testing and commercial service is expected to start in March 2025, with travel from Belgrade to Subotica to take 70 minutes, Vesic said.

Serbia completed the revamp of the 75-km railway section between the capital Belgrade and Novi Sad back in 2022.

Works on the Novi Sad-Subotica railway link began in November 2021, after in 2018, Serbia awarded a 943 million euro ($1.02 billion) contract to China Railway International (CRI) and China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) to carry out the job. Once completed, the section will allow train speeds of up to 200km/h.

In November 2023, the infrastructure ministry said that the 26.63-km railway line connecting Subotica to the southern Hungarian city of Szeged reopened for passenger traffic following reconstruction. In March 2023, Vesic said that Hungary is expected to complete by 2025 the overhaul of its 152 km section of the Budapest-Belgrade railway line.

($ = 0.920 euro)