Serbia-Hungary rail link reopens after overhaul

“From today we have five trains a day from Subotica to Szeged and vice versa, which will greatly benefit people on both sides of the border,” said infrastructure minister Goran Vesic in a press release on Tuesday.

“We are also planning the construction of the Subotica-Baja railway line,” added Vesic.

He said that work on the 108-km Novi Sad-Subotica railway line will be completed by the end of 2024. The route is part of the railway line linking Hungary's capital Budapest with the Serbian capital Belgrade.

The Subotica-Szeged railway line was originally due to open for passenger traffic in November 2022 but the deadline was pushed to October 23, 2023. However, the launch was once again delayed as the works on the Hungarian part of the railway had not been completed.

The reconstructed high-speed rail link will enable train speeds of up to 120 km per hour.

The reconstruction of the railway line began in October 2021 and was carried out by a consortium comprising Russian company RZD International and Serbia's Karin Komerc.