November 26 (SeeNews) - Serbia aims to complete the overhaul and electrification of a 100 km railway line linking Nis to Dimitrovgrad, on the Bulgarian border, at the beginning of 2024, infrastructure minister Tomislav Momirovic said.
"We are invest, building and designing more than 1,200 km of highways and expressways but when we reach the borders we encounter what you have all had the opportunity to see: kilometers of queues, primarily trucks," Momirovic said during a meeting with Bulgarian counterpart Hristo Aleksiev on Thursday, as quoted in a statement by the infrastructure ministry.
Serbia plans to invest a total of 268.3 million euro ($302 million) in the project, including a 134 million euro loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and 73 million euro grant from the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF). A total of 61.3 million euro will be provided by the Serbian state budget.
The project includes the reconstruction of the 80 km-long Sicevo-Stanicenje-Dimitrovgrad section, construction of a 22 km-long single-track electrified bypass around Nis, as well as electrification of the entire railway line that connects Nis to Dimitrovgrad.
Following the overhaul, passenger and freight travel speed will increase to 120 km/h from 30 km/h.
($ = 0.88698 euro)