June 2 (SeeNews) - Serbia's government plans to start the reconstruction of the Valjevo-Vrbnica section of the railway line connecting Belgrade to Montenegro's port of Bar in 2021, infrastructure minister Zorana Mihajlovic has said.
The modernisation will ensure an increase of the maximum train speed on the section to 120 km/h, Mihajlovic said in a statement last week.
In February, Mihajlovic said that Serbia would sign a memorandum of understanding with Russian railway infrastructure engineering company RZD International for the reconstruction of the section linking Valjevo to Vrbnica, near the Montenegrin border, during a visit of RZD director general to Serbia in April. However, the visit was cancelled due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The government will also start a project for the overhaul of a railway line linking Belgrade to Nis next year that would result in lifting the maximum train speed to 200 km/h, Mihajlovic said in the statement.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Saturday it is in talks with Russian and Chinese companies on the overhaul of the Belgrade - Nis railway line.