Serbian Railways Sign 5.7 Mln Euro Contracts with Siemens, Serbia's Telefonkabl

The Siemens contract is worth about 3.9 million euro, while the Telefonkabl contract totals about 1.8 million euro, Zeleznice Srbije said in a statement posted on the company’s web site on Monday.

Siemens will provide equipment and will upgrade the railways’ safety and signaling systems at a cost of 1.7 million euro, and will conduct railway cart repairs which are expected to total 2.2 million euro, the statement said. Telefonkabl will update Zeleznice Srbije's telecommunications and cable systems.  

The works under the two contracts will be financed by an 80 million euro EIB loan for the modernisation of a railroad section that is part of EU-defined Corridor X linking the country to Western Europe and the Middle East.

This is the bank's second loan to the Serbian railways in four years. Thanks to a 70 million euro EIB loan which the bank provided four years ago, the Serbian railways renovated a total of 62 kilometres of railroad and upgraded electrical and safety and signaling systems.

Serbia’s railways company transported 2.9 million tonnes of cargo in the first quarter, up 21% on the year and 16% above target.

($ = 0.7021 euro)