September 19 (SeeNews) - Serbia's Institute of Transportation CIP and Russia's NIIAS signed an agreement on Monday for the design of a single rail traffic management centre in the Balkan country, paving the way towards the modernisation of Serbia's railway system, the transport ministry in Belgrade said.
Serbia's transport minister Zorana Mihajlovic said a news conference that according to initial estimates, the construction of the railway dispatch center should cost $20 million (17.9 million euro), with funding sources for the project to be explored once all technical details are known, the ministry said in a statement.
Mihajlovic noted that Serbia's current dispatch centre is more than 30 years old and is technologically is outdated. The new one, she said, will be completed in a year and a half to two years, and will handle Serbia's entire rail traffic.
The new dispatch centre will contribute to greater efficiency, reduce costs and increase the speed of traffic, the ministry said.
($=0.894507 euro)