Full reconstruction of Belgrade-Budapest railway to begin – Trains to run at 200 km/h in five years

In the next five years, Russian and Chinese construction workers should fully reconstruct the railway between the capitals of Hungary and Serbia. The works on the section are to be carried out in three phases, and the technical documentation for the middle section, Stara Pazova-Novi Sad, financed by the Russian loan, has been completed. The preliminary design for the span from Belgrade to Stara Pazova is finished, and the main design and the detailed design are currently being prepared.

Managing Director of the Institute of Transportation CIP, Milutin Ignjatovic, says for Novosti that the beginning of the preparation of the technical documentation for the third section, from Novi Sad to the Hungarian border, the easiest section, as it goes through the Pannonian plane, is expected as well. The first works might start in the spring.

The plan is to reconstruct the current one-track railway, 130-year long, and rebuild it as a modern, two-track railway for passenger and cargo transport and allowing for speeds up to 200 km/h. The railway will be electrified and equipped with the technologically most modern traffic control and management systems in line with the European standards.

– We have a one-track railway now, and the additional track will be built, to which the traffic will be transferred, so that the old one can be reconstructed and a two-track railway made – Ignjatovic says.

– On the Batajnica-Stara Pazova section, the railway will be reconstructed for the function of joining and separating two two-track railways and separating the passenger and the cargo transport in the Belgrade hub area. The electrical engineering part of the project was prepared in cooperation with Chinese companies. The State Audit Institution needs to carry out the control, and the preparation of the main and the detailed design is in progress. The estimated time of the construction is around three years.

Looking by topographical, geotechnical, hydrotechnical, and spatial-urban characteristics, the hardest and most complex section is the span from Stara Pazova to Novi Sad, where Russians are to be employed.

The aim of the entire project is to shorten the time needed to travel down the 350 km railway between Belgrade and Budapest from eight to less than three hours and secure a high level of safety, capacity and comfort in transporting both passengers and cargo.

– The process from the idea to the realization of such big and complex infrastructural projects is neither simple nor easy. It requires competence, maximum engagement and cooperation of all participants in the process of preparation and verification of the documentation, acquiring the necessary permits, securing financial means, expropriation of the land and finally, the construction – Ignjatovic points out.

– The realization of this idea began with the preparation of the feasibility study for the entire railway from Belgrade to Budapest, which was carried out by the Institute of Transportation CIP for the Serbian section, and by FMTERV Zrt. - Ecorad Kft Consortium for the Hungarian section. The study was unified by the Chinese company TSDI.

Saobraćajni institut CIP d.o.o. Beograd

Belgrade Budapest railway

Stara Pazova Novi Sad railway

Belgrade Novi Sad railway

Novi Sad Hungary section

Milutin Ignjatovic

CIP

Russian loan for railway reconstruction

Belgrade railway hub

FMTERV Zrt Ecoroad Kft Consortium

TSDI