The Budapest–Belgrade railway connects the capital cities of Hungary and Serbia – the

Budapest Keleti railway station Budapest Keleti (Eastern) station ( hu, Keleti pályaudvar) is the main international and inter-city railway terminal in Budapest, Hungary. The station stands where Rákóczi út splits to become Kerepesi Avenue and Thököly Avenue. Keleti ...

with the new

Belgrade Centre railway station The Belgrade Centre railway station ( sr, Железничка станица Београд Центар, Železnička stanica Beograd Centar), colloquially known as Prokop ( sr-Cyrl, Прокоп), is the new central railway station in Belgrade ...

. As a $2.89 billion,

high-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines ...

line project, the Budapest–Belgrade railway is also a part, and first stage, of the planned Budapest–Belgrade–Skopje–Athens railway international connection in

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

and

Southeast Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe (SEE) is a geographical subregion of Europe, consisting primarily of the Balkans. Sovereign states and territories that are included in the region are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia (al ...

, a Chinese-CEE hallmark project of Beijing's

Belt and Road The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, or B&R), formerly known as One Belt One Road ( zh, link=no, 一带一路) or OBOR for short, is a global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the Chinese government in 2013 to invest in nearly 150 ...

initiative, connecting the China-run

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saronic ...

port in Greece with the heart of Europe.

Route, geography and landscapes

The railway line between Budapest and Belgrade passes mainly the

Bács-Kiskun County Bács-Kiskun ( hu, Bács-Kiskun megye, ) is a county (''megye'' in Hungarian) located in southern Hungary. It was created as a result of World War II, merging the prewar Bács-Bodrog and the southern parts of Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun counties. Wit ...

and the Serbian province of Vojvodina.

Track condition, modernization

The outdated railway between Belgrade and Budapest will be modernised. The travel time should be decreased from eight hours to three and a half hours, and the maximum speed of the track is designed to be up to on the Serbian section and on the Hungarian section.A Budapest-Belgrád vasútvonal korszerűsítése - alapkőletétel (Modernization of the Budapest-Belgrade railway line: Laying the foundation)
mavcsoport.hu, 15 October 2021. When the project is complete, the journey between Budapest and Belgrade will be reduced to 2h 40min.Belgrade - Novi Sad line reopens following reconstruction
railjournal, 29 March 2022. According to the plans, the track should be modernised by late 2024.

Modernization of the Hungarian section

The Hungarian section () of the project was announced in 2015 to cost HUF 472 billion and expected to be completed as of 2017–2018. Currently it is expected to cost HUF 949 billion ($3.6 billion) with interest. In Hungary, the project is carried out by Kínai-Magyar Vasúti Nonprofit Zrt (Chinese-Hungarian Railway Nonprofit Ltd.), a Hungarian-Chinese joint venture of

MÁV Hungarian State Railways ( hu, Magyar Államvasutak, MÁV) is the Hungarian national railway company, with divisions "MÁV START Zrt." (passenger transport), "MÁV-Gépészet Zrt." (maintenance), "MÁV-Trakció Zrt." and "MÁV Cargo Zrt" (freig ...

Zrt. with China Railway International Corporation (CRIC) and China Railway International Group (CRIG). According to one estimate, the works on this section could begin in 2021, as one year is needed for the public procurement procedures, and two years for the planning and negotiation phase. The investment is widely criticised as it will never recover its costs. The construction of the Hungarian part of the railway, 152 km, was started in October 2021 and is due to be completed by 2025.

Modernization of the Serbian section

In Serbia (some ), one of the segments, the -long section Belgrade-

Stara Pazova Stara Pazova (, ; hu, Ópazova) is a town and municipality located in the Srem District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town has a population of 64792, while Stara Pazova municipality has 65,792 inhabitants. The entrance into ...

is currently being reconstructed by

China Communications Construction Company China Communications Construction Company, Ltd. (CCCC) is a majority state-owned, publicly traded, multinational engineering and construction company primarily engaged in the design, construction and operation of infrastructure assets, including ...

(CCCC) together with China Railways International (CRI), with the investment of $350.1 million, funded with a loan from the

Export-Import Bank of China The Export–Import Bank of China (Chexim - China Exim Bank) () is one of two Policy banks (China), institutional banks in China chartered to implement the state policies in Industrial sector, industry, foreign trade, economy, and foreign aid ...

. The section Stara Pazova–

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...

was reconstructed by the Russian RZD International, financed with Russian credit. The reconstruction of the section Novi Sad–

Subotica Subotica ( sr-cyrl, Суботица, ; hu, Szabadka) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the North Bačka District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. Formerly the largest city of Vojvodina region, ...

is set to begin in 2022, with estimated cost of €943 million, built by CCCC and a duration of 33 months, during which this section will be closed. The construction of the railway line in Serbia started in September 2017, when the construction of the Čortanovci tunnel began. The 75 km railway for speed up to 200 km/h between

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

and

opened on 19 March 2022 (this part was divided in two sections: as of 2018, the

–

34.5 km section was planned to be finished in the end of 2020 and the

–

40.4 km section in November 2021). The construction of the 107.4 km section between Novi Sad and Subotica (Hungarian border) was started on 7 April 2022 and is due to be completed for the end of 2024.

Bids

Only two consortia bid for the work. The winning consortium was announced June 2019. As with most public works since 2015 the government linked Hungarian entrepreneur,

Lőrinc Mészáros Lőrincz Mészáros (born 24 February 1966) is a Hungarian businessman, and former politician, who served as Mayor of the hungarian village Felcsút between 2011 and 2018 . With an estimated wealth of 407.7 billion forint ($1.3 billion) ...

won, with his company “RM International Zrt”, along with two Chinese companies: China Tiejiuju Engineering & Construction LLC., and China Railway Electrification Engineering Group(Hungary) Ltd.

Reception

Allthough the section between Budapest and Belgrade allows a four hours reduction in travel time, any further travel such as to the port of Piraeus is still 4 to 8 days away by train from Belgrade. While the Hungarian government classified its analysis for the economic viability of the project for 10 years, estimates in the non-government-owned media estimate the return around 130 to 2400 years based on the current and expected traffic on the line.

History

The railway line between Budapest and Belgrade was used also by the

Orient Express The ''Orient Express'' was a long-distance passenger train service created in 1883 by the Belgian company ''Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits'' (CIWL) that operated until 2009. The train traveled the length of continental Europe and int ...

until 1914. The Orient Express was launched on 5 June 1883. It connected

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

(later renamed

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Budapest-Belgrade Railway International railway lines Railway lines in Hungary Railway lines in Serbia Proposed transport infrastructure in Hungary Proposed transport infrastructure in Serbia