The Budapest–Belgrade–Skopje–Athens railway, a China-CEE hallmark project (2014) 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,
Another Silk Road fiasco? China's Belgrade to Budapest high-speed rail line is probed by Brussels
', by Wade Shepard,

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

February 25, 2017 is a planned

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

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 ...

– between

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

(Hungary),

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 ...

(Serbia),

Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; r ...

(

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

and its China-run port of

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 ...

(Greece). Planned speed is up to depending on the sections: on the Hungarian section between Budapest and Serbia,A Budapest-Belgrád vasútvonal korszerűsítése - alapkőletétel (Modernization of the Budapest-Belgrade railway line: Laying the foundation)
mavcsoport.hu, 15 October 2021. between the Hungarian border and Belgrade and on most of the Belgrade-Niš section,Loan signed for Serbia's railway sector modernization project
''railway supply'', 14 May 2021. while the current line between

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...

and Athens is with upgrades to ongoing. The Chinese planners do not comment on the other tracks' realizable speeds. Originally, they spoke of up to throughout. The first section, the

Budapest–Belgrade railway The Budapest–Belgrade railway connects the capital cities of Hungary and Serbia – the Budapest Keleti railway station with the new Belgrade Centre railway station. As a $2.89 billion, high-speed rail line project, the Budapest–Belgrade ra ...

– a $2.89 billion, high-speed rail line – should have been finished in two years, but is lagging behind due to an EU investigation into possible violations of its public tendering requirements.

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 ...

was 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 ...

is being reconstructed by the Russian

RZD International Russian Railways (russian: link=no, ОАО «Российские железные дороги» (ОАО «РЖД»), OAO Rossiyskie zheleznye dorogi (OAO RZhD)) is a Russian fully state-owned vertically integrated railway company, both managi ...

, financed with Russian credit. The section between Belgrade and Novi Sad was opened on 19 March 2022.Belgrade - Novi Sad line reopens following reconstruction
railjournal, 29 March 2022. The reconstruction of the 108 km 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, ...

(Hungarian border) was set to begin in 2019, with estimated cost of €943 million, built by CCCC and a duration of 33 months, requiring the closure of this section during the reconstruction time. It actually started on 7 April 2022 and is due to be completed for the end of 2024. In July 2020, President Aleksandar Vučić announced that the 204 km Belgrade-

Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names in other languages) is the third largest city in Serbia and the administrative center of the Nišava District. It is located in southern part of Serbia. , the city proper has a population of 183,164, while ...

section will be completed by the end of 2023. It will have speeds of up to 200 km/h (124 mph), bringing Belgrade and Niš within 1 hour and 20 minutes of each other. It will follow the direction of the Pan-European Corridor X. On 10 May 2021, a loan agreement was signed in Belgrade for 102 million euros, co-financed by the French Development Agency and the World Bank at 51 million euros each, planned to be used for the complete modernization of the Belgrade-Niš railway, where trains will be able to reach speeds of up to 200 km/h on about 56% of the railway.

EU planning

In a 2012/13 EC report, ''Priority Project 22: Railway axis Athens–Sofia–Budapest–Vienna–Prague–Nuremberg/Dresden (PP22)'',
Priority Project 22: Railway axis Athens–Sofia–Budapest–Vienna–Prague–Nuremberg/Dresden
', Annual Report of the Coordinator,

Gilles Savary Gilles Savary (born 6 December 1954 in Oradour-sur-Vayres, Haute-Vienne) is a French politician and former Member of the European Parliament for the Île-de-France. He is a member of the Socialist Party, which is part of the Party of European Soci ...

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

, Brussels, October 2013 the planners included their considerations of the ''

Balkan route The 2015 European migrant crisis, also known internationally as the Syrian refugee crisis, was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and migrants into Europe in 2015, when 1.3 million people came to the continent to reques ...

'', which follows Pan-European Corridor X through

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

and

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

(

–

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

–

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

–

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

) and shortens the present

–

route via

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

and

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

by . The total length is around compared to for the current southern

–

part of ''PP22''. Moreover, there are also a number of technical advantages of this proposed part of the ''Balkan route'': 89% of it is electrified, as against 75% of the present ''PP22'' route and the tracks are designed for higher maximum speeds overall. Nevertheless 64% of the planned line is still single track, compared to 54% of the present part of the ''PP22'' route. The planners appeal to the politicians: ''"In the medium term it may become necessary to tailor priorities in line with what is feasible, both for the European Union, the main provider of funding, and the Member States concerned. In this respect,

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

’s accession to the European Union in July 2013 and discussions with the publics of the former

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

in connection with the review of TEN–T policy present a useful opportunity to develop rail links between south–east and

central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...

via the

western Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the whol ...

."''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Budapest-Belgrade-Skopje-Athens railway International railway lines Rail transport in North Macedonia Rail infrastructure in Greece Rail infrastructure in Hungary Rail infrastructure in Serbia Proposed transport infrastructure in Greece Proposed transport infrastructure in Hungary Proposed transport infrastructure in Serbia High-speed trains

Modernization of the Serbian section

EU planning

See also

References