The tender for the upgrade of the Hungarian stretch of the Budapest-Belgrade rail line will be announced during the next China-CEE Summit in November, hosted by Budapest, the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said. At the China-CEE Summit China’s Prime Minister will be meeting with the prime ministers of 16 Central and Eastern European countries.
We remind that the European Commission announced the investigation of the planned 350-km high-speed railway between Budapest and Belgrade. The investigation is “assessing the financial viability of the USD 2.89 billion railway and looking into whether it has violated European Union laws stipulating that public tenders must be offered for large transport projects.”
In the same time, this year, Serbia has announced that the loan agreement with Exim Bank of China for the modernisation and construction of the railway line linking Belgrade and Budapest was signed. The loan will cover the modernisation and the construction of the double-track on Belgrade-Stara Pazova rail section, with a value of USD 297.6 million. The loan was approved for 20 years with a grace period of 5 years. This will be the first line in Serbia that will allow trains to run at speeds of 200 km/h. The works on this section, as part of Belgrade-Budapest main line, will be launched this year.
The Belgrade-Budapest railway project is valuated at USD 2.89 billion and involves the development of 370 km line, including works for the construction, extension and modernisation (of the existing sections). 335 km of railways will require conversion and electrification works and 166 km of railway will be modernised on Hungary’s territory.
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