By the end of September, preliminary design work on Belgrade – Stara Pazova rail section of Budapest-Belgrade railway line will be completed. In addition, in October, it was agreed the finalisation of commercial contract. This was announced during a meeting held on Seeptember 9, 2016, between Serbian Transport Minister Zorana Mihajlovic the representatives of China’s National Development and Reform Commission and Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Péter Szijjártó.
The technical group of all three countries have been working on reaching agreement regarding the technical and technological issues related to the railway line, to allow transport services with trains that will run at 200 km/hour.
On China’s side, CRBC (China Bridge and Road Corporation) and CCCC (China Communications Construction Company) and Exim Bank of China are involved within the project.
In June 2016, Hugary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs met with deputy head of China’s National Development and Reform Commission Wang Xiaotao. The sides agreed that a legal solution must be worked out that will bring the investment in full compliance with European regulations. China is financing 85% of the HUF 472 billion (EUR 1.5 billion) cost of the upgrade.
At the end of 2015, Péter Szijjártó and President of the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission have signed the inter-governmental agreement on the modernisation of the Budapest-Belgrade railway.
In December 2014, Serbia’s Prime Minister, Aleksandar Vucic, his Hungarian counterpart, Viktor Orban, and Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang signed the agreement on the construction of the Belgrade-Budapest railway. The 370 km-long railway will require investments of EUR 1.5-2 billion and includes extension and modernisation works. Around 334 km of line of the total length has to be converted in double, electrified line.
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