The Budapest-Belgrade railway line connects the Western Balkans to the Union’s transport backbone
The Soroksár – Kelebia section is 152 kilometers long, and the CRE Consortium can build it from 1.7 positive euros, writes the Index.
A detailed analysis of the construction of the Budapest – Belgrade railway line is provided by the Index. The portal writes that the Balkans are one of the most exciting investment areas in the world. The global powers are the ones themselves, paying more money in the region. One of the biggest projects is the development of the railway, the supported financing competition is taking place mainly between China and the European Union.
The foundation stone has been laid
It takes a little more than 180 kilometers from the Serbian capital by train to the Hungarian border crossing, Kelebia. The section is part of the Budapest – Belgrade project, when the renovation and development is already in full swing. The Hungarian section is 159 kilometers long, of which the public procurement is already in progress for seven kilometers of the Ferencváros – Soroksár section. The Soroksár – Kelebia section is 152 kilometers long, and the CRE Consortium has a half-share interest in Lőrinc Mészáros, RM International Zrt., Or China Railway Electrification Engineering Group Kft., Which represents the Chinese railway company, and China Tiejiuju Engineering & Construction Ltd. – you can build 1.7 from many euros. The cornerstone of this section was laid on 15 October at Kiskunhalas railway station.
85 percent of the total cost of the renovation
under a contract with China’s Eximbank, it is covered by a loan, the remaining 15 are many deductibles.
The capital of Serbia is 183 kilometers from the Hungarian border. The 34-and-a-half-kilometer section between Belgrade and Stara Pazova and the 108-kilometer section between Novi Sad and Subotica will be built by China Communications Construction Company / China Railway International. RZD International, a subsidiary of the Russian Railways (RZD), has the right to build on the section between Ópazova and Novi Sad, probably for forty kilometers.
Chinese and Russian credit
The Index writes that most of the Budapest-Belgrade project is mostly Chinese and a small part is Russian. About two-thirds of the cost of the Serbian section, worth about two billion euros, is borne by the Far Eastern country, with the remaining one-third replaced by Moscow. Critics of the investment point out that such a volume of funding has a development impact, but beyond these practical reasons also justify the emergence of the two countries around development. To modernize the railway line, Serbia will also be physically integrated into the modern European railway network. The railway line is part of Pan – European Transport Corridor X, which is a
It connects the Western Balkans through Budapest
with the railway part of the European Union’s transport backbone (TEN-T).
Development of the ongoing Budapest-Belgrade project and its sections south of Belgrade The Western Balkans transport corridor may be the fastest and shortest connection for the number of primary European gateways for freight traffic through the Suez Canal to Greek ports, where the majority of Chinese goods destined for the continent . Hundreds of kilometers ahead of the Eastern and Eastern Mediterranean TEN-T rail freight corridor, which now runs through Serbia and northern Macedonia, Romania and Bulgaria and is in need of capacity expansion and modernization in many places.
The European Union has not recognized its importance
While the Hungarian government considers the realization of Budapest-Belgrade to be the development of several fixed tracks, the European Union has not recognized this so far, nor does it perceive the importance of either the Balkans or the Western Balkans. The change in the European Union’s attitude towards the region is probably not only indicated by the European Union-Western Balkans Summit, which closed in early October, where Brussels could be the main representatives of the Western Balkans, represented by the Hungarian government perspective, ie in addition to continuing the stalled further expansion processes, the status of the reservation, informing about the Index.
(Photo: Workers in Kiskunhalas, on the day of the laying of the foundation stone for the modernization of the Budapest-Belgrade railway line, October 15, 2021. MTI / Tibor Rosta)