Trains currently pass through the center of Niš, but there are plans to move the railway once the new bypass is finished. The main reasons for this relocation are citizen safety and reducing road congestion.
A protocol for moving the railway was signed in 2012 by the city of Niš, the Serbian government, and the European Union. The government later declared the bypass project a matter of public interest, and in July last year, the ceremonial start of its construction was marked.
The Mayor of Niš, Dragoslav Pavlović, recently explained that the completion of the bypass will solve the longstanding problem of passenger and freight trains passing through the city center.
He added that once the railway is removed, the city might consider developing a light metro, a new road, or a linear park in its place.
Some experts, however, are skeptical about the metro proposal. Professor Slobodan Aćimović from the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade explained that metro systems require a large number of daily passengers to be viable — something Niš may not have.
Aćimović added that a metro is a large and expensive investment that makes sense in big metropolitan areas with heavy passenger flow, like Belgrade, but not in smaller cities.
He also stressed that nearly all European countries have metro systems in their large cities, but not in small ones.
