The contract on the reconstruction of the Belgrade-Nis railway, which will cost 2.2 billion euros and will be financed by a donation of about 600 million euros from the European Union, will be signed at the end of February, Demostat learned from the EU Delegation in Belgrade.
The EU donation for the reconstruction of the railway is the largest single grant for projects that Serbia has received so far from the EU, and it is an EU grant through the Investment Framework for the Western Balkans, Demostat said.
The leading financier of the reconstruction of the Belgrade-Nis railway is the European Investment Bank, which approved a loan of 1.1 billion euros.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has allocated 550 million euros, and part of it will be financed from the Serbian budget.
The reconstruction of the Belgrade-Niš railway is one of the most important railway projects in Serbia, within which 230 kilometers will be reconstructed.
As stated, the quality of passenger and cargo services will be improved, as the trains will move at a speed of up to 200 kilometers per hour.
The section should be completed by 2029, so that by the end of this decade passengers can travel by high-speed railway from Niš to Belgrade, and then to Budapest.
Demostat reminds that the EU is involved in numerous railway modernization projects in Serbia, through grants or favorable loans from the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
For the past 15 years, the EU has been involved in financing the modernization of five key railway sections in Serbia.
The Belgrade-Nis railway is part of the Trans-European transport network and therefore it is in the interest of the EU to modernize it, and its renovation should contribute to making the railway on this section a more efficient and environmentally friendly form of transport.
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