Serbia is in talks with China over buying Chinese-made high-speed trains, according to infrastructure minister Tomislav Momirovic.
Momirovic was speaking after a meeting with Chen Bo, China’s ambassador to Serbia, in Belgrade on Wednesday. He said: "We spoke about the delivery of trains travelling at a speed of 200 km/h. I am convinced that by the end of next year, we will have such trains running on our railway lines."
"With the delivery of the trains, Serbian citizens will feel the benefits of railway transport," he added.
A project to rebuild a railway line between Belgrade and Nis, Serbia’s third largest city, was also discussed at the meeting.
In June, Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic said that the country was in talks for the reconstruction of the Belgrade-Nis railway with Russian and Chinese companies that were already working on an upgrade of Serbia’s section of its rail link with Budapest.
The Belgrade-Stara Pazova section of the Belgrade-Budapest railway, which is part of European transport Corridor X, is being carried out by China Railway International and China Communications Construction Company (CCCC).
Serbia signed a €943m deal with China Railway and CCCC in July 2018 for the overhaul of the 108km-long section between Novi Sad and Subotica (see further reading).
The overhaul of the Stara Pazova-Novi Sad section is carried out by Russia’s RZD International.
Image: Serbia’s diesel locomotives, like this RA2 unit in Belgrade station, will be joined by Chinese electric trains (Almarq/CC BY-SA 4.0)
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