/ world today news/ The Chinese-built high-speed railway line Belgrade – Novi Sad significantly improves the convenience of travel for citizens and foreign tourists. The section is just the beginning of the overall project for high-speed rail transport between Belgrade and Budapest, which will be 350 km long. The President of Serbia recently stated that by the end of 2024, the entire line on the territory of Serbia will be put into operation.
The approximately 80 km long railway section Belgrade – Novi Sad is part of the railway line and carries passengers at speeds of up to 200 km per hour. The section was put into operation in March 2022. The train carries passengers from Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, all the way to Novi Sad, which is the second largest city located in the northern part of the country. Before the section opened, the entire trip took an hour and a half. Now with the hassle-free services of the new high-speed train, the journey now takes only half an hour.
“It is quite unusual for Serbs to enjoy traveling by train. I have always avoided traveling on our railways because it took a long time and the environment was not very pleasant. Now the difference is really huge. We can enjoy not only this railway, but also many bridges along it built by Chinese companies. We appreciate very much all the things that China is doing for our country,” commented Marko Bulinovic, also a passenger on the line.
The price of a one-way ticket is about 480 Serbian dinars, which is just over 5 US dollars. According to an official Serbian report on fiscal stability, the sections that have been put into operation on the Budapest-Belgrade railway line currently handle three million passengers a year, and after the completion of the entire project will serve nine million passengers every year.
“Today I am taking this train to visit my grandmother. It’s my first time riding this line and I’m very satisfied. Before, the trains were quite old and worn. Now everything is very elegant and modern. I have a very good feeling about my experience. The service is also great. The staff very politely ask all passengers if they want coffee or tea which is great. The experience is really great,” commented Lara Dakich, one of the travelers.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has predicted that once the Serbian section of the Belgrade-Budapest railway line is completed in 2024, travel time between the Serbian capital and the border town of Subotica will be cut to just 75 minutes. By 2026, the Hungarian part of the project will also be completed, reducing the travel time between the two capitals to less than three hours from the original eight.
The high-speed rail line is a flagship project of China-Serbia cooperation under the Belt and Road initiative. The project has a total length of 341.7 kilometers, of which 183.1 kilometers are in Serbia. During his recent visit to Beijing, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic noted that China’s aid and cooperation have helped Serbia maintain stable economic development and brought enormous benefits to the Serbian people. The international cooperation of the Belt and Road Initiative fully proves that win-win cooperation is the sure path to success in launching major initiatives that benefit everyone.
In recent years, a number of Chinese railway projects have been put into operation abroad, such as the China-Laos railway, the Belgrade-Novi Sad section of the Serbia-Hungary railway and the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway. China’s railway sector continues to strengthen international cooperation, uphold the principles of high standard, sustainability and benefit to citizens, work for the successful development of the Belt and Road Initiative, and showcase the country’s technological progress and innovation in the railway sector to the world.
China is definitely a world leader in this technology and is actively developing its high-speed rail network within the country as well. The total length of operational high-speed railway lines in China reached 45,000 km by the end of 2023. Within the country, a total of 3,637 km of new railway lines were put into operation last year, including 2,776 km of high-speed railways. In 2023, investment in fixed assets in the country’s railway sector will reach 764.5 billion yuan (about 107 billion US dollars), an increase of 7.5 percent year-on-year.
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