How far has Serbia’s EU-backed Belgrade-Niš high-speed rail project progressed?

Serbia has taken a major step toward a high-speed rail link between Belgrade and Niš by opening an international tender for the Paraćin-Trupale section. The section is one of three planned parts of the route and could become Serbia’s second high-speed rail corridor after the Belgrade-Subotica line.

The winning contractor will work under a design-and-build, or turnkey, arrangement. According to Demostat, work should begin next year and finish by the end of 2030. The roughly 77-kilometer section would then support train speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour. Bids can be submitted until Oct. 2, after which the contractor will be selected.

Serbian Railways Infrastructure is managing the project with technical support from the European Union delegation. No tender timetable has yet been published for the other two sections, running from Belgrade to Velika Plana and from Velika Plana to Paraćin.

The full line, about 230 kilometers long, is estimated to cost 2.8 billion euros. The EU is expected to provide 2.2 billion euros, including a 600 million euro grant agreed in 2023. The European Investment Bank is set to lend 1.1 billion euros, while the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Serbia would each provide 550 million euros.

Because of the project’s substantial EU financing, it is being tendered internationally rather than pursued through the confidential intergovernmental agreements Serbia has used in the past. The Belgrade-Niš railway was Serbia’s first rail connection, opened in 1884, and later formed part of the historic Orient Express route. Since the 1990s, the EU has included it in Corridor 10, linking Salzburg with Thessaloniki through Belgrade and Niš.