XINHUA, Budapest, Oct. 8 (Reporters Chen Hao, Zhou Xin) — Dávid Vitézy, Minister of Transport and Investment of Hungary, stated on the 8th that testing of the European Train Control System (ETCS) on the Hungarian section of the Hungary-Serbia Railway has been completed, marking a major milestone in preparations for the launch of passenger services on the line.

Vitézy said on social media the same day that the Hungarian section of the Hungary-Serbia Railway is nearing technical completion. The normal operation of ETCS is a prerequisite for launching passenger services, and relevant authorities are currently finalizing official technical documents based on the test results.

Vitézy noted that the contractor still needs to complete the final phase of track fine-tuning works. According to the construction schedule, track fine-tuning for the section between Budapest Ferencváros and Kunszentmiklós-Tás will be finished by the end of October, creating conditions for the launch of domestic passenger services and subsequent operations.

Vitézy stated that if domestic passenger services on the Hungarian section run smoothly in the initial phase, international passenger services between Budapest and Belgrade, capital of Serbia, are scheduled to begin in December.

Linking Budapest and Belgrade, the Hungary-Serbia Railway is a landmark Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) project jointly built by China and Central and Eastern European countries, and the first project to align Chinese railway technology and equipment with EU railway interoperability technical specifications. The Hungarian section of the railway runs approximately 158.6 kilometers. It is an electrified mixed passenger and freight railway with a designed maximum speed of 160 km/h, and officially commenced freight operations on 27 February this year.