The Government of Serbia is planning to construct a new high-speed railway. It will facilitate train services between Belgrade and Niš, the country’s third-largest city. The project is estimated at 2 billion euros and will be performed by China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC).

　　“Just as we are already modernizing the railway from Belgrade to the border with Hungary, we will also build a high-speed railway from Belgrade to Niš, which will have a speed of up to 200 kilometers per hour,” said Zorana Mihajlović, Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia and the Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, in an interview with Serbian media. According to her, the project includes the modernization of the 204-kilometre existing line. Its timeframe is scheduled for 2021-2023. When the work is finished, the travel time between Belgrade and Niš will reduce from 4 hours 40 minutes (or even more) to 1 hour 20 minutes.

　　The modernization work on the Belgrade – Niš railway will be carried out by the Chinese company CRBC. In 2019 the Government of Serbia signed a related framework agreement with the Chinese contractor. Currently, the parties are discussing financial issues. It is quite possible the project will be funded by China. “When we talk about financing, we will see whether the construction will be financed via some kind of a preferential loan because there is such cooperation with the People’s Republic of China on infrastructure projects,” Zorana Mihajlović explained.