On March 19, the section between Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, and Novi Sad, a central and northern city in Serbia, of the Belgrade-Budapest railway was launched into operation. The launch ceremony was attended by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, as well as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and other guests.
On that day, the leaders of Serbia and Hungary and the representatives of the Serbian government, the Chinese Embassy in Serbia and the railway builder took the first train from Belgrade Centre Railway Station to the railway in Novi Sad, and were welcomed by local residents.
As a flagship project of the China-Central and Eastern European countries' cooperation, the Belgrade-Budapest railway renovation project also marks the alignment of Chinese railway technology and equipment with the EU standard. The 350km railway connects Belgrade and Budapest, the capital of Hungary, and the segment within Serbia is 183km long with a design speed of 200km per hour. The Belgrade-Novi Sad section is about 80km long, of which the Belgrade-Stara Pazova section was built by a Chinese enterprise. When in service the maximum speed of the train is uplifted from 40-50km per hour to 200km per hour.
