Tender for 65 km of Faster Belgrade-Nis Track, Bids by Oct 2

Bidding is open on 65.2 kilometers of track between Paracin and Medjurovo: Serbian Railways Infrastructure has published an international tender for the third section of the Belgrade-Nis railway modernization, with applications due by October 2, 2026. The contract will be awarded under a design and build model, with construction expected to take 48 months.

The tender does not cover the entire third section at once. It is split into three subsections:

• Paracin to Stalac, 20.8 kilometers
• Djunis to Trupale, 37.7 kilometers
• Trupale to Medjurovo, 6.7 kilometers

What This Tender Leaves Out

The Stalac to Djunis stretch is not part of this call because it was already contracted earlier, which means the work on the ground is split between two contracts, with different contractors and different deadlines. That is a common way of managing long rail corridors, but it also means travel time between Belgrade and Nis will not drop until the section outside this tender is finished as well.

200 km/h, But Not on Every Stretch

The design speed on the Paracin to Stalac and Djunis to Trupale stretches is 200 kilometers per hour. The final 6.7 kilometers, from Trupale to Medjurovo, are treated differently: that stretch calls for reconstruction of the existing track, along with new passenger platforms and an underpass at the Nis Ranzirna station.

The scope goes well beyond the rails themselves. The contract covers the reconstruction and modernization of ten railway stations, the contact network, power installations and substations, a remote control system for electric traction, signaling and safety equipment, underpasses, and lighting for grade separated crossings and access roads.

Under the design and build model, the design work falls to the contractor. Based on the approved conceptual design, the contractor produces the Building Permit Design, the Execution Design and the As Built Design, then builds under the same contract what it designed itself.

Who Is Funding It and How the Contractor Will Be Picked

The project is being carried out with support from the European Investment Bank and grant funds from the WBIF program. The procedure follows the bank’s own rules, as a competitive procedure with negotiation, rather than Serbia’s domestic public procurement law.

Between four and six candidates will advance to the second phase. The client has reserved the right to award the contract based on the initial bids alone, without negotiation, which shortens the process if the first round produces an acceptable price. The call opened on August 4 and was published on the Serbian Railways Infrastructure website, on a specialized website for Corridor 10, and in the Official Journal of the European Union for public procurement.

The North Already Runs at 200, the South Is Still Waiting

This comparison says the most about the timeline. Serbia’s first railway designed for 200 kilometers per hour, the Belgrade to Novi Sad section, opened in March 2022, and its extension from Novi Sad to Subotica and the Hungarian border followed in October 2024. The northern branch of Corridor 10 has been running to that new standard for four years, while the southern branch, through Pomoravlje toward Nis, is still looking for a contractor.

The math on the deadlines is straightforward. Applications close on October 2, followed by a second phase with a narrower shortlist, then the contract signing. If that happens sometime in 2027, the 48 month construction period pushes completion of this section into 2031, and only if the agreed deadline holds.

For businesses in Pomoravlje and southern Serbia, that means the benefit of a faster connection will be measured in years, not seasons. For Serbian Railways Infrastructure, the next date on the calendar is October 2 and the number of companies that apply by then, since competition in the first phase will shape the price in the second.