Belgrade-Budapest Fast Rail: Test Run After August 24
Testing on the Budapest, Kelebia section wraps up in two weeks, the simulation run from Belgrade to Budapest goes ahead after August 24, and passengers on the fast rail line are expected this fall.
The Belgrade-Budapest fast rail line finally has a concrete timeline after months of delays: testing wraps up within two weeks, a simulation run complete with border and customs procedures goes ahead after August 24, and passenger service is expected this fall. The schedule was announced on August 6 at Subotica’s City Hall by construction, transport and infrastructure minister Aleksandra Sofronijevic and her Hungarian counterpart, transport and infrastructure minister David Vitezi.
The simulation run covers the full route from Belgrade to Budapest and back, including every procedure a passenger would normally go through at the border. It serves two purposes: confirming the line is safe for passengers and measuring final travel times, figures that until now have only existed as projections. In parallel, the railway companies of the two countries are aligning their timetables.
“All this tells you that the works are in their final phase, and I expect that once every safety, regulatory and technical condition is met, the line will be put into service this fall. Right now we are wrapping up the issues and items tied to the infrastructure and its improvement. I can say that the tangible part of the infrastructure is fully functional, which is also proven by freight traffic, which is running without any disruption,” Sofronijevic said.
The minister added that what remains are solutions tied to the level 2 system and its alignment, in other words work on the equipment, while the track itself is finished.
What is being tested on the Budapest, Kelebia section?
It is the Hungarian side of the route that is being tested. Vitezi said the Chinese supplier informed the Hungarian government on Wednesday that the system was complete on their end, after which testing began on the Budapest, Kelebia section as well. He gave a two week deadline, with the kind of caveat rarely left out of projects like this.
“If we spot any problems, we will work on fixing them, because passenger safety and system security come first,” Vitezi said.
The Hungarian minister also said that opinions in Hungary differ on the project, particularly regarding the section on Hungarian territory, but that establishing a rail link connecting Serbia with the European Union is in his country’s interest.
A deadline already pushed back once
Passengers were originally expected on the line by the end of March this year. The new target is fall, a delay of at least six months from the earlier announcement. This time the difference is that the deadline is tied to a specific test for the first time, rather than to a calendar quarter: the simulation comes after August 24, and only then the date.
For the line’s economics, that delay is not without cost. The infrastructure has been built and paid for, freight traffic is already generating revenue, but the passenger section of the route, where tickets are sold and usage is measured, remains on hold.
Three hours to Budapest and a ticket around 26 euros
The projected parameters are known. On the Serbian section trains are meant to reach speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour, and up to 160 kilometers per hour through Hungary, with the planned Belgrade to Budapest travel time at around three hours. The announced ticket price is around 26 euros.
The route extends further toward Vienna, linking Serbian railways to the network of fast connections in central Europe. How much of the projected three hours survives in the actual timetable will be shown by the simulation after August 24, since that run factors in both border and customs checks.
Freight is already running, and the Danube is low
Freight traffic on the route is running without disruption, and according to both ministers, that is proof the infrastructure side of the project is functional. Vitezi also pointed to the historically low water level of the Danube in Hungary and its impact on energy supply, saying climate change further confirms the importance of developing rail.
For the economy, the link is direct: when the waterway loses capacity, cargo that would have gone by river looks for rail instead. In that case the Belgrade, Budapest corridor competes not only with road transport but with the Danube too, changing the calculation for exporters who had not seriously counted on rail until now.
What comes next
The two sides agreed on a new meeting, where they will discuss the Danube as a European corridor, joint infrastructure projects and the reconstruction of the Hercegsanto border crossing, in other words the road link being resolved in parallel with the rail one. The exact date for launching passenger service will be announced later, and the first test of that announcement comes in late August, when the simulation run shows how long the trip from Belgrade to Budapest actually takes.
