Belgrade-Nis Railway: Paracin-Medjurovo Tender Opens

In brief

• Serbian Railways Infrastructure has opened an international prequalification call for a contractor on the third section of the Belgrade-Nis fast railway
• The call covers the sub-sections Paracin-Stalac, Djunis-Trupale and Trupale-Medjurovo, with a bid deadline of October 2, 2026
• The project’s total value is estimated at 2.8 billion euros, with the largest share funded by the European Union
• The Djunis-Stalac sub-section, about 20 kilometers long and outside this call, is scheduled to break ground in March 2027

Serbian Railways Infrastructure has opened an international prequalification call to select a contractor for the third section of the Belgrade-Nis fast railway, a project whose total value is estimated at around 2.8 billion euros. Interested companies have until October 2, 2026 to apply, with the call published both on the state company’s website and in the European Union’s official public procurement journal.

The section up for tender covers three sub-sections: Paracin-Stalac, Djunis-Trupale and Trupale-Medjurovo. The Stalac-Djunis sub-section is not part of this call. The contract is being awarded under a “design and build” model, meaning the winning company will produce the full project documentation, from the building permit design through the as-built design, and then carry out the works itself, rather than following a design the client has already finalized. The contract goes to whichever bidder’s application and offer are rated most favorable against the set technical and financial criteria.

The upgraded railway is designed for speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour. Once complete, the section becomes part of the route linking Central Europe with Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, in other words Corridor 10 as a whole, not just the stretch between Belgrade and Nis. Alongside the call, Serbian Railways Infrastructure said the upgrade should improve passenger and freight transport, encourage investment and strengthen regional and international connectivity.

Who is paying the 2.8 billion euros

The Belgrade-Nis railway runs about 230 kilometers. The European Union is contributing 2.2 billion euros to the project, including roughly 600 million euros in grants under an agreement signed back in 2023. The European Investment Bank is providing a loan of 1.1 billion euros, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development another 550 million, while Serbia is setting aside 550 million euros from its own budget. Because most of the money comes from Brussels, the project is not being carried out under the classified intergovernmental agreements Serbia has used in the past, but through an open international tender, a model that is rare for a public project of this size in Serbia.

Next section begins in March

The Djunis-Stalac sub-section, about 20 kilometers long and outside the scope of this call, is expected to break ground in March 2027. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic addressed this on September 6, during a visit to a local road construction site between Backi Brestovac and Backi Gracac near Odzaci.

Vucic said on that occasion that the railway to Nis is being built slowly, comparing it to the saying “Scutari on the Bojana,” a reference to a legendary, endlessly delayed undertaking. He acknowledged that he himself had contributed to the delay by deciding to finance most of the project through the European Union, hoping this would save Serbian citizens money.

“I made a mistake because I wanted us to get more money, for free, to get it for nothing, so it wouldn’t cost the citizens of Serbia, and in the end they wore us down with procedures, and you lose both the money you were counting on and everything else,” Vucic said.

The explanation lies in the financing structure itself: money from the European Union, the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development comes with stricter public procurement rules and longer administrative timelines than the bilateral arrangements Serbia has relied on for larger infrastructure projects in the past. The grant funding is bigger as a result, but the construction timeline stretches out.

The goal of the investment remains the same as before this call was published: a railway that shortens the trip between Belgrade and Nis and links Serbia to the rail corridor running further toward southeastern Europe. The next step in that chain is October 2, the deadline by which companies must apply for the Paracin-Medjurovo section.