Serbian Railway Sector

Dear Member,

In the letter sent to our Chamber by TOBB, with reference to the Ministry of Trade's letter dated 13.06.2023 and numbered E-68460249-724.01.01-00086212037, and with reference to the letter received from the Commercial Counsellor's Office in Belgrade, referring to the fact that, since 2015, many activities have been carried out in Serbia to improve the railway sector, such as establishing public enterprises, creating the legal infrastructure, ensuring sustainability and developing services in line with European Union legislation, and emphasising that the total length of the railway network in Serbia is 3,348.1 km and the total length of electrified lines is 1,273.7 km, that passenger transport in 2021 reached 191 million passenger-km (an annual increase of 21.7%) and freight transport reached 2.9 billion net ton-km (an annual increase of 6.5%), that 86 km of regional and local railway was reconstructed and modernised in 2021, and that in 2022 railway construction activities covered 52 km of regional railway and 143 km of main transport corridor, it is stated that in the coming period the aim is to increase railway electrification, to enable transport at speeds above 100 km/h on the railway network and to improve the management of railway companies in order to develop and strengthen the railway network.

The letter further notes that, stating that at the Western Balkans Railway Summit held in 2021 the Prime Minister of Serbia indicated that an investment of 6.5 Billion Euros is envisaged for the modernisation of railway infrastructure in Serbia, and that the European Union is also supporting projects to strengthen railway infrastructure through various financing instruments within the scope of activities to develop the Trans-European Transport Network in the Western Balkan countries, the five-year work plan for the Western Balkans extension of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) was published in April 2022 and the said document can be accessed at the link www.transportcommunity.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Five-Year-Rolling-Work-Plan-for-Development-of-IndicativeTEN-T-Extension-of-the-Comprehensive-and-Core-Network-in-Western-Balkans-1.pdf

.

In this context, a list of some of the railway line reconstruction and modernisation projects planned to be carried out in 2023 and in the following years has been sent, and it is stated that the first five of these projects are planned to be carried out within the scope of the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF), and that the current status and details of the said projects can be accessed at the link https://www.wbif.eu/wbifprojects. Accordingly, the said projects are;

• Belgrade-Niš railway line (approximately 350 km)
• Stalac-Kraljevo-Rudnica railway line (approximately 149 km)
• Serbia-North Macedonia railway interconnection, the railway line between Nis-Presevo-North Macedonia border (approximately 151 km)
• Ostruznica-Batajnica railway line (approximately 20 km)
• Serbia-Croatia railway interconnection, Stara Pazova-Sid and Indjija-Golubinci railway lines (approximately 100 km)
• The railway line between Pancevo-Vrsac-Romanian border (approximately 150 km) and the railway line between Zrenjanin-Kikinda-Romanian border (approximately 131 km), providing the railway connection to Romania
• Belgrade-Zagreb-Ljubljana railway line and high-speed train line (approximately 555 km)
• Pancevo Glavna-Zrenjanin-Banatsko Milosevo-Senta-Subotica railway line (approximately 200 km)
• Sombor-Vrbas railway line (approximately 52 km)
• The railway line between Valjevo-Vrbnica-Montenegro border (approximately 130 km), providing the railway connection to Montenegro
• Venice-Vienna-Belgrade-Thessaloniki high-speed train line, and it was stated that it would be beneficial for our companies operating in the contracting and technical consultancy sector and our companies supplying materials and equipment to railway projects to follow the developments.

Kind regards,

Elazığ Chamber of Commerce and Industry