Belgrade and Budapest are, after many years of promises and postponement of deadlines, finally connected by fast by railway line.
First freight voice it started in the night between Thursday and Friday (February 26 and 27), and in the next month passenger traffic should also start.
"A few minutes after midnight, the first freight train of the company 'MAV Railtours' started on the new Budapest-Belgrade line," Zolt Hedzi, general director of Hungarian Railways (MAV Group), wrote on Facebook.
The renovated track 150 is being tested with freight traffic in real conditions, before passenger traffic starts on it, added Heđi.
He added that all measurements and tests showed that the railway meets all infrastructure and safety requirements for the traffic of freight trains.
And passenger trains should start in the next month.
The exact date is not yet known. Bidding is done in different terms.
Passengers, get ready.
Photo: Vreme/Katarina StevanovićWhen does passenger traffic start?
The Hungarian Minister of Construction and Transport, Janos Lazar, recently announced that passenger traffic should be established by March 15, if all technical and safety checks are completed.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, Peter Szijarto, has now stated that Serbia and Hungary have reached the point in cooperation where they are necessary for each other and announced passenger rail traffic on the Belgrade-Budapest line from March 27 at the latest.
The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, is sure that passenger trains will start to end of March.
Years of postponement
The high-speed train between Belgrade and Budapest has been announced for years, with the deadlines being constantly postponed.
At the end of 2015, the then Prime Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, stated that the railway must be opened by 2018. Then came new estimates and new deadlines, and 2025 was mentioned for a long time as a realistic deadline.
The realization, however, was slowed down by many years of work stoppages, as well as the tragedy at the Novi Sad railway station on November 1, 2024.
How now by train to Budapest
Photo: Vreme/Katarina StevanovićNow via Subotica
With the establishment of a direct line, the journey between the main cities of Serbia and Hungary should take about two and a half hours, while trains on certain sections would run at a speed of up to 200 kilometers per hour.
Until a direct connection is established, passengers from Belgrade to Budapest travel with two transfers. From the beginning of October 2025, when the high-speed railway to Subotica was opened, it will be possible to reach the Hungarian capital via Subotica and Szeged.
The trip from Belgrade to Subotica by high-speed train takes about an hour and a half, while the total journey to Budapest, including transfers, is currently about six and a half hours long.
