"The moles for the metro are on their way to Serbia, and every day is precious to us," city manager Miroslav Čučković told Politika in August of this year. Then he mentioned that they are finally coming to Serbia in October.
The moles are there, only they're not, and the accompanying licenses are also following a similar path. First is the city manager Miroslav Cuckovic said in April this year that construction permits for these works will be issued as part of the construction of the subway to arrive any moment. That Čučković "every hour" turned into more than four months.
In his statement, Siniša Mali also claimed in April that the "moles" were leaving for Serbia in June, although the competent company only announced in August that they had left China.
"After the testing is over, the moles will, as we expect, leave for Serbia in June," said Mali in April.
Photo: Power ChinaThe moles, which will dig the Belgrade metro, were made in China
Permission granted.
Only at the beginning of September 2026, the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure issued to the company Belgrade Metro and Train, as an investor, a decision on the construction permit for the works necessary to prepare the ground for the launch of the TBM machine, i.e. the "mole".
More precisely, this decision approved the execution of construction works that belong to phase I, I' and I". It is about the creation of a working platform, the creation of guides for diaphragms, the creation of reinforced concrete diaphragms, the excavation with the installation of a deburring system for securing the excavation and the creation of a base plate for the TBM, for the purposes of launching the TBM machine, in order to realize the phased construction of phase II of the Belgrade Metro line 1, writes eKapija.
The estimated value of the works amounts to 3,82 billion dinars without VAT.
The long journey of the "mole"
As for the "moles" themselves that will dig the tunnels of the Belgrade metro, in mid-August the Belgrade Metro and Train announced that these two TBM machines had left China for Serbia. It is about several weeks of transport to Europe, and then to Belgrade, where they will be prepared for the start of the excavation of about 11 kilometers of underground tunnels of the first phase of the first metro line.
The "mole" will be transported in two stages. In the first stage, one complete TBM machine is shipped from China, together with part of the components of the second machine, while in the second stage, its remaining parts will be shipped. The machines and their components will reportedly travel by sea from China to Europe, where they are expected to arrive by October. After that, if the transport proceeds according to the planned dynamics and sailing conditions, their further transport along the Danube to Belgrade will follow.
After all the components have been delivered to Serbia, preparations will follow for the assembly of the moles and their placement at the launch sites, from where the tunnel excavation will begin.
One mole will start work from the Bele Voda station on Makish and will move in the direction of the Sajam station, while the other will start excavation right from the launch shaft on Karaburma, near the Pancevac bridge. The two machines will start work from opposite sides of the underground route and advance to meet each other.
Chronicle of the Belgrade Metro
The subway plan from 2012, which like today, includes three lines - only for less money.
It was planned that the first line would be built in about four years. At that time, it was planned that most of the route would go above ground. We had a "lite version of the metro".
The plan has been significantly changed.
Now it is predicted that the routes in New Belgrade will be underground, which means digging through sand. The expert public warned that the same deadlines of four years are no longer realistic, and that this will drastically increase the cost of construction.
The "light version" included two routes that cover the most frequented parts of the city. The third route would use 90 percent of the previous two routes to save money. That is no longer the case either - three completely independent lines are planned.
Photo: PHOTO TANJUG/ ZORAN ZESTIC/ bgThe metro line plan has been changed several times
Academician Dušan Teodorović is at Tribini Vremena "Who is blocking the city" said that there are about 30 methods for designing the network, and none of them have been applied in Belgrade: "There is no methodology, no mathematical model, no computer program. There is no engineering-mathematical proof that this is the best solution."
The procurement of trains has also caused controversy.
In February, the weekly "Radar" reported that the company Alstom from France was entrusted with the work for 32 metro compositions, while the German Siemens, which operates in Kragujevac, was bypassed. One vehicle will cost 31 million euros.
For the sake of comparison, the London Underground acquired 94 Siemens compositions seven years ago at a price of around 18 million euros per piece.
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