The Belgrade-Budapest high-speed railway, one of the key infrastructure projects of China's "Belt and Road" initiative, is again in the spotlight after the announcement from Hungary about the revision of the contract and the possible removal of the secrecy mark from the documentation.
While in Hungary announces the revision of the contract and the possible declassification of the documentation, the final completion and regular passenger traffic are still not in sight, Insider writes.
Quick Belgrade-Budapest railway, the symbol of China's "Belt and Road" initiative in the Balkans, is still awaiting completion, and the fate of that project is becoming more and more complicated.
The new Prime Minister of Hungary, Peter Magyar, announced that his government has made several important decisions, including the one to review the investment in the Budapest-Belgrade railway. He did not give details, but his minister previously stated that the project was followed by a series of bad decisions from the beginning, from the choice of the route to connect the two capital cities, to the technical solutions due to which the railway designed for 200 kilometers per hour on certain sections will be able to be used at a maximum speed of 160 kilometers per hour, while at the same time multiplying the costs.
The Hungarian Prime Minister of Transport and Investments, David Vitezi, stated in the parliament that six years ago, the project was classified as secret for ten years, and that the Chinese government's opinion was required for its cancellation.
"The Minister of Economic Development and I are responsible for that, and we will initiate a procedure with China to enable the publication of contracts, contract annexes, public procurement documentation and all other data that are publicly available for other state projects," Vitezi said.
Journalist of the Hungarian research portal "Atlatszo" and lecturer at the Kodolanji Faculty, Jozef Makai, doubts that China will deliver the requested documents to the Hungarian authorities, as it has its own reasons for keeping the contracts secret. Serbia has a similar arrangement with China, but considering the relations between Belgrade and Beijing, it is unlikely that a similar request will be made. That is why the question arises whether the investigation in Hungary could shed light on possible problems in the part of the railway project that relates to Serbia.
"What is also very important is that there is no question of that project being abandoned, forgotten, closed. Of course, when it is safe enough, because it is in the interest of both countries, so much money has been invested and burned there that there is no alternative," Makai points out.
Freight traffic was established at the end of February, and the opening of the railway for passengers was originally announced for March 27. However, it has been delayed until the summer due to additional safety checks of the European train control system in Hungary and the observed problems affecting driving at speeds of up to 160 kilometers per hour.
However, at this moment, it seems that that deadline will also be breached. While on the other hand, in Serbia, the projected maximum speed is 200 kilometers per hour, and the government claims that the railway is ready.
"I think the tests are still in progress, and by the way, to be honest, a few weeks ago I was driving from Subotica to Novi Sad and it didn't seem like everything was ready on that section at all. The train that was going at one point at 200 per hour braked, braked and then we arrived in Novi Sad with a huge delay. And the whole day everything was delayed. On the way back, the train from Belgrade arrived in Novi Sad with an hour delay, barely dragged me to Subotica. To be honest, that wasn't too convincing for me," says Makai.
In the previous two months, two incidents took place on the Belgrade-Subotica railway.
First, the train derailed at the Lovćenac station, with no passengers injured. The "Infrastructure of Railways of Serbia" announced at the time that the cause of the incident was the driver's error and that the safety and quality of the railway was not threatened.
Not long after, the high-speed train "Soko" suddenly lost its stability while traveling near Zemun Polje, and part of the passengers fell to the floor.
No one from the Government of Serbia or the Ministry of Transport announced anything about the Hungarian Government's announcement.
Source: Insider
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