According to the WeChat public account "Chinese Embassy in Serbia", on October 3, the Novi Sad-Subotica section of the Hungary-Serbia Railway was completed and opened to traffic, marking the opening and operation of the entire Serbian section of the Hungary-Serbia Railway.

Serbian President Vucic, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Mesarovic, Minister of Construction, Transportation and Infrastructure Sovronievich, Governor of Vojvodina Autonomous Province, Mayor of Belgrade, etc. took the first train from Belgrade Central Railway Station to Subotica. Ambassador Li Ming and relevant officials from China Railway Corporation and China Communications Construction Group accompanied the whole process.

President Vucic said that the Hungary-Serbia railway project is a huge success for Serbia. The first train speed is 200 kilometers per hour, and it only takes 68 minutes from Belgrade to Subotica, which greatly shortens the travel time, promotes economic integration along the route, injects strong impetus into the balanced development of Serbia and the national economic prosperity, and significantly enhances Serbia's status as a transportation hub connecting the Balkans and the center of Europe. Thanks to the support of Chinese leaders and Chinese friends, Chinese companies are excellent and the two countries will continue to carry out broader cooperation in the future.

Ambassador Li said that the Hungary-Serbia Railway is the first high-speed rail built by Chinese companies in Europe, a flagship project for cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries, and a major project for the docking of the "Belt and Road" initiative with the European development strategy. The opening of the entire section of the Hungary-Serbia Railway is the latest achievement of the people of China and Serbia to build a community with a shared future in the new era, a new milestone in the friendship between China and Serbia, and has opened up broad prospects for the construction and development and prosperity of Serbia's country.

According to the WeChat official account "China Railway", the Hungary-Serbian Railway connects Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, and Budapest, the capital of Hungary. It is a flagship project for China to cooperate with Central and Eastern European countries. It is also the first project to adopt China's independent technical equipment and pass the EU Railway Connectivity Technology Specification (TSI) certification. The total length of the line is 341.7 kilometers, of which 183.1 kilometers in Serbia is 200 kilometers per hour; Hungary is 158.6 kilometers in length and 160 kilometers per hour.

The Belgrade to Novi Sad section in Serbia was opened on March 19, 2022. Serbia was the first to enter the high-speed rail era in the Balkans. The maximum train running speed increased from 40 to 50 kilometers to 200 kilometers, and the operating time between the two places was reduced from more than 90 minutes to about 30 minutes. The average daily passenger train was launched, with an average annual passenger number of more than 3.4 million passengers, which has won wide praise from the Serbian government and people.

The Noss section of the Hungary-Serbian railway opened this time starts from Novi Sad Station, Serbia's second largest city, and ends at the border city of Subotica Station. The line is 108.1 kilometers long and has 12 stations in total. Among them, Velbas Station is a new station, and the rest are renovations of existing stations.

Since the official start of construction on July 1, 2022, railway builders from China and Serbia have fully utilized China's advanced railway technology and equipment and mature construction experience to optimize on-site construction organization, strengthen safety and quality control, and ensure the smooth progress of engineering construction. During this period, static acceptance and dynamic acceptance tests were completed, and they passed the EU Internet (NoBo) certification, national standard compliance (DeBo) certification, and safety assessment (AsBo) certification, and obtained the use license of Serbia, meeting the conditions for opening and operation.

The entire Serbian section of the Hungary-Serbian Railway adopts the ETCS-L2 train control system independently developed by China Railway and certified by the EU Railway Interconnection Technical Specification (TSI). The entire line of the Hungary-Serbian Railway is equipped with equipment such as communication signals, power and electrification, rails, switches, and bridge steel structures. Since June 2018, during the construction and operation cooperation of the Serbian section of the Hungary-Serbian Railway, the participating units of China and Serbia have widely carried out high-speed rail technology exchanges and training activities, cultivating a group of high-speed rail construction and operation talents for Serbia; actively hiring local employees and creating a large number of jobs; purchasing local building materials according to local conditions has promoted the development of industries along the route, injecting strong impetus into the friendly cooperation between China and Serbia, and further consolidating the steel friendship between the people of the two countries.

After the full Serbian section of the Hungary-Serbian Railway was opened and operated, the operation time of the train from Belgrade to the border city of Subotica was reduced from the original 5 hours to the fastest of 1 hour and 19 minutes. The passenger capacity, transportation efficiency and service quality have been greatly improved, which will greatly facilitate people's travel along the route and promote the development of tourism resources and urbanization along the route.