On December 23 local time in Serbia, the launch ceremony for the Serbia section of the Hungary-Serbia Railway was held in Novi Sad, Serbia's second-largest city, marking that China-Hungary-Serbia railway cooperation has entered the implementation stage and that China Railway's going global has achieved another major result. Premier Li Keqiang of the State Council sent a letter of congratulation, and Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic attended the ceremony and delivered a speech. Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Zorana Mihajlovic, Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission Wang Xiaotao, Deputy General Manager of China Railway Corporation Huang Min, Chinese Ambassador to Serbia Li Manchang, and Hungarian Ambassador to Serbia Peter attended the ceremony.
On that day, the sky over Novi Sad was clear, and the launch ceremony site had a festive and warm atmosphere. The blue backdrop wall for the launch ceremony of the Serbia section of the Hungary-Serbia Railway was particularly eye-catching, and display boards reflecting the achievements, technical features of China Railway development and the situation of the Hungary-Serbia Railway project attracted everyone's attention.
At 12 noon, government officials and enterprise representatives from China, Serbia and Hungary attending the ceremony arrived at Novi Sad railway station. Vucic and Wang Xiaotao jointly tightened the bolts on the tracks at the site, symbolizing the official launch of the Serbia section of the Hungary-Serbia Railway project.
At the launch ceremony, Wang Xiaotao read out Premier Li Keqiang's congratulatory letter. Li Keqiang said in the letter that, as a flagship project of trilateral cooperation between China, Serbia and Hungary, the launch of the Hungary-Serbia Railway marks a new important step in China-Hungary-Serbia cooperation and shows that practical cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries has stood at a new historical starting point.
Li Keqiang pointed out that China is willing to work hand in hand with Serbia and Hungary, in accordance with the consensus and agreements already reached, to advance the construction of the Hungary-Serbia Railway project in a solid and efficient manner, ensure high-quality completion on schedule, and strive for early opening to traffic. He believed that this will not only strongly promote regional infrastructure construction and connectivity, improve the well-being of local people and promote the European integration process, but also help better align with China-EU development strategies, deepen China-EU cooperation in key areas such as international production capacity and investment, and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.
In his speech, Vucic expressed gratitude to the working teams of Serbia and China for their hard work in advancing the Hungary-Serbia Railway project. The launch of the Hungary-Serbia Railway project is another major breakthrough in Serbia-China practical cooperation and a full reflection of the further improvement of the level of the strategic partnership between the two countries, and is of great significance to the in-depth development of "16+1 cooperation." The Hungary-Serbia Railway greatly shortens the distance between Serbia and the heart of Europe and helps build Serbia into a regional transport and logistics hub. Serbia is willing to continue making joint efforts with Chinese partners to ensure the goal of opening the Hungary-Serbia Railway to traffic in 2018.
Mihajlovic, Huang Min and Wang Xiaotao delivered speeches at the ceremony successively, saying that they will make concerted efforts to organize the implementation of the project well. Nearly 600 people, including representatives of the Chinese and Serbian governments and enterprises, journalists and local residents, attended the launch ceremony.
The Hungary-Serbia Railway runs from Budapest, the capital of Hungary, to Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, with a total length of 350 kilometers, including 166 kilometers in Hungary and 184 kilometers in Serbia. The project is an electrified mixed passenger and freight railway, involving the construction of a second track alongside the existing single-track railway and newly built double-track sections in some areas, with a designed maximum speed of 200 kilometers per hour and a construction period of 2 years. After completion and opening to traffic, the travel time between the two places will be shortened from the current 8 hours to less than 3 hours.
Cooperative construction of the Hungary-Serbia Railway is an important consensus reached by the prime ministers of China, Hungary and Serbia and a project of friendly cooperation and mutual benefit among the three countries. The implementation of the project will add a new fast railway corridor between Hungary and Serbia, further improve the infrastructure level of Hungary, Serbia and the regions along the route, accelerate connectivity, better realize the smooth flow of goods and facilitate personnel exchanges. At the same time, as a flagship project of China-Central and Eastern Europe "16+1 cooperation," it will accelerate the construction of the China-Europe Land-Sea Express Line, create a major international trade corridor between China and Europe, and is of great significance to promoting economic, trade and cultural exchanges and cooperation between China, Hungary and Serbia and among Central and Eastern European countries, and accelerating the formation of an economic corridor connecting China and Central and Eastern Europe.
As the lead unit, China Railway Corporation will give full play to its advantages in management, technology and resources, strengthen organization and coordination of member units of the Chinese consortium, work hand in hand with Serbian partners, and strive to build the Serbia section of the Hungary-Serbia Railway into a safe and high-quality premium project and a demonstration project of international railway cooperation.