EUROPE: Passenger services have restarted on the 45 km line linking Subotica in Serbia with Szeged in Hungary after an eight-year hiatus.
An inauguration ceremony was held at Palić station in Serbia on November 28 and was attended by Serbian Minister of Construction, Transport & Infrastructure Goran Vesić, and Hungary’s Transport Minister János Lázár.
The renovation work consisted of track renewals and electrification at 25 kV 50 Hz. Main contractor for the €86∙7m Serbian portion of the works was RZD International. Work included raising the line speed to 120 km/h and renewal of 13 level crossings. Stations at Palić, Bački Vinograd, Hajdukovo and Horgoš have been renovated.
The 13 km section between Szeged-Rendező and Röszke on the Hungarian side was rehabilitated at a cost of HF45bn by contractor V-Híd Zrt.
As Subotica station is closed as part of the ongoing modernisation of the Beograd – Budapest line, services to Szeged are currently departing from a provisional platform, where a ticket office has been built.
Passenger services on the line were suspended in 2015 due to a political crisis over border security. Reconstruction works started on both sides of the border in 2021, and the following August cross-border freight traffic resumed.
The line is expected to be used as a diversionary route for freight and long-distance traffic while the main line is subject to further blockades as part of the rebuilding of the Hungarian section of the Budapest – Beograd corridor.
Metrowagonmnash DMUs
Despite the electrification, the line is for now being operated by diesel traction. Of the five pairs of services a day, three are run by Serbian national operator Srbija Voz, and two by Hungarian national operator MÁV-Start. Both operators are using DMUs manufactured by the Metrowagonmash, subsidiary of Transmashholding.
The journey time between Szeged and Subotica is around 1 h 30 min, which includes the time for border control checks.
‘This is the railway line of belonging together, which symbolises Hungary’s and Serbia’s connection, their common past and future’, said János Lázár. ‘But it is more than a symbol: it is also a real help in everyday life for students and workers who regularly commute between the two countries, and for those families who try to keep in touch with their loved ones living on the other side of the border.’
- Subscribers can read more about the modernisation of the Serbian section of the Beograd – Budapest main line in the November 2023 issue of Railway Gazette International.
