Vucic: Belgrade-Budapest high-speed rail line to be opened to passenger traffic by early March

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday he expected a Belgrade-Budapest high-speed rail line to be opened to freight traffic within two months and to passenger traffic in late February or early March.

"What remains to be done is to resolve many mutual issues (with Hungary) because of border delays that are due to the EU, and to see how we can solve those problems in the best and the simplest possible way so that we can really get to Budapest in two hours and 45 minutes," Vucic told reporters onboard a high-speed train heading from Novi Sad to Subotica after the route was opened to traffic.

He noted that the rail line had been built to meet international standards and that average speeds on the Belgrade-Subotica section would be 160-180 kph, compared to just 40 kph before the high-speed line was built.

Vucic noted that he had attended a trial run conducted by Deutsche Bahn on Thursday and that the train had run at speeds up to 222 kph on the fastest section of the route.

"But it will be limited to 200 kph for passenger traffic," he said.

Commercial operation of the Novi Sad-Subotica line starts on Wednesday.