Vesic: Serbia to have over 700 km of high-speed rail lines within a decade

BELGRADE - Serbian Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Goran Vesic announced on Wednesday Serbia would have over 700 km of high-speed rail lines within a decade.

"Today, Serbia has 75 km of high-speed rail lines and it will have almost ten times as many within the next ten years - over 700 km, more than many EU countries and definitely the most in the Balkans," Vesic said.

He noted that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic had said Serbia would have a high-speed rail link with Sofia and Istanbul.

"Over the past few months, a team I have established has been working diligently on determining a new high-speed rail route from Nis to the Serbia-Bulgaria border. There, at Dragoman, our high-speed rail line will connect with the rail line Bulgaria is building from Sofia to the Serbian border with an EU grant. Since Turkey is planning to build a high-speed rail line from Istanbul to the border with Bulgaria, we will have an Orient Express again, but in a modern, 21st century version," Vesic wrote in a Facebook post.

He noted that he also remained committed to building a high-speed rail line between Nis and Skopje that would also be extended to Thessaloniki and Athens in the future.