Serbia and Montenegro jointly seeking assistance from EU for reconstruction of Belgrade-Bar railroad

The minister of construction, transport and infrastructure of Serbia, Goran Vesic, and the minister of transport of Montenegro, Maja Vukicevic, have signed the Joint Letter to the European Commission (EC) about the Belgrade-Bar railroad.

The letter says that the project of the Belgrade-Bar railroad, concretely, the Valjevo-Vrbnica section (Republic of Serbia) is of national and economic importance for Serbia and Montenegro.

This project, as said, is of strategic importance for both states, because it comprises a part of Route 4, by which the southwest part of Serbia connects to Corridor X on one side and the Port of Bar in Montenegro on the other, and Route 4 has also become part of the Western Balkans-Eastern Mediterranean Corridor recently, which further highlights its importance.

The Valjevo-Vrbnica railroad section is a one-track electrified railroad of 120 km, with an average speed of 50 km/h, which encompasses a large number of engineering structures, including over 250 bridges and tunnels. This route was built in 1976 and, since then, it has been in continuous use.

In the past period, according to the letter, DB Engineering & Consulting GmbH has prepared the preliminary project of the reconstruction of this section, with a planned maximum speed of 110 km/h, in line with the TCI standards and other legal regulations.

In the territory of Montenegro, there are also intensive efforts toward the reconstruction of the entire rail Route 4 and, so far, a major part of it has already been reconstructed, with the aim of enabling the revitalization of the once key economic corridor for this region.

The recently approved grants from the reconstruction of the Golubovci-Bar section and the creation of the pre-conditions for the beginning of the reconstruction of this section speak to the clear dedication to increase the degree of utilization of the Port of Bar and incite the development of inter-modality in line with EU policies and recommendations.

– In that sense, support from the European Commission for the reconstruction of the remaining part of the rail Route 4 in Montenegro is expected, and the synchronized investment activities in both countries are the key pre-condition for a successful implementation – the letter says.

Ministarstvo građevinarstva, saobraćaja i infrastrukture Republike Srbije

Ministarstvo saobraćaja Crne Gore

DB Engineering & Consulting GmbH Beograd

Ministry of Construction Transport and Infrastructure of Serbia

Ministry of Transport of Montenegro

DB Engineering and Consulting GmbH

European Commission

Maja Vukićević

Goran Vesić

reconstruction of Belgrade Bar railroad

Valjevo Vrbnica

Golubovci Bar