Serbian Railways to get money for Belgrade-Pancevo railroad soon - First annex to agreement on Russian loan to be signed June 15th

Serbian Railways Director General Dragoljub Simonovic has announced that the first annex to an agreement on a Russian loan of USD 800 million for the Belgrade-Pancevo railroad will be signed June 15th, Tanjug news agency has reported.

This will be followed by the signing of an annex to the agreement for the purchase of 27 new diesel trains with the proceeds of the Russian loan with the first train expected to arrive in Serbia in September 2014, Simonovic said at an international conference on the development of railway and public transportation in southeast Europe in Belgrade.

He said that over the next three to four years, the Serbian Railways would get about 60 new trains, 15 of which would be multi-system locomotives designed to run on railroads outside Serbia that had a different voltage.

Simonovic said that in the next five to seven years, the Serbian Railways would reach European standards with the speed of its trains averaging about 160 kilometers per hour, adding that one section of the railroad between Belgrade and Budapest would also support a speed of as high as 200 kilometers per hour.