BUDAPEST – Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar has announced that passenger services on the high-speed railway between Budapest and Belgrade are expected to begin within the next one or two months, N1 reported.
He also said that Transport and Investment Minister Dávid Vitézy will visit Serbia in the coming days to discuss the project.
Speaking at a press conference on 16 July, Magyar said that Vitézy would travel to Serbia to meet with representatives of the Serbian government and discuss the harmonisation of the signalling and safety systems on the Budapest–Belgrade railway, according to the Hungarian news portal dunaharasztionline.hu.
According to Magyar, passenger services could be launched within the next month or two, although he once again stopped short of providing a specific opening date.
Former Hungarian Minister of Construction and Transport János Lázár said as early as December 2025 that the railway was expected to open on 20 February 2026. The timeline was later revised, with passenger services initially expected to begin between the end of February and 15 March, before being postponed to Easter. However, neither of those deadlines was met.
The modernised Hungarian section of the railway features a double-track line designed for speeds of up to 160 km/h. According to previous estimates by Hungarian State Railways (MÁV), travel time between Budapest and Kelebia could be reduced by 90 minutes, while several pairs of direct trains between the two capitals could operate daily.
Construction contractors left the site earlier this spring after completing the railway infrastructure works. Freight traffic was launched at the end of February, but additional technical and safety requirements must still be met before passenger services can begin.
One of the main reasons for the delay is the need to harmonise the railway signalling and safety systems used in Serbia and Hungary, as well as to complete the certification of the system that will be deployed on the Hungarian section of the line.
