Serbia High-Speed Railway

Challenge

The 350km railway between Belgrade and Budapest has been a vital transport corridor between Central and South-East Europe since the late 19th century. However, its aging infrastructure means passenger and freight journey times between the two cities services can take up to eight hours.

In 2018 works commenced on transforming the route into modern high-speed line. Following a decision by the Serbian authorities to adopt European standards for the upgraded railway, a Notified Body was required to conduct verification activities during planning, construction and testing. 

Approach

Ricardo Certification is the Notified Body for the 183km Serbian section between Belgrade and the border with Hungary. Following accredited processes, Ricardo’s multi-disciplinary teams are performing detailed audits, document reviews and site visits to collate evidence of compliance and compile the Notified Body File for eventual submission to the relevant authorities as part of the final approval stage.

Bringing experience of new-build and upgraded high-speed routes across Europe, Asia and the Middle East, Ricardo have brought proven, accredited processes to the project, helping to reduce the administrative burden on the client’s own project teams.

Results

Services restarted on the reconstructed 75km Belgrade - Novi Sad section in March 2022. The remaining 108km from Novi Sad to the Hungarian border remains scheduled to enter into operation in late 2024.

Following completion of the full line – with the works in Hungary expected to complete in 2025 - services will be able to operate at speeds of up to 200km/h, meaning direct rail journey times between the two capitals will be substantially reduced to around three hours.