Interview: Serbia's railway upgrade offers opportunities for Chinese companies

Serbia's railway upgrade will offer opportunities for Chinese companies, a Serbian official said Wednesday.

The initial project will turn the existing line from Belgrade to Hungary's Budapest into a high-speed railway under the intergovernmental treaty signed by Serbia, Hungary and China last year.

Serbia sees the project as its connection to China's "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" initiative, and looks forward to being part of its "Silk Road Economic Belt" international infrastructure program, said Milenko Gecic, advisor at the Serbian Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure.

Serbia has great interest in Chinese investments under the umbrella of the Silk Road Economic Belt and expects further intergovernmental cooperation between the two countries, Gecic told Xinhua.

"Our railways will in future have a speed of 200 km per hour for passenger trains and 120 km per hour for cargo trains, which is significantly above limits of those that operate in Serbia today," Gecic said.

Serbia has to undertake complete upgrade of all its railway lines, partly obliged by international deals.

"Serbia needs railway equipment, tracks and vehicles that are technically adjusted to European railway network ... Anyone who adapts to these standards is more than welcome to Serbia," he said.

Praising Chinese high-speed railways, he said that Chinese know-how and technology could be of great value for reconstructing the railway network, and their success in Serbia depends on whether they are "ready and willing to adapt to our market and face the risks that every new market brings."

"It's undisputable that China today has the longest high-speed railway in the world ... With such intensive construction of high-speed railway China gathered precious experience in construction as well as organizing railway transport," Gecic said. Endi