CROSS-BORDER: Hungarian Transport Minister Dávid Vitézy says ETCS testing on the Hungarian section of the Budapest–Belgrade line is complete. Domestic passenger trains could start in the second half of October, with international services to Belgrade following in December.
The minister announced the result on Facebook on 8 October, after a full-load test at 160 km/h on 3–4 October. He expects the official documents based on the test results by mid-October, according to business news site Economx, which quoted the post.
The start comes in two steps, and both are conditional. Domestic services on the Hungarian section go first, provided everything goes to plan. If the first weeks run without problems, trains will use the full line speed of 160 km/h from December, when international passenger services between Budapest and Belgrade are due to begin.
What is left before the first passengers
Track adjustment on the suburban section between Ferencváros and Kunszentmiklós-Tass is scheduled to finish by the end of October, so that the remaining work causes fewer restrictions once domestic trains run, the minister wrote. The contractor still has almost two months of final track work at stations, switches and on the open line to secure long-term operation at up to 160 km/h, he added.
The passenger information systems did not perform as required during the October test and must be fixed before opening, the minister said on 4 October.
A year of dates that did not hold
The line is the Hungarian part of the Chinese-financed upgrade between Budapest and Belgrade. Freight trains have used it since late February. Passenger trains have run on the Serbian section between Subotica and Belgrade since October 2025.
Under the previous government, then Construction and Transport Minister János Lázár set the passenger opening for 20 February 2026. The date moved to mid-March and then to Easter, and none of them held, the policy portal European Western Balkans wrote in July.
On 2 March, the ministry said the start would depend on the ETCS system working without compromise, not on a date, Hungarian news site Telex reported. Business site G7 reported the same day that the train control system did not work and had not been approved. At the end of March, the ministry said passengers would not travel before the summer.
After the election on 12 April, Dávid Vitézy became transport minister. Prime Minister Péter Magyar said on 16 July that passengers could travel within one to two months, without giving a date. On 6 August in Subotica, the Hungarian minister and his Serbian counterpart, Aleksandra Sofronijević, said the construction work was complete and passenger traffic would follow in the autumn if the safety tests succeeded.
The statements so far do not say which authority will issue the documents.