The overall modernisation of the almost 104 km long Niš – Dimitrovgrad railway line includes the reconstruction and modernisation of the existing, not-electrified single-track railway line from Sićevo to Dimitrovgrad. It also entails the construction of the North rail bypass around the City of Niš as well as the electrification and signalling of both the existing railway line from Sićevo to Dimitrovgrad and the Niš bypass. The project will not only improve the railway traffic from the City of Niš to the border with Bulgaria, but due to the newly introduced bypass take the trains out of the city centre of Niš and thus contribute to the facilitation of traffic in the urban area of the City of Niš.
Improved infrastructure will enable an increase of speeds from a current average of 50 km/h to up to 120km/h and positively impact traveling habits by increasing the annual number of passengers from around 170.000 to some 550.000, as well as total freight transport from 3.2 to around 6.2 million tonnes a year.
The railway line will be modernised thanks to a project financed by the European Union (EUR 108.6 million grant funds) and the European Investment Bank (EUR 134 million loan).
The investment is part of the EU Economic and Investment Plan for the Western Balkans, being a key priority project contributing to sustainable transport and connectivity. As such, it also benefits from a €3.7 M technical assistance grant for the project preparation, as well as the €1.5 M grant, for the development of design for the construction of bypass around the City of Niš.
https://europa.rs/railway-nis-dimitrovgrad-modernisation-for-speeds-of-up-to-120-km-h