Hungary is moving full steam ahead with building a 500km railway line connecting major cities in Hungary, Serbia and Romania.
János Lázár told Délmagyarország that the project is expected to take ten years to complete and cost 800 billion HUF (2.6bn EUR).
According to MTI, the railway line will connect the cities of Pécs, Baja, Subotica (Szabadka), Szeged, Hódmezővásárhely, Békéscsaba, Salonta (Nagyszalonta), Oradea (Nagyvárad) and Debrecen.
The Hungarian and Serbian governments are expected to discuss the project at a joint cabinet session next month, Lázár said, adding that the Serbian government was ready to help finance it. Lázár said the project could also potentially receive European Union funding, noting that the plan was in line with the EU’s transport development strategy.
Lázár said certain sections of the railway line will also function as suburban railway lines like the tram-train line being built to connect Szeged and Hódmezővásárhely. He said certain sections like the Pécs-Baja and Szeged-Békéscsaba lines will be completed by 2022, with the total project likely taking 8-10 years to finish.