NEWS FLASH
Construction of Belgrade’s new 18.3-kilometre railway line, which will link Nikola Tesla Airport with the city centre, is progressing on schedule and is set for completion by the end of next year. Works are taking place along the entire route, including the building of overpasses, a viaduct, construction on the site of the future train stations and other engineering structures. The line will run from Prokop (Central) through New Belgrade, Tošin Bunar, Zemun, Altina, Zemun Polje, Singidunum and Belgrade Airport, before continuing on to Surčin and the new National Stadium. At the Zemun Polje location, the installation of a steel railway bridge measuring 31.3 meters in length and weighing 156 tons has been successfully completed.
The stretch from Zemun Polje to the National Stadium, which includes the Belgrade Airport station, is the new segment of the railway. The railway is being built to handle speeds of up to 120 kilometres per hour and will be double-tracked, electrified and equipped with modern signalling and traffic control systems. To integrate the new line into the existing network at Zemun Polje, the outer tracks will be used so that trains arriving from the airport will merge onto track one, while those heading in the opposite direction will branch off from the right-hand track. In total, seven major structures are under construction on the Zemun Polje - Nikola Tesla Airport - National Stadium stretch, including three bridges, two underpasses and two overpasses. The project is valued at 188.1 million euros. The new line is expected to become operational in the spring of 2027.
Is there a map?
ReplyDeleteAfter National Stadium/Expo, track will continue towards Obrenovac. Also from Prokop, it will go further through Autokomanda, Vukov spomenik, Pancevacki most, Krnjaca until Pancevo
DeleteThe railroad from Prokop to Pančevo was put into operation in 1992. But the airport trains won`t be able to use it, as they will not be able to stop at Vukov spomenik and Pančevački most before platforms are lowered. And the line terminating at Prokop sucks.
DeleteOSM has a good map. It's convenient to look at railways there using openrailwaymap.
DeleteThis project will never make sense to me.
ReplyDeleteWhy make this huge arc through willages like Altina and Zemun Polje, when they could have built a much shorter and faster straight line through the most populated areas of the city like Jurija Gagarina?
The only reason I can think of is cost, as this one runs largely through uninhabited areas. But if that's the main driver for a city's development, you will only ever build an increasingly disfunctional city.
The more they build, more money they can steal. Classical SNS corruption.
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DeleteAre you mad?? How on Earth could 120kph train run through city urban area without everyday casulties??
DeleteWhy does it need to be a 120kph train? A metro line under Jurija Gagarina and Ledine would have made much more sense. You would be reaching the airport in the same time (if not faster), while the line would be useful to a lot more people.
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Anonymous10:44
DeleteAnonymous11:36
The logic behind this decision is actually very practical. This railway extension is the most affordable way to create a good connection to the airport. Other options, like a metro or tram, were considered but they were either too expensive or would not have been fast enough.
This solution is smart because it uses existing plans to give people a direct train to the airport. It also connects to other important train services and will help with traffic in the south of the city. It is a common sense approach that you see in many cities around the world.
Anonymous11:00
DeleteIt's funny, I never thought I'd sound like I'm defending the current authorities, and I have no doubt there has been misuse of funds on this project. But if their real goal was to spend even more money, a metro line to the airport would have been a much more likely target. Metro projects are famously complex and expensive, especially when fitting them into an existing city.
The reality is that building urban rail isn't like adding a new airline route. You can't just decide to build it and see immediate results. Railways are the most reliable and clean form of transport, but they are also the most complicated and costly to build and run. So instead of dreaming about a metro right now, maybe the practical step is to make the best use of the railway connection we are getting. It's a start. We can focus on getting a metro in the coming decades, when it truly becomes a necessity.
The difference is more than 1 bn EUR, if it was built through New Belgrade in a metro-like alignment.
DeleteAnon 12:22,
DeleteOriginal poster here. Yes, as I said, I understand this is the cheapest solution.
Whether it's good, is up for debate. You say a train from Prokop, making a huge arc with 6 stops on it, will reach the airport faster than a metro line going in a relatively straight line with a similar number of stops. I am not convinced. Even if the train has a max speed of 120 kph, will it really be able to reach it much with so many stops and through the urban areas. A metro may be slower, but it accelerates and decelerates faster.
Speed of the train aside, connectivity of the line is also an issue. A connection going under Jurija Gagarina would be much closer to much more people than this train is. Unless you live in Altina or Zemun Polje, you'll need a bus or tram to get to this train, and those are not big population centers. Successful urban connectivity is about efficient link between dense urban areas, not which construction solution is currently the cheapest.
No, actually the train cannot make it faster than the car neither from Prokop nor from Novi Beograd, and that is bad. But if it was able to start from Karaburma (station yet to be built, tunneling done in 1997, or so) and cover Vukov spomenik, well in that case it would be of much use to much of Belgrade. Unfortunatelly, that is not an option now.
DeleteAnonymous12:43
DeleteIn the long term, this line would be connected to almost all tram lines in the city. It would have two connection points with Metro Line 2. If it were later stretched to Ovča and Karaburma, it could also connect with Line 1, though the complex station layouts at Vukov Spomenik and Pančevački Most make such an extension difficult at this stage. Furthermore, this line would connect to New Belgrade, all BG Voz lines, and major bus routes like the 95, 23, 16, and 65 that pass by its stations.
Unlike a metro, suburban rail can have a much greater capacity. With increased frequency, it could serve more people than a regular metro line. However, given the current size of the airport, a metro connection with very short departure intervals is simply not needed and would be difficult to financially justify.
This new line is not a standalone project. It is just one of the planned extensions for BG Voz and fits into the long-term strategy for Belgrade's overall urban rail network.
Metro is obscenely expensive for Belgrade and has no chance to complete before Expo 2027. Realistic alternative would be modern tram, with synchronizations with traffic lights. But I guess tram doesn't sound so epic and doesn't give you political points.
DeleteAnon 13:00,
DeleteSofia airport has less passengers than Belgrade and has a perfectly finctioning, and heavily used, metro connection which runs every 9 minutes. If they could have made it work, I don't see why Belgrade couldn't.
Anon 13:06,
I guess you are right, this is more of an Expo 2027 project, than it is about providing a smart and efficient solution for the airport-city link.
There are plans for the future line 3 of the metro to be extended to the airport. That line will terminate in Zemun, and plans are underway for a future extension.
DeleteTo be realized in 2059.
DeleteThe comments here are most fun, not one person happy for this, everyone's got something to bitch about.
ReplyDelete"what is this, exyurailways.com?"
DeleteI dunno, I'm thankful to our Admin for bringing us these stories and letting us discuss them. Aviation is definitely about airports, and one of the most important aspects of airports is how they are connected to cities they serve.
DeleteWell, yes, because this is the obvious case of money laundering. lol
DeleteThe line will be so inconvenient to use and there's no point to it. It's just being made to steal some more Expo money.
I am suprised you did not use terminology of stealing your :tax payer money". Everything that is build in the last 10 years are bathing haters of Serbia soo much. For them Everything new and well developed is called corruption. To intelligent people every project is more then welcome and please keep developing more project like it .
DeleteYou do understand that these projects cost 5-10x more than they actually should?
Delete#Anon 15.10, No he doesn't understand it and neither do I. Could you please give us some facts?
DeleteIn Australia for $180m you get an overpass built, Serbia is getting value for money
ReplyDeleteSo by that logic we should be happy to pay $3 for a loaf of bread since its $4 in Australia and we are getting great value...
DeleteWOW great job
ReplyDeleteActually the best thing coming out of EXPO.
ReplyDelete@Ex-YU, any info on how the terminal is going to be connected with the train station?
Train station will be 500m away from the airport, so you’ll be able to either walk to it or take a shuttle bus
DeleteWhich makes it a rather long walk given the size of BG airport. Yes, many European airports have walks that long- but still this is a rather badly executed project in my eyes.
DeleteYes, it could have been built underneath the terminal and you could have waited 20 years for it to be completed.
DeleteLast year, I traveled from Stockholm Arlanda Airport. I got there by train from the city center. The train station is located underneath the terminal building, but it is so deep that getting from the station to the terminal took a considerable amount of time. The only thing that helped was the use of escalators, as people didn't need to walk a long distance with their luggage.
DeleteHow long from when you got off the train to the terminal did it take you?
DeleteBrilliant👍 Can't wait to avoid the scamming taxi driver's🤨 The airport station is going to be a bit of a hike from the terminal if you've got lots of luggage but if time is important, the train can take away the uncertainty of traffic jams etc.
ReplyDeleteNo to worry - there will be a shuttle - 4 minute ride - to the train.
DeleteWe have a small old bridge in Winnipeg - the Arlington Bridge - will be replaced at a cost much more than this rail line to Belgrade airport. "A replacement bridge is expected to cost $166 million, plus $26 million in interest, and take six years to build". It has already been closed for two years (so 8 years in total) - just saying some people here a spoiled and have no sense of the real world.
ReplyDeleteHow much something costs in Winnipeg is actually completely useless information, and doesn't change the fact that these projects in Serbia actually cost several times less than what the government is presenting
DeleteYes. One corruption doesn’t wash out another.
DeleteThe cost of all materials to be used for these are same on the world market, it is cost of the steel and concrete that dictate the costs, only the workers’ wages differ. Some people dont have any clue about how the world works and imagine corruption, bribes, ‘pijaca/buvljak ways’ is how everything out there works. Balkanic Paranoia and uneducation.
Delete@15:12 Typical plenum talks... If you could count how many highways, railroads, hospitals, bridges, buildings, schools are built last 15 years, those people in charge should be richer than Elon Musk, if you would be right in any way
DeleteDiscussion about a faster / better alternative through metro overlook the fact that the railway line opens a possibility for a direct train to other cities that fall within BEG catchment area - Subotica, Novi Sad, Valjevo, and not to mention everything the Niš track, without having to change in Belgrade central. BEG doesn’t serve only Belgrade city.
ReplyDeleteIf someone was thining few years ago when the railway BEG-NS was under reconstruction, they could make it to pass BEG airport, but why do one project when you can do few and spend much more money. Unofrtunelty track exit/existed but ...
DeleteThat is utter nonsense, of course. High speed railroad can not go around every corner or where you thing it would convenient. Please don't spread ignorance any more
DeleteDespite all those who wish to put a rosy tint on things it is clear that the whole project of Belgrade airport redevelopment has been badly executed. And of course nobody has mentioned that very badly excused railway project of NS station and the saga of the railway to Subotica.
DeleteBEG - airport, no need for a high speed railroad. It is picking up passengers. You need a normal way of transport.
DeleteLike what?
DeleteIf I am in belgrade, not new belgrade, I should have direct connection to the airport. In the proposed case, I need a transport to prokop at 3am, then get one to the airport. Considering that belgrade is not big and airport is not far, this proposed solution is stupid.
ReplyDeleteAs long as the trains run every 10-15 minutes during peak times from Prokop, and later on from Vukov Spomenik you should be fine.
DeleteFind transport at 3am from trg repoblike or BW...
DeleteAnd who's fault is that? BEGs? Contact Šapić and ask for better public transport at 3am from the trg.
DeleteFrom my location, these are useless. Back to taking a taxi.
DeleteIn the future trains from Vukov Spomenik and of course Prokop should run every hour overnight. So from 1:00 to 5:00. Before and after that much more frequently.
DeleteHow's that bro?
In all normal cities, you can take a direct transport from 10 locations within the strict city center. Here are 2. Useless.
DeleteAs long as you have bus lines and tram lines that link to the Prokop, (and in future Vukov Spomenik) then you have many connections to the airport from various parts of Beograd.
DeleteIn the future trains from Vukov Spomenik and of course Prokop should run every hour overnight. So from 1:00 to 5:00. Before and after that much more frequently.
ReplyDeleteHow's that bro?
thanks bro, ;),
Deleteevery hour? a waste of time for my location, sticking to using a cab.
Time your trip to meet that hourly train. You can't expect the train to run every 15 minutes all night long.
DeleteThe train link will never beat car use for a great number of people getting to BG. Sadly public transport and rail redevelopment is really very badly done in the city.
ReplyDelete