On the afternoon of April 6, 2023 local time, the builders of China Railway Eleventh Bureau and China Civil Engineering Consortium began to lay the first pair of 120-meter-long steel rails outside Novi Sad Station, marking the beginning of the Hungarian-Serbian Railway from Novi Sad to Serbia. The Subotica border section (hereinafter referred to as "Nuosu section") has officially entered the track laying stage.

The Hungary-Serbia Railway connects Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, and Budapest, the capital of Hungary. The total length of the line is 341.7 kilometers, and the length of Serbia is 183 kilometers. The maximum operating speed is 200 kilometers per hour. Among them, the section from Belgrade to Novi Sad is about 74.9 kilometers, and it has been opened for operation on March 19, 2022; the Nuosu section under construction will start on July 1, 2022, with a total length of 108.1 kilometers. Among them, the track laying task China Railway 11th Bureau and China Civil Engineering Consortium are in charge.

The Nuosu section has a total of 278.35 kilometers of track laying, of which 176.19 kilometers use 50-meter steel rails produced in China, realizing the first export of domestic 50-meter fixed-length 60E1 steel rails to the European market. Domestically produced rails are transported to Sayerovo and Navechevo track laying bases via domestic railways, sea freight and overseas railways. Long rail welding production lines are set up at the track laying bases. After welding 50-meter rails into 200-250-meter-long rails, the CPG500 type is mainly used The long rail laying unit and the BLCP500 adjacent two-line long rail laying unit can be laid in two ways.

The construction site of the first pavement of the Nuosu section of the Hungary-Serbia Railway

According to the person in charge of the track-laying construction of the Hungary-Serbia Railway Project of China Railway 11th Bureau, the two track-laying units used in this track-laying are special machines independently developed and produced in China, which are safe, reliable and have high operating efficiency. Among them, the CPG500 long rail laying unit can realize the simultaneous laying of long rails and sleepers, has a high degree of mechanization, and can lay seamless lines across intervals at one time; The laying of long rails, this construction technology has been successfully applied in domestic Zhengwan, Fuxia high-speed railway and other projects, filling the technical gap of high-speed railway mechanized cross-line track laying operation.

Sayerovo track laying base

It is understood that the electrification construction task of the Nuosu section is under the responsibility of the China Railway Construction Electrification Bureau. At present, the erection of the hard beams of the catenary at Novi Sad station has been completed, and the basic check of the catenary is being carried out in an orderly manner. After the track laying operation of the Nuosu section starts, it will facilitate the subsequent erection of the catenary line and lay the foundation for the scheduled completion of the Nuosu section of the Hungary-Serbia Railway.

The Hungary-Serbia Railway is a flagship project of cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries, and it is the first project for the docking of Chinese railway technical equipment and EU railway interconnection technical specifications. After it is completed and opened to traffic, the travel time between the capitals of Hungary and Serbia will be shortened from 8 hours to 3 hours, which will greatly improve the travel conditions of residents along the route, promote economic and social development, strengthen the interconnection between Hungary and Serbia, and expand economic and trade cooperation and exchanges. It is of great significance to deepen the mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Europe and promote the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative and the European development strategy.Editor/Ma Xue