Serbia, Russia sign agreement on railway

Serbia's railway system is a catastrophe. I remember the railways in the former Yugoslavia back in the early 70's, and they weren't much to brag about then. There has not been one dinar invested in its improvement since then, I'm sure. Everything that could be stolen from the railway system has been stolen, and does it ever look it. Who rides the trains in Serbia today, only those that have no alternative. This signing with the Russians is good news, I just hope that the funds actually go to improving the rail system, and not in individual pockets, where previous funds found there way.

All reports are that Serbia really needs to upgrade its railways, so this sounds good.

That will be an interesting connection; from Königsberg do Belgrad.

We know what this means. Russia will screw Serbia same way they did with NIS.

All the money Serbia is spending on refurbishing airports - Kraljevo, Uzice, Nis - what a complete waste of money. This money should be spent on rail infrastructure.

For all the money spent on every ridiculous small-airport, regional-airline project (Kraljevo, Uzice, Nis, Trebinje, Tuzla, Banja Luka, Rijeka, Sky Srpska, subsidies to airlines flying from Nis). In a normal climate, this money could have been used to build a high-speed rail network throughout the entire former yugoslavia.

It used to take 4 hours to take a train between Zagreb and Belgrade. Now it takes 8. Similarly abysmal between Belgrade-Bar - once one of the world's greatest engineering achievements, now it's practically in the scrap-heap.

With today's technology, from Belgrade, you should be able to get to Zagreb in 2 hours, not 8. You should be able to get to Nis in an hour, 2 to Skoplje.

When you spend millions on refurbishing a useless airport in Kraljevo, all you get is easyjet, ryanair asking for subsidies to land there. A decent rail network is much more useful to more people.

Russia is very uncompetitive on any industry but OIL.. this was an emotional agreement.. good luck

"We know what this means. Russia will screw Serbia same way they did with NIS."

Avni

Yes you are right! Serbia should have asked skillfull albanians to build it. Ha ha ha! The next time I feel like having a pizza I'll let you know, ok?

Danilo, a rail network is a big thing that is hard to implement across borders. Therefore I do not think that it is fair to expect some pan-yugoslav rail network. I think it is better to hope for individual countries to plan their rail networks for themselves. Of course, Croatia would benefit to be able to plan to put a rail network through BiH - would make going from Osijek to Split much easier. But, they wanted to be independent so that's their choice. I feel that it is also better that individual republics do things that they see are priorities. One thing that worries me is that all republics are focused much more on highways and roads than they are on rail. But, I am sure there is future in rail, so I am hopeful.

We know what this means. Russia will screw Serbia same way they did with NIS.

All reports are that Serbia really needs to upgrade its railways, so this sounds good.

All the money Serbia is spending on refurbishing airports - Kraljevo, Uzice, Nis - what a complete waste of money. This money should be spent on rail infrastructure.

For all the money spent on every ridiculous small-airport, regional-airline project (Kraljevo, Uzice, Nis, Trebinje, Tuzla, Banja Luka, Rijeka, Sky Srpska, subsidies to airlines flying from Nis). In a normal climate, this money could have been used to build a high-speed rail network throughout the entire former yugoslavia.

It used to take 4 hours to take a train between Zagreb and Belgrade. Now it takes 8. Similarly abysmal between Belgrade-Bar - once one of the world's greatest engineering achievements, now it's practically in the scrap-heap.

With today's technology, from Belgrade, you should be able to get to Zagreb in 2 hours, not 8. You should be able to get to Nis in an hour, 2 to Skoplje.

When you spend millions on refurbishing a useless airport in Kraljevo, all you get is easyjet, ryanair asking for subsidies to land there. A decent rail network is much more useful to more people.

Russia is very uncompetitive on any industry but OIL.. this was an emotional agreement.. good luck

That will be an interesting connection; from Königsberg do Belgrad.

"We know what this means. Russia will screw Serbia same way they did with NIS."

Avni

Yes you are right! Serbia should have asked skillfull albanians to build it. Ha ha ha! The next time I feel like having a pizza I'll let you know, ok?

Serbia's railway system is a catastrophe. I remember the railways in the former Yugoslavia back in the early 70's, and they weren't much to brag about then. There has not been one dinar invested in its improvement since then, I'm sure. Everything that could be stolen from the railway system has been stolen, and does it ever look it. Who rides the trains in Serbia today, only those that have no alternative. This signing with the Russians is good news, I just hope that the funds actually go to improving the rail system, and not in individual pockets, where previous funds found there way.

Danilo, a rail network is a big thing that is hard to implement across borders. Therefore I do not think that it is fair to expect some pan-yugoslav rail network. I think it is better to hope for individual countries to plan their rail networks for themselves. Of course, Croatia would benefit to be able to plan to put a rail network through BiH - would make going from Osijek to Split much easier. But, they wanted to be independent so that's their choice. I feel that it is also better that individual republics do things that they see are priorities. One thing that worries me is that all republics are focused much more on highways and roads than they are on rail. But, I am sure there is future in rail, so I am hopeful.