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Serbia and Bulgaria share border train station
David Browne eTN Europe

Serbia and Bulgaria have begun an unusual cooperation in train travel, by
opening a
joint border station. Customs and immigration checks will be done by officers
from both
countries in one place, saving time for passengers on international trains.

Serbia and Bulgaria have launched a new railway initiative
on their border. Ministers from the two countries opened a new frontier train
station
that will be operated jointly by staff and Customs officials from both
countries.

The station is located at Dimitrovgrad on an important international rail route
known
as Corridor Ten. The shared operation of the station is set to make border
formalities
and customs checks more efficient and cut down on delays. The development has
been
financed in part by loans from the European Investment Bank, in recognition of
the
importance of the route.

The pan-European Corridor Ten runs from Salzburg to Thessaloniki through
Ljubljana,
Zagreb, Belgrade, Nis, Skopje and Veles and is significant for both freight and
passenger train traffic.

Serbia and Bulgaria signed a series of agreements on border control and
procedures for
railway operations in 2005. The frontier station has since been rebuilt and
modernized
and was reopened Monday.

“These Protocols determine that both police and custom service of our country
and
Bulgaria jointly manage the customs examination in international passenger
trains, not
only during the train halt, as currently, but during the operation between
Dimitrovgrad
and Dragoman as well,” said Milanko Sarancic, Director General of Serbian
Railways. “Consequently, the layover time of international passenger trains at
the
border will be reduced from 100 to 50 minutes.”

The development signals a move to upgrade Serbia’s rail services to modern
European
standards, and its key geographical position in south-east Europe for
international
train travel. Serbia, like its neighbour Bulgaria, has ambitions to join the
European
Union and improving cross-border travel and transport is vital to its prospects
for
integration.

“We invested more than five million Euros in the construction of this new joint
border
railway station in Dimitrovgrad. We received great support and assistance from
the
European Investment Bank,” said Velimir Ilic, Serbia’s Minister of Capital
Investment.

Further investment is on the way for modernising train tracks in Serbia. The
European
Investment Bank has announced a loan of 80 million Euros for improvements on the
Corridor Ten route, near Serbia’s second city, Nis.

The project will increase transport safety and capacity by removing major
bottlenecks
in the railway system in Serbia, a significant transit country in the Balkan
Peninsula.
Improved railways links will help the integration of Serbia with the European
Union and
increase the competitiveness of the country’s economy as a result of improved
transport
facilities for the development of trade, industry and tourism.

Serbia has almost 4,000 km of railway but it is not operating efficiently as
most of it
is single track. Only 275 km is double track.

In a separate development, Serbian Railways announced the start up of a new
direct
passenger service between the Serbian capital Belgrade and Venice in Italy,
after a
break of several years. Modern carriages with luxury sleeping berths are carried
on the
daily 15.45 departure from Belgrade, the Nickola Tessla, and are then attached
to a
connecting train in Zagreb which is timetabled to arrive in Venice Santa Lucia
station
at 07.15 the following morning.