The most dangerous and perhaps the most corrupt project

 

The Novi Sad - Subotica high-speed railway, despite numerous announcements and set deadlines, has not been put into operation. The document dated February 14, 2025, which was sent from the Serbian Railway Infrastructure to the Chinese contractors CRIC-CCCC and others, and which Radar had access to, lists numerous shortcomings. They are at the switches near Subotica, some are along the entire railway, and then at the stations and facilities in Sajlovo, Rumenka, Kisač, Cokla, Zmajevo and Bačko Dobro Polje. It is emphasized that this is only part of the remarks.

 

Pressures despite the accident

 

However, the self-proclaimed “greatest builder of Serbia” Aleksandar Vučić publicly stated something else just a day later. On February 15, 2025, he said that he believed that the high-speed railway from Novi Sad to Subotica would be put into operation soon, and that it was “complicated because now no one wants to sign anything because of the atmosphere we live in, because of the madness that the rich and false elite has imposed on the entire country.” Not even the crime in Novi Sad, which killed 16 people when a canopy at the Railway Station collapsed, stopped Vučić from putting pressure on the section of the high-speed railway from Novi Sad to Subotica to be completed as soon as possible. Before the crime on October 3, 2024, after arriving in Subotica by train to test the high-speed railway and tour the final works on the station building, he announced that the newly built section of the high-speed railway from Novi Sad to Subotica would be opened on November 24, 2024. He said that he believed that the railway was even better built than the Belgrade-Novi Sad one. "The train now goes 200 kilometers per hour.

 

 

"Because they did a better job on this line than Belgrade-Novi Sad... you won't hear any noise. What you're hearing now is a test train. That's why you hear something. Otherwise, if we were to travel on a train like the Soko, you wouldn't hear anything," Vučić said.

He claimed that 80 kilometers of the railway line can reach speeds of 200 kilometers per hour, while only 28 kilometers are slower, and that 12 stations have been built: Novi Sad, Sajlovo, Rumenka, Kisač, Zmajevo, Stepanovićevo, Vrbas, Mali Iđoš, Žednik, Subotica, Bačka Topola, Naumovićevo. "$55 million has been invested in the Subotica station, and $40 million will be invested in the Novi Beograd station," Vučić said at the time. Forbes Serbia has uncovered a document confirming that Vučić expressed a desire for the reconstruction of the railway from Novi Sad to Hungary to be completed ahead of schedule. As they reported, this information comes from a letter from the Chinese consortium CRIC-CCCC to the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure. In it, they are requesting additional, significant funds to fulfill this wish. Vučić then, after the crime in Novi Sad on November 1, five days before the scheduled opening of the railway on November 24, announced that it was being postponed to December 8, adding: "Of course, due to the events in Novi Sad, it will be without fanfare." Only later, when the new deadline expired, Vučić announced on TV Informer that "it is not realistic for the first Falcon to leave before February 2025." That did not happen either.

 

Subotica residents still without a track

 

We wrote about a document from the Serbian Railways Infrastructure dated March 6, 2025, signed by the acting director of this state-owned company, Vladimir Maksimović, which states on as many as 135 pages numerous shortcomings on the open high-speed Belgrade-Novi Sad line. For some of the shortcomings, which mention switches, which are also a problem on the unopened Novi Sad-Subotica line, it says: "They need to be urgently removed because they endanger the lives of passengers." Sources from the railway also told us that on the Belgrade-Novi Sad section, which did not operate like all rail traffic only on March 15, when the largest protest in Serbia took place, trains have recently not been operating at the planned speeds of 200 kilometers per hour, but at a maximum of 120 kilometers.

 

Although Vučić boasted that the section from Novi Sad to Subotica was completed a year ahead of schedule and that it was better than the section from Belgrade to Novi Sad, it is still not operational and the people of Subotica have not had a railway at all for more than six years. With party cadres at the helm of the Serbian Railway Infrastructure, these problems are not being solved, so contractors are being asked to eliminate deficiencies after the deadlines have expired. The maintenance of the railway is poorly organized and defects are piling up. If the word of the profession is respected, the railway from Novi Sad to Subotica will not be opened anytime soon, and the railway from Belgrade to Novi Sad should also be closed until the deficiencies are eliminated.

 

The document from February 14, which lists numerous shortcomings on the unopened section of the railway from Novi Sad to Subotica, was supposed to remain hidden from the public in

order not to destroy the false myth about "Serbia's greatest builder" who announced the completion of the railway "ahead of schedule". The document was signed by the manager for development and investments of the Serbian Railway Infrastructure, Sanja Danilović. In addition to the contractors of the Chinese consortium, it was also delivered to the acting general director and executive director for development, investments and joint affairs of the Serbian Railway Infrastructure. At the beginning, it states: "In accordance with the agreement from the meeting held on February 7, 2025, the investor submits to you some of the remarks that were noted during the review of the completed works. The remarks are submitted no later than February 12, 2025." And at the end of the document, which has 17 pages, it is emphasized once again: "The above-mentioned remarks are not final and will be submitted successively."

 

 

The first half of the document lists problems with the switches, mainly in Subotica, and the letter begins: "The initial stage of material flow has been observed on a large number of switch cores... The investor expresses concern that if the switches are not ground soon, this may lead to parts of the switch cores breaking off, or permanent deformations."

 

 

It is then stated that at a meeting held on October 16, 2024 in the premises of the Novi Sad Telekomanda, "the contractor's representative stated that he would officially submit the recommendations of the switch manufacturer on the limit values of the overturning forces, friction forces and reminet forces. The contractor has still not submitted the requested information". It is then stated: "Train traffic cannot be organized at switches where control by inserting a 3-millimeter thick plate has not been established, as well as at switches where control by inserting a 5-millimeter thick plate has been established. This remark applies to all switches from Novi Sad (inclusive) to Subotica (inclusive)."

 

A long list of problems

 

It is described that "The Investors' Commission, formed pursuant to Decision 1/2024-825 of August 2, 2024, inspected a certain number of switches in Subotica between January 23, 2025 and February 6, 2025". Then general remarks are made: "A large number of switches are missing the covers of the setting levers, on the inspected switches the appearance of nails on the switch hearts was observed, on the inspected switches the beginning of the contact between the wheel and the rail is ~ 3-8 cm from the top of the heart". The next seven pages of the letter contain a list of defects on each individual switch, with the date of the inspection.

 

The remarks then refer to the "undercarriage" along the railway. It is recalled that in letter number 10/2024-549 of 22 August 2024, "the investor noticed that the contractor had not carried out the humusing of the slopes and had not arranged the area around the facilities". But also to letter number 10/2024-756 of 16 October 2024, which states: "During the inspection of the works carried out by the investor's representatives, the appearance of channels on the shoulders in the area of the station plateaus in Rumenka and Kisač was noticed. These channels were not foreseen in the project documentation."

 

Then, the shortcomings in the stations and station facilities such as the substations in Sajlovo, Kisač, Cokla, Zmajevo and Bačko Dobro Polje are described. For the facilities in Sajlovo, the complaints range from the lack of a chair to the fact that the fire alarm control panel displays 131 errors and six bridgings, and that the IŽS staff has not been trained on all systems, and that "the foundations of the contact network poles are endangered by the harmful effects of water". Regarding the reconstruction of the Sajlovo substation, it is stated that the diagrams are not clearly marked, and that "the intended fuses for certain feeder fields (medium voltage and low voltage)" should be entered, as well as that "the lightning rod installation is not enabled", and that "the total power according to the installed low voltage fuses is 561 KWA, and the installed transformer is 250 KWA".

 

The same complaints are made about the facility in Kisač as about Sajlovo. In addition, there is no water in the facility in Kisač, and "during testing the operation of the dispatcher ISKRATEL device, a connection with the Novi Sad station could not be established". It is stated that the exterior of the Cokla station building has not been completed, and that "the gutters are placed high, which results in water flowing onto the concrete slabs". Furthermore, the lightning rod installation in Cokla has not been installed and the ventilation duct structures have not been properly constructed, and the fire alarm control panel shows 155 errors and six bridging. It is stated about the access control system that all equipment and devices have been installed, but have not been put into operation because they are not connected to the central system. The same problems are also stated about the facilities in Zmajevo, that the staff has not been trained, that the devices for the control system have not been put into operation because they are not connected to the central system, and that the schemes at the substation have not been completed. At one facility, the fire alarm control panel shows 157 errors and six bypasses, and at another, it shows 153 errors and also six bypasses. For the Bačko Dobro Polje facility, it is stated that the access road is four kilometers long and that “in bad weather conditions, access by car will be impossible”.

 

The letter concludes: “Article 62 of the Commercial Agreement states: The deadline for reporting defects in the case of completed works begins after the takeover of the first sub-section and ends one year after the takeover of the last sub-section”. Due to the rush, these deadlines have been shortened and it is very possible that in the end the entire burden of eliminating numerous defects will fall on the Serbian Railways Infrastructure, as was ultimately the case with the section from Belgrade to Novi Sad.

 

After the collapse of the canopy in Novi Sad, it is clear that 16 human lives were lost due to corruption. Documents on business transactions for the Novi Sad station are still being hidden, and the "greatest builder" is not giving up on the propaganda myth he has built about himself. Behind his words that the high-speed railway from Belgrade to the Hungarian border is the most important project in Serbia, in fact, lies the truth that it is the most dangerous, and possibly the most corrupt project.