The Minister of Transport of North Macedonia, Aleksandar Nikolloski, has stated that the project for the high-speed railway from the border with Serbia to the border with Greece started last fall and the planning, geotechnical and environmental impact studies are currently underway, reports Anadolu.

According to local media, Nikolloski emphasized that the deadline of 2031 remains unchanged and that the country will have a high-speed railway by then. with two tracks from the border with Serbia to the border with Greece.

“If you don’t make a good plan, the Kicevo-Ohir case will happen to you. That’s why we are making this plan. The deadline is about one year, and then, when the first excavators come out on the ground, what is visible to the citizens, the project should really be finished in five years”, said Nikolloski.

According to him, the project is expected to cost around 2 billion euros, with a cost of less than 10 million euros per kilometer, while the new route will be shorter than the existing one. “The current route from the border with Serbia to the border with Greece is 235 kilometers, but the new route will be under 200 kilometers”, he added.

Nikolloski also said that several variants of the route have been examined and the best one has been chosen while cooperating with neighboring countries to connect the railway network.

Further, he mentioned that on the Greek side there is already a fast railway from Athens to Thessaloniki, while work is being done on the connection from Thessaloniki to the border with North Macedonia. In Serbia, according to him, the Belgrade-Budapest line is in operation as a high-speed railway, while work is being done on the Belgrade-Nish segment and on securing funds for the Nis-Skopje section.

Nikolloski emphasized that the projects for the urban train in Skopje and for the railway “bypass” of the city, which will help move the transport of goods outside the urban center, are also being developed.

Source: prizrenpost