Travelling from Belgrade to Zagreb in four hours by train is not just a vision of the future, but also a forgotten past.
In 1938, trains covered the 412 kilometres in four hours; seventy years later the journey took twice as long, and today the direct connection does not exist at all. The European high-speed rail development plan announces that by 2040 “history will repeat itself”, and Serbia is expected to be part of the network linking the region from Budapest to Athens.
The immediate cause of the suspension of traffic between Belgrade and Zagreb was the coronavirus, and although the pandemic has passed and organised meetings between the two sides have taken place, passenger trains have not returned.
According to the latest plans of the European Union (EU), the capitals of the neighbouring countries should once again be connected by rail in 2035, almost exactly 100 years after this was achieved in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
This link is a small part of the plan “Connecting Europe through High-Speed Rail”, which addresses the current state and planned development of the EU’s high-speed rail network along European transport corridors until 2040.
Alongside EU member states, the document includes Serbia and other countries in the region that are not part of the European Union. Two types of lines are envisaged: those with speeds of around 160 km/h and those reaching 200 km/h or more. The target years are 2030, 2035 and 2040.
High-speed railroad to Ljubljana only in 2040?
As presented on the EU’s map, Serbia should have the Belgrade–Niš high-speed line by 2030, with planned speeds of 200 km/h. From Niš to Sofia and Skopje, trains are expected to run at over 160 km/h by 2030.
The long-disused route towards Zagreb and Ljubljana is marked on the map, with deadlines of 2035 for Zagreb and 2040 for Ljubljana, at speeds of 160 km/h. This stretch will be characterised by frequent changes in maximum speed. There already exist small pockets, segments, where speeds of 200 km/h can be reached.
Whether we will wait until 2035 or whether the two countries will find a way to organise the connection without the European Union remains to be seen. At present, only freight rail traffic operates between the two cities.
By 2040, Belgrade and Podgorica/Bar should be connected by a line capable of reaching speeds of up to 160 km/h. This route has been the only international line in Serbia for years. Via Podgorica it will be possible to travel further to Tirana and Durrës.
The map also indicates that Belgrade and Priština will be connected by 2040, and by then trains to Sarajevo are expected to run via Slavonski Brod.
The plan for the “Western Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean” envisages branches of new and upgraded lines running to Budapest, Linz, Salzburg, Rijeka, Ploče, Bar, Durrës, Igoumenitsa in Greece, Patras, Athens, Thessaloniki, Sofia and the Bulgarian–Turkish border near Edirne.
From Belgrade to Thessaloniki in under six hours
The table also lists travel times expected in 2040 from Belgrade to:
Budapest: 2 hours 40 minutes
Linz: 11 hours
Salzburg: 10 hours
Graz: 10 hours 30 minutes
Maribor: 6 hours 30 minutes
Ljubljana: 5 hours
Zagreb: 4 hours
Sarajevo: 3 hours 35 minutes
Niš from Belgrade: 90 minutes
Sofia: 3 hours 25 minutes
Skopje: 3 hours 50 minutes
Thessaloniki: 5 hours 50 minutes
Athens: 9 hours 50 minutes
Patras: 11 hours 50 minutes
Niš is 11 and a half hours from Salzburg, 13 hours from Linz, 12 hours from Graz, eight hours from Maribor, six and a half from Ljubljana, five and a half from Zagreb, five hours and five minutes from Sarajevo, and four hours and 10 minutes from Budapest. The document has not yet listed travel times from Niš to North Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria or Greece.
The region has not been forgotten
This proves false the claim, repeated by numerous media outlets, that the region was forgotten in the document “Current status and planned development steps of the EU high-speed rail network along European transport corridors until 2040”.
In the European Commission’s tweet circulating on social media, which caused confusion, only a map of current EU member states was shown. This map is included in the official Brussels document, but it appears alongside maps that show plans in EU candidate countries.
According to the document, the plan is to double the length of high-speed rail lines by 2030 compared to 2015, and to triple it by 2050. The idea is for Europe’s major cities to be connected by lines that can support speeds greater than 200 kilometres per hour. For now, these goals are not being achieved at the desired pace, as in 2023 the share of high-speed lines increased by only 17 per cent.
To complete the currently planned TEN-T high-speed rail network by 2040, the European Commission estimates that 345 billion euros will be needed. External estimates suggest that tripling the size of the EU’s existing high-speed rail network at speeds of 250 km/h or significantly more would cost as much as 546 billion euros. Such an investment is expected to bring a net positive social benefit of around 750 billion euros.
(N1, 16.11.2025)