Direct Budapest–Belgrade trains return on 13 December as fares diverge

Direct passenger trains between Budapest and Belgrade are due to restart on 13 December, with the new annual timetable, after more than seven years of rebuilding. Hungary's MÁV is already selling seats on two daily EuroCity trains, but the Serbian operator describes a much larger service.

The restart date was confirmed on 27 October by Ljubiša Pejičić, acting director of Serbia's passenger operator Srbijavoz, speaking to the Tanjug agency, as reported by B92. Through services stopped on 1 February 2019, when reconstruction of the Serbian section began, according to the Hungarian business site Economx. Freight trains have used the upgraded line since 27 February, Daily News Hungary says.

The two EuroCity trains, named Avala and Ivo Andrić, run from Vienna through Budapest to Belgrade. Rail travel site Seat61 lists departures from Budapest Keleti at 11:45 and 17:45, arriving at Belgrade Centar at 15:20 and 21:20, a journey of 3 hours 35 minutes. The current trip needs two changes and more than six hours, Mediarail notes. Seat61 gives a second-class fare of €41.40, plus a compulsory €2 reservation, which matches the "from €43" figure quoted by Mediarail.

The Serbian figures differ. Pejičić spoke of eight departures a day from Belgrade, six to Budapest and two to Vienna, and put the Budapest fare at "around €35, although the details are still being negotiated". The extra trains are Srbijavoz's own Soko units; a draft timetable given to N1 in July showed the fastest taking about 3 hours 15 minutes. Seat61 says the Soko times are not yet online, so the two EuroCity pairs are the only trains listed for sale, and the €35 fare remains a statement rather than a published price.

The rebuilt line changes the journey in three ways, and speed is only the first. Trains may run at up to 200 km/h on the Serbian side and 160 km/h in Hungary, Economx reports. Hungary's transport minister, Dávid Vitézy, said on 8 October that load tests and a review of the ETCS train control system had been completed on the Hungarian section. The second change is safety: Pejičić notes that the Serbian section has no level crossings, while the Hungarian one has more than 90.

The third, and the least certain, is the border. Serbia is outside Schengen, so officers of both countries check travellers together under a bilateral agreement, B92 says, and anyone entering Hungary on a Serbian passport must also register in the EU's Entry/Exit System with a face scan and fingerprints, as must British and other non-EU visitors. Srbijavoz planned in July to hold Serbian checks at Belgrade's Prokop station rather than on board, but neither side has said how long the procedure will take. Whether the 3 h 35 timing holds, against roughly six hours by coach according to N1, depends on that answer; onward links from Vienna are in our Vienna to Prague train guide.

Money is the last open question. On the Hungarian section, a consortium of Chinese state contractors built the line and Chinese loans covered about 85% of the cost, according to Mediarail. The loan papers were classified for ten years; Vitézy said this summer the government would seek to lift that secrecy, which requires Chinese consent, Daily News Hungary reports. The route is branch Xb of the pan-European Corridor X, whose freight side we covered in our report on Stadler Eurodual approvals.

When Seat61 last updated its page, ÖBB had not yet opened sales for the Vienna section. A discounted introductory fare is planned once services begin, according to Daily News Hungary.

Sources: B92, 27 October 2026; Economx, 25 October 2026; Daily News Hungary, 26 October 2026; Mediarail, 3 November 2026; N1, 20 July 2026; Seat61, consulted 4 November 2026.

Photo: Bačka Topola station after the reconstruction of the Belgrade–Subotica line, 20 June 2026 — Ilbudka, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

Article written with the help of artificial intelligence from the sources cited, reviewed by the TrainsNews editorial team before publication.