Chinese to develop rapid railway to connect Greece to central Europe

During a two-day visit to Serbia earlier this week, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang said earlier this week that China is going to participate in the upgrade of the entire railway network linking Greece to central Europe. At a joint press conference with Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic after their meeting, Li was quoted by the ANA-MPA state news agency as saying that the construction of the railway network from Belgrade to Budapest constitutes the first section of a rapid rail network that will extend all the way to Greece.

     "At the Belgrade summit, we signed an agreement for the implementation of the project to reconstruct the railway network to Budapest, where trains will travel with 200 klm per hour and now this project is being expanded with the participation of FYROM and Greece," Li said.
     "The Greek railways and the port of Piraeus will also form part of the rapid maritime and land route connecting China to Europe," he added.

The Chinese shipping giant Cosco has a 35-year concession to expand two container terminals at Piraeus.

     "This railway line will be a major logistics route to and from China and will enhance its relations with the European Union, while helping in the development of the regions from where it will pass," he added.

The Chinese prime minister said he will soon start procedures for the planning of the project with all interested parties and will look for ways to fund it, while adding his country is willing to participate with capital.

It should be reminded that several months ago HellasFrappe featured several reports on this, one of which was from our very own contributors. For more click HERE and HERE