Budapest-Belgrade railway resumes freight operations in Hungary

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Budapest-Belgrade railway resumes freight operations in Hungary

2026-02-27 15:55 Last Updated At：03-01 14:55

Freight services on the Hungarian section of the Budapest-Belgrade railway officially resumed just after midnight on Friday, with the first train departing from Budapest's Ferencvaros station.

The Budapest-Belgrade railway, a flagship project under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), is a key infrastructure undertaking jointly built by China, Hungary, and Serbia to link the two capitals.

The Hungarian section, spanning approximately 158.6 km, is an electrified line designed for both passenger and freight transport, with a maximum speed of 160 km per hour.

Construction of the Hungarian section, jointly undertaken by China Railway Group Limited and local Hungarian firms, began in July 2020 and entered the civil engineering construction phase in February 2022.

"The train journey between Budapest and Belgrade used to take eight hours. Now, with the Budapest-Belgrade railway, it has been reduced to three hours and a half. This is also a major boost for Hungarian logistics companies and many other businesses," said Levente Horváth, director of the Eurasia Center.

Levente said that the Hungary-Serbia railway is expected to be extended to the Port of Piraeus in Greece in the future to further strengthen links across Central and Eastern Europe, enhancing Hungary's connectivity with neighboring countries, improving travel conditions for residents along the route, and promoting regional economic and social development.

The project marks the first time that Chinese railway technology and equipment have been aligned with the European Union's Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSI).

The Serbian section of the railway became fully operational last October.

Police deploy 24-hour drone patrols during football matches in south China's Shenzhen

Police in Shenzhen City of south China's Guangdong Province have deployed 24-hour drone patrols around the Shenzhen Sports Center to enhance public safety control during the 2026 Chinese Super League season.

The Shenzhen Xinpengcheng Football Club has officially made the Shenzhen Sports Center its home ground for the 2026 Chinese Super League season. Football matches have attracted more than 10,000 fans per match, leading to intense crowd density and severe traffic congestion, which places immense pressure on security.

Amid the excitement of tens of thousands, the calmest "guards" aren't in the stands, but stationed over 100 meters above, in the sky.

Before a match began, police officer Wang Yiyuan and two teammates would be already deployed with well-defined roles: one would pilot the drones, another would keep an eye on the spectrogram to monitor the drone activity, and the third would coordinate with other ground police via his walkie-talkie.

Just before the end of the second half, a sudden alert for crowd flow popped up at the south square, where a large number of spectators had begun to gather as they leave the site. As this area served as the only passage for leaving the stadium, the crowd pressure could easily lead to a stampede.

From the initial alert to the loudspeaker broadcast and then to the arrival of police reenforcements on the scene, it took Wang and his colleagues just three minutes to complete the communication, and the crowds began to disperse.