A new IŽS document reveals that the railway to Subotica has not been completed: Six stations are out of service.
October 2025
Link to the original article: https://radar.nova.rs/drustvo/pruga-beograd-subotica-nezavrsena-stanice/
The railway stations in Subotica, Novi Sad, Kisač, Bačka Topola, Žednik and Naumovićevo do not have a use permit, the Department for Traffic Affairs of the Railway Infrastructure found, but that did not stop Vučić from driving to Subotica with his entourage
On the same day that Aleksandar Vučić pompously opened the railway to Subotica, regretting that his associates, suspected of corruption on that project, were not with him, the Railway Infrastructure of Serbia adopted an official document stating that six station buildings do not have occupancy permits. And those stations in Novi Sad, Subotica, Kisač, Bačka Topola, Žednik and Naumovićevo.
In the document of the Transport Affairs Sector of the Infrastructure of the Railways of Serbia, dated October 3, in section 4, dedicated to restrictions on the use of certain infrastructure capacities, it is specified that “access to the station buildings in the stations Kisač, Bačka Topola, Žednik, Naumovićevo and Subotica (passenger) is strictly prohibited for passengers, employees of IŽS and railway carriers and third parties, until work on the underpass in the passenger part of the Subotica station is completed, for traffic trains for passenger transportation will use only the first station track with the associated platform installed on the left side of this track, which was announced by IŽS telegram number 249 of July 25, 2025.”
It is also noted that the border stations of Subotica, Rasputnica Sajlovo and Petrovaradin station are temporary “until permission is obtained to use the capacity of Novi Sad station”. It is also stated that “under the current conditions, passenger trains will run through the Novi Sad station without stopping”.
The document again refers to the rather unusual wording of the “Partial Decisions on Use Permits” and states that “on the main line (Belgrade Center) – Stara Pazova – Novi Sad – Subotica – state border – (Kelebija) the conditions have been met for the start of organizing train traffic on the part of the Petrovaradin – (Novi Sad) – Subotica – state border – (Kelebija) line” and that “on the basis of the Partial Decisions on Use Permits” permits according to previously defined functional units for the section Novi Sad – Subotica – state border (Kelebija)”.
All passengers and railway employees are strictly prohibited from accessing some station buildings until all planned works are completed, and until then passenger trains will not stop at the station in Novi Sad, according to the official document of the Railway Infrastructure
After Vučić’s announcement that the railway will be opened, the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure issued a “Partial Decision on the Use Permit”, and the Directorate of Railways issued three temporary use decisions, which Radar first wrote about in the text “By train only with blocks” . Numerous deficiencies were noted in those documents as well. In the meantime, it turned out that the government wanted to spend an additional 160 million euros on the railway, which it claims is finished, even though the construction of the section from Novi Sad to Subotica has cost 1.25 billion dollars so far.
Vučić’s close associates, former line ministers Goran Vesić and Tomislav Momirović and former assistant minister Anita Dimoski , for whom the president regretted not being present at the opening of the railway line last Friday, the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime suspected that they had damaged the Serbian budget by 115 million dollars through embezzlement on the part of the railway line to Subotica, as well as that they had tripled the planned funds for the reconstruction of the Railway Station in Sad Novi, whose canopy collapsed on November 1, 2024, killing 16 people. And Vučić announced the opening of this railway at the end of November last year. He drove it for the first time 11 months later, although it is obvious that all the work has not been completed yet.