Even by tardy Balkan railway standards, a four-year wait for a train is pushing it somewhat. But, by 2023, the revamp of the Belgrade-Budapest railway line should eventually repay passengers’ patience. The journey currently nudges towards a buttock-numbing nine hours in rolling stock that could charitably be described as rustic. But once upgraded – at a cost of about €3.2bn – trips between Serbia and Hungary’s capital cities should take less than half that as new trains zip along at up to 200km/h on some sections of track. Optimistic estimates suggest the new journey time could be as little as three hours.

A significant third party is involved. In 2014, China tied up an agreement with Serbia and Hungary to fund the project through bank loans, as well as providing the necessary engineering expertise and workforce. The European Union reacted by insisting that EU member Hungary pause the project to hold an open-tender process. It was won this summer by a Hungarian-Chinese consortium. While its neighbour has been grappling with the regulatory issues, non-EU member Serbia has been happily steaming ahead. Work started in 2017 – as a result the section between Belgrade and the country’s second city, Novi Sad, is now well underway, with Russian and Chinese contractors involved. Ultimately the railway is seen as part of China’s trade-expanding Belt and Road Initiative, which includes ambitions to run railways into Europe from the Chinese-operated Greek port of Piraeus, although that will require additional work through North Macedonia and southern Serbia.

Long-suffering passengers face many months of rail-replacement buses. However, Serbia’s state secretary for transport, Miodrag Poledica, says the payoff for all the upheaval will be “shortening the travel time throughout the whole route from Belgrade to Budapest and further towards other European cities – creating conditions for greater mobility in Serbia”. He expects his country’s side of the work to be complete in 2022. Once the Hungary link is finalised a year later, it’s likely to be popular with business travellers who are keen to avoid the agony of Serbia’s motorways and border-crossing queues – and, perhaps, tourists hankering after the golden days of European train travel.