New Rail Freight Corridor Between Italy And Serbia

The new line will facilitate trade between Italy and the Balkans. The logistics company Alpe Adria Spa, owned by the Port Authority of Trieste, the regional financial company Friulia and Mercitalia Rail, opened a new railway corridor between Italy and Serbia in September 2023. Freight trains will make up to three weekly trips, departing from the Cervignano Interport (Friuli-Venezia Giulia region) and arriving in Belgrade via Slovenia and Croatia.

The goal is to stimulate exports from northeast Italy to the Balkans by creating a route that can then be used by other Italian regions and at the same time facilitate transport from Serbia to the Udine hub and from there to other Italian and European cities.

“The most important thing is the partnership between the Friuli Venezia Giulia region and Serbia, in order to strengthen, above all, the cooperation between small Serbian and Italian entrepreneurs, to strengthen trade ties, which can only be done with such a strong infrastructure,” commented the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Construction and Transport and infrastructure of Serbia Mihajlo Misic. “One of the sectors that will certainly benefit most from these new connections is construction, especially of large infrastructures.” In fact, the first goods to pass through the corridor will be intended for carrying out large construction projects in Serbia.

The project is part of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), consisting of a series of infrastructural facilities that create strategic communication routes for the continent.

“This corridor represents a kind of an interesting open door to the East for moving our goods,” concluded Cristina Almirante, councilor for the Friuli Venezia Giulia region. “It goes hand in hand with the major investments that the region is making at the infrastructural level, such as electrification of the docks of the ports Porto Nogaro, Monfalcone, and Trieste, the dredging of ports, as well as road and rail connections between ports, interports, and industrial areas.”