The collapse of part of the facade of the rail station in Novi Sad on November 1, which killed 15 people and seriously injured another two, came as a shock to Serbia. However, even six months into the tragedy, the official version of the causes of the disaster are yet to be made public. No culprits have been named as the inquiry is underway.
Meanwhile, plenty of peculiar details related to the station’s reconstruction have already been revealed…
After the tragedy…
Immediately after the tragedy, Serbian Prime Minister Miloš Vučević said it was one of the most difficult days in the entire post-war history of Novi Sad, emphasizing that he would insist on identifying those responsible. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić appealed to the prosecutor’s office and government to severely prosecute those accountable for the tragedy. “I mean political, but also criminal responsibility,” he said.
In the first days after the tragic event, the Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Goran Vesic stepped down, while refusing to plead guilty for the accident. “I cannot plead guilty for the deaths of 14 people, because neither I nor the people who work with me bear any responsibility for the tragedy that occurred,” the minister emphasized. According to Vesic, all paperwork related to the project had been issued before he became minister, and that during his tenure only the final design for the project execution was made, which, he said, was not even approved by the ministry’s leadership as the ministry could not influence the design and quality of reconstruction works whatsoever, he said.
On November 5, a mass protest erupted in Novi Sad. At the rally, which started in front of the station with a moment of silence, activists demanded not only the punishment of all those directly responsible for the accident, but also the resignation of Serbia’s prime minister and mayor of Novi Sad.
After the rally, the participants marched the city streets toward the City Hall. On their way there, protesters smashed the office of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), hurled red paint over the city hall building, and poured out a cistern of feces in front of the City Hall.
A group of protesters tried to get inside the city hall, smashing windows and doors, throwing in fireworks, but the police stopped the riot with tear gas. However, the organizers of the protest declared that the mess was the job of provocateurs, “infiltrated elements”, of whom they publicly warned earlier and who were allegedly planted by the authorities.
Late in the evening of the same day, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić arrived in Novi Sad. Addressing members of his party, in front of the SNA office, damaged by protesters, Vučić said that the government had taken all measures to prosecute those responsible for the tragedy in Novi Sad, and no one will get away with it.
Who is to blame?
By mid-November, the High Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad interviewed nearly 70 people regarding the tragic event at the rail station. As part of the pre-trial inquiry, a construction examination of the circumstances of the cause behind the collapse of part of the facade is in progress, along with the analysis of samples removed from the canopy fragments, as well as paperwork collected from all relevant institutions. However, no one has been officially charged.
At the same time, several leaders and most active participants of the Novi Sad protest, including prominent politicians and activists, were detained.
After November 5, other protest actions took place, not only in Novi Sad, but also in Belgrade and other Serbian cities.
The main demands put forward by protesters are as follows:
• resignation of Prime Minister Milos Vucevic and Mayor Milan Djuric of Novi Sad;
• immediate arrest of all those responsible for the 14 deaths at the Novi Sad rail station;
• release of all illegally detained protesters;
• disclosure of all classified contracts for the reconstruction of the rail station in Novi Sad,
• extraordinary control of all infrastructure projects launched or developed in the past 10 years.
As it turned out, the large-scale railway reconstruction in Serbia, including the reconstruction of the Novi Sad station, is closed from the public by a wall of secrecy.
A canopy that no one has reconstructed
The rail station in Novi Sad was originally built in 1964 under the project by architect Imre Farkas. The first reconstruction of the building in 60 years began in the fall of 2021 as part of the project for the construction of the high-speed railway Belgrade – Novi Sad – Subotica – Celebia (border with Hungary) – Budapest.
Work on the Belgrade-Budapest railway, entitled “Future Track”, kicked off in November 2017 as part of a tripartite agreement signed between China, Serbia, and Hungary. The construction of part of this nearly 200-km railway section is contracted by Chinese companies China Railway International Co. Ltd and China Communications Construction Company Ltd, CRIC&CCCC, and part – by the Russian Railways International, which involve local companies as subcontractors. The construction is financed by loans granted to Serbia by China and Russia.
The Belgrade – Novi Sad high-speed railway line was put into operation in March 2022, and the renovated Novi Sad station was partially opened in the same period. The completely reconstructed building of the rail station was opened on July 5, 2024, although as early as May, the authorities declared they were fully ready for the grand opening. The Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Goran Vesic back then especially emphasized that, in accordance with the requirements from the Institute for the Protection of Monuments, the visual appearance of the station was preserved.
The newly constructed section of the high-speed railway from Novi Sad to Subotica was to be opened on November 24, 2024. Vucic already traveled along this route on a “test train” early October. Then he said that everything was done according to highest standards, including rail stations on the route.
The Chinese consortium CRIC&CCCC acted as the main contractor for the reconstruction of the Novi Sad rail station. According to media reports, in addition to two large Chinese companies, several companies from Serbia were engaged as subcontractors.
There is no official information on who carried out expert supervision of the project for the station’s reconstruction in Novi Sad. According to journalists, it is either the Hungarian consortium Utiber or the French company Ežis.
However, it was the concrete canopy that collapsed that was not subject to reconstruction, although all other parts of the building, including the historic facade, were redone.
“The canopy that collapsed at the entrance to the Novi Sad station was not subject to reconstruction as part of the reconstruction of the station building within the Novi Sad-Subotica high-speed railway construction project. As part of the reconstruction, works were carried out on the interior of the station, the roof, and the facade above and below the canopy,” the Railway Infrastructure of Serbia reported.
The consortium of Chinese companies CRIC&CCCC also announced that the canopy of the train station that collapsed in Novi Sad was not the subject of works as part of the station’s reconstruction, according to the approved construction permit.
It is unbelievable that everything was repaired, and only the canopy was not renovated in any way after 60 years, Vucic said with indignation immediately after the tragedy. But why this happened remains unclear.
Without the EU, but with Russia and China
Many unanswered questions raise suspicions of abuse. These suspicions are further fueled by the fact that Belgrade previously “threw out” the European Union from the project.
Back in 2009, the EU financed (EUR 300,000) a feasibility study and environmental impact assessment for one of the sections of this railway in Serbia, from Stara Pazova to Novi Sad. The European Investment Bank was supposed to act as an investor in the site modernization. However, the negotiations were disrupted because Serbia informed the EIB in 2011 that it would take a loan for construction in Russia (apparently with the condition of involving Russian Railways in the project implementation).
For the Novi Sad – Subotica – Celebija (border with Hungary) section, the Serbian government also asked the European Union to finance design and technical documentation draft. The EU provided funding in the amount of almost EUR 4.8 million for the preparation of the conceptual design, feasibility study, and environmental impact assessment. These works were performed in 2013-2016, in accordance with the Terms of Reference (TOR) approved by the government institutions om Serbia. After that, the Serbian government decided to implement this project, using part of the paperwork drawn up by the EU, but borrowing money from China (and involving Chinese contractors).
Another high-speed rail participant, Hungary, although an EU member itself, is also attracting Chinese funding.
In the spring of 2020, Hungary took a loan from China for the construction of the Budapest-Belgrade railway line. Neither the details of the agreement nor financial statements are publicly available – the Hungarian authorities have declared all paperwork related to the project classified for 10 years.
During the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Hungary in May 2024, the Hungary-Serbia railway was named a landmark project within the framework of the “One Belt One Road” initiative and a flagship project of cooperation between China and the countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Freight trains between Belgrade and Budapest are supposed to carry Chinese goods farther to Europe after they get delivered by sea to the port of Piraeus in Greece. By the way, the Chinese shipping giant COSCO has already gained control of that port.
It was assumed that by 2025, the Belgrade-Budapest high-speed railway would have already been laid. But the other day, Vucic announced that the new highway will be ready in a year and a half, that is, no earlier than the spring of 2026.
Problematic issues
The deadly accident at the Novi Sad station may have influenced the shift in the railway construction project deadlines.
However, this is not the main consequence of the tragedy, which, first of all, drew attention to certain issues in the railway industry of Serbia that could pose threats to citizens. First of all, it is about the lack of transparency in funding schemes, the concealed nature of contractors’ selection, and insufficient control over the quality of works, which creates a fertile soil for corruption and various abuses. It is possible that this is precisely what led to the tragedy.
The next problem is the ongoing politicization of infrastructure projects. The entire Serbian leadership, from president to local leaders, has been promoting the construction of the high-speed railway for years, using the project for political campaigning in favor of the current government and ruling party. Against the background of pompous celebrations, the fatal collapse of part of the highly promoted rail station looks even more terrible. Another question arises here: was something done hastily to make it ahead of the election, turning a blind eye to a failure to comply with technical requirements and standards?…
Another problematic aspect of the project is its pronounced anti-European nature.
By the way, this element remained beyond the focus of Serbian protesters, which is surprising, because money from China and Russia is usually a breeding ground for corruption and fraud.
However, from a geopolitical perspective, this aspect is obviously extremely important.
In fact, Hungary (a member of the EU) and Serbia (a candidate for EU accession), contrary to the official position of the European Union, are engaged in large-scale promotion of Chinese interests in Europe. Separately, Belgrade is actively developing cooperation with Russian state-owned companies, despite EU demands for the introduction of sanctions against Russia (which are in effect not from 2022, but from 2014). How long Serbia will pursue such foreign policy and what will it lead to remains an open question, because, first of all, no one has ever put it forward categorically before the Serbian leadership.
So far, the most likely consequences of the tragedy in Novi Sad may be finding individual officials guilty (some will face political responsibility, some will face criminal prosecution) and a partial government reshuffle. It seems that no revolutions, snap elections, or revisions of existing agreements with Beijing and Moscow should be expected so far.
