New Belgrade railway station

New Belgrade railway station (Железничка станица Нови Београд) is a railway station in New Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia. The railroad continues to Tošin Bunar and Zemun in one direction, and Belgrade Centre in the other direction. New Belgrade railway station consists of five railway tracks. It primarily serves New Belgrade, the central business district of Belgrade, and therefore is notably used by commuters from Novi Sad, Inđija and Stara Pazova. Since Belgrade centre railway station has weak connections to the network of public transport, New Belgrade railway station is also used by passenger from some neighbourhoods on the right bank of Sava, especially the ones in Čukarica municipality.

History
The station is constructed on the 450 m-long elevated platform. The structure was made of 25.000 m3 prestressed concrete. A deadline for the station itself was set for September 1969 with the first trains passing through in December 1969. The wider project of the surrounding zone was ambitious and detailed, including the construction of a mini-city under the station: 25.000 m2 of built-up space hosting numerous shops, mega mall, restaurants, snack bars, pastry shops, tourist agencies, department store, exchange offices, various agencies, flower shops, cosmetics shops, toy shops, souvenir stands, a 24/7 cinema, and variety show venue. Though a deadline for this part of the project was set for 1974, ultimately none of these additional objects were built.

With the over 40–year long construction of the Belgrade Centre railway station in Prokop continuously hindered by numerous problems and bad positioning, by 2022 it became apparent that Prokop would never take on the role of the former Main railway station, despite being gradually opened for rail transportation from 2016 to 2018. Instead, the New Belgrade railway station took over as the busiest station in the entire country, with future plans to expand it to become the central traffic hub in Belgrade. The station, though itself inadequately equipped, initially took over the role of the main station, as it was better connected with other parts of the city and much more accessible than Prokop, and by early 2019 emerged as one of the busiest stations.

Transportation minister Tomislav Momirović confirmed in March 2022 that the New Belgrade railway station "will remain" the busiest one. At the time, the majority of passengers on the inaugural trip via the Belgrade–Novi Sad high-speed railway line used the New Belgrade station, not Prokop. Being held back in almost every department, by this time it became apparent that, though it may become an important station in the future, Prokop would never assume the role of the former Main railway station. Construction of the new Belgrade main bus station next to the New Belgrade railway station has shown that the decision was to make the New Belgrade station part of the future central transportation hub in Belgrade.

As part of the 2017–2022 construction of the Belgrade–Novi Sad high-speed railway, the station was partially upgraded and reconstructed, including works on the canopy, staircase, plateau, and the addition of a ticket booth and six elevators. The works were to be finished on 28 May 2023, but they extended. Regarding the growing importance of the station, a proper main station building is also planned.

By July 2023, there were 180 trains passing through the station on workdays.

Services
Srbija voz offers following services:


 * Intercity (IC) Belgrade Centre – Novi Sad (non-stop service to Novi Sad, one train per hour from 08:13 to 20:04),
 * Belgrade Centre - Mali Zvornik
 * Regio Express (REx) Belgrade Centre – Novi Sad (five trains per day, usually in peak hours)
 * Regio (RE) Belgrade Centre – Novi Sad (two trains in three hours), Belgrade Centre - Šid, Zemun - Nis, Zemun - Vršac, Zemun - Prijepolje Teretna
 * Eurocity (EC) Belgrade Centre - Budapest (Currently, it does not operate due to the reconstruction of the Novi Sad - Subotica railway)
 * Fast (B) Novi Sad - Bar (Operates during summer 14.6 - 16.9)
 * Local (BG) BG:VOZ line 1 (Batajnica – Ovča), some trains on lines 2, 3, 4 ( Zemun to Resnik, Mladenovac and Lazarevac)

International services to Wien, Zagreb and Ljubljana, which called at the station before the commencement of the reconstruction of Belgrade Centre – Novi Sad – Subotica railway. Trains to Subotica are not in operation due to the reconstruction of the Novi Sad - Subotica railway