Construction of the first stage of the Hungary-Serbia railway, China's debut rail line in Europe, will start in November, a top Serbian official said on Aug. 17.

Zorana Mihajlović, Serbia's deputy prime minister and minister of construction, transport and infrastructure, said in an interview that the project will be completed in two to two-and-a-half years.

The 350-kilometer flagship railway will link Hungary's capital Budapest with Serbia's capital Belgrade, with 166 km on the Hungarian side and the rest in Serbia. With a designed maximum speed of 200 kilometers per hour, it expects to reduce the intercity travel time from eight hours to just two-and-a-half hours.