As a $2.89 billion, 350 km (220 mi) high-speed rail line project, the Budapest–Belgrade railway is also a part, and first stage, of the planned Budapest–Belgrade–Skopje–Athens railway international connection in Central and Southeast Europe, a Chinese-CEE hallmark project of Beijing's Belt and Road initiative, connecting the China-run Piraeus port in Greece with the heart of Europe.

The railway line between Budapest and Belgrade passes mainly the Bács-Kiskun County and the Serbian province of Vojvodina.

[5] The Hungarian section (152 km (94 mi)) of the project was announced in 2015 to cost HUF 472 billion and expected to be completed as of 2017–2018.

[4][19][20][21] The construction of the 107.4 km section between Novi Sad and Subotica (Hungarian border) was started on 7 April 2022 and is due to be completed by the end of November 2024.

As with most public works since 2015[23][24] the government linked Hungarian entrepreneur, Lőrinc Mészáros[25] won, with his company “RM International Zrt”, along with two Chinese companies: China Tiejiuju Engineering & Construction LLC., and China Railway Electrification Engineering Group(Hungary) Ltd.[26] Although the section between Budapest and Belgrade will allow a four hours reduction in travel time, a further travel to the port of Piraeus was, as of 2017, still 2 to 4 days away by train from Belgrade.

Additionally, the project is viewed by some independent media as a part of the Hungarian and Serbian governments' reorientation away from the EU towards China, with this large non-transparent investment potentially being a way to leverage Chinese influence in these countries.