Both commence on the Italian Adriatic coast at Bari or Brindisi, with a ferry crossing to Durrës in Albania.

After passing through the Sofia Ring Road, the route joins Trakia motorway (A1) for 360 km (220 mi) to Burgas,[3] bypassing Pazardzhik, Plovdiv, Stara Zagora and Yambol on the way.

On North Macedonia's eastern side, the mothballed, 31 km long, Kumanovo-Beljakovce line is being restored and upgraded[4] – work on this started in 2014.

[5] Construction of a new line, approximately 34 km long, from Beljakovce to Kriva Palanka began in 1996 but was abandoned due to lack of financial resources in 2004.

A total of approximately 88 km of the track must be restored or built in a region whose morphological features make access difficult.