China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Corporation Limited (CRCHI) has completed the construction of two tunnel-boring machines (TBMs), which will be used for the planned metro project in Serbia's capital Belgrade, public transport company Belgrade Metro and Train said on Wednesday.

Before being shipped to Serbia, TBMs will undergo mechanical, hydraulic, electrical, and control testing, Belgrade Metro and Train said in a press release.

The TBMs will arrive in Belgrade by the end of September, Tanjug news agency quoted Belgrade Metro and Train director Andreja Mladenovic as saying on Wednesday

China's Power Construction Corporation (PowerChina), the company building the Belgrade metro, signed a contract for the procurement of the TBMs with CRCHI in May last year. The machines, which weigh 2,000 tons each and have a boring diameter of nearly 10 metres, will dig 11 km of tunnels on the 15-km Phase 1 of Line 1, Belgrade Metro and Train said earlier.

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In 2024, the Serbian government signed separate agreements with PowerChina for the design and construction of Lot 1 and Lot 2 of the first phase of the metro's Line 1. The latter contract, worth 720 million euro ($845 million), includes the procurement of TBMs.

In December, Serbia signed a 915 million euro contract with French rolling stock manufacturer Alstom for the delivery of automated Line 1 of the Belgrade metro system.

The Belgrade metro is planned to have three lines of 21.3 km, 24 km, and 24 km in length, respectively, with a total of 67 train stations. Preparatory construction works on the project were launched in 2021.