Skopje, 25 September 2025 (MIA) – The UK government’s Department for Transport's Crossrail International, a specialist advisory practice providing strategic advice globally to organizations developing complex rail schemes, will help the government improve the national rail network, Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Aleksandar Nikoloski said Thursday.

Speaking to the press after his visit to Kavadarci, the transport minister said the government had considered the Crossrail International agreement at its Tuesday session and given it the green light.

"This is a company that is 100% owned by the UK's transport ministry," Nikoloski said. "A company that built the longest, most modern and first fully digitized subway line in London. A company that maintains the London subway. This is the company that will provide technical assistance in the entire operations of Macedonian Railway Infrastructure, and this will be a grant, that is, a gift from the British Government to the citizens of Macedonia."

"So we are moving in the right direction. The Serbs, too, moved in that direction in Athens yesterday," the transport minister said, adding that the government planned to cooperate with the governments of Serbia, Hungary and Austria as well, on improving railway connections.

According to a government press release, the agreement for cooperation with Crossrail International is based on a mutual commitment to sharing expertise, experiences, good practices and lessons learned in supporting national railway projects, with a special focus on high-speed rail as well as freight rail traffic.

The five-year agreement can be extended to 10 years, the release said. mr/

Фото и видео: МИА