One Year On: The Lingering Anger in Serbia After Train Station Collapse

Sun Nov 02 2025 06:08:11 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

As Serbia commemorates the tragic loss of 16 lives in the Novi Sad train station disaster, a year of unrest has followed, highlighting systemic issues of corruption and governance in the country.

One year after the tragic train station canopy collapse in Novi Sad, which claimed the lives of 16 individuals, Serbia remains a nation divided. The remembrance event drew thousands, emphasizing grief while protests against government corruption have continued. University students are now leading the charge for reform, demanding accountability and new elections amidst ongoing calls for justice. The disaster has not only marked a tragic loss but intensified scrutiny of the government's infrastructure projects and corruption issues.

A sea of people flowed along the roads leading up to Novi Sad railway station.

They came in their tens of thousands to remember the 16 people who died there this time last year, on another unseasonably warm and sunny autumn day.

The victims were standing or sitting underneath a concrete canopy at the recently-renovated facility, when it collapsed. The two youngest were just six years old, the oldest, 77.

Regular protests have rocked Serbia in the 12 months that have followed. But on Saturday morning, the huge crowd participated in an event that put the emphasis on quiet commemoration.

At 11:52 (10:52 GMT), the time of the disaster, they observed a silence for 16 minutes - one for each of the victims. Family members cried. One woman needed to be physically supported by men wearing the red berets of armed forces veterans.

After the silence, relatives laid flowers at the front of the station.

The rubble of the collapsed canopy has been cleared away, but otherwise the building appears to have remained untouched since the disaster.

Twisted metal protruding from the walls and broken glass still offer evidence of the catastrophe.

Novi Sad station was supposed to be a symbol of Serbia's progress, under President Aleksandar Vučić's Progressive Party. The country's second city would be a key stop on the high-speed railway line whipping passengers from Belgrade to Budapest in less than three hours.

Vučić and Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban jointly opened the renovated facility in 2022. Its angular, Yugoslav-era form had been upgraded as part of the high-speed project.

But now, after another renovation and the disaster that followed, the station stands as the prime example of everything that is wrong in Serbia.

For the government's flagship infrastructure project to prove deadly to its citizens was more than many people could bear. They took to the streets, carrying placards reading corruption kills.

University students quickly took leadership.

Anti-government demonstrations are not exactly a novelty in Serbia, but in contrast to previous movements which fizzled out, the student-led anti-corruption protests have persisted.

The students have shunned the opposition parties. After initially demanding accountability from the authorities, they are now calling for fresh elections.

In September, 13 people, including former construction, infrastructure and Transport Minister Goran Vesić, were charged in a criminal case over the collapse.

A resolution in the European Parliament last month called for full and transparent legal proceedings and an assessment of potential corruption or negligence, underlining the need to examine more broadly the extent to which corruption led to the lowering of safety standards and contributed to this tragedy.

The government has denied accusations of corruption.

This day may have been about respect and remembrance. But the anger remains.