In August, trains were about 7 percent more punctual than a year earlier, MÁV announced.
Zsolt Hegyi, CEO of the MÁV Group, wrote on his social media page that the big question in the third month of summer was whether the favorable high-season trend—achieved through conscious measures such as locomotive acquisitions and strengthening key sections of the tracks—would continue.
According to company data, 93,948 trains operated this August, of which 79.01 percent—74,233 trains—arrived on time or with less than a six-minute delay at their final destination.
MÁV’s statement said that compared to August 2024, punctuality improved by 6.58 percent, and both the number and average length of delays decreased. Most delays were between 6 and 15 minutes, while delays over 20 minutes—compensated with a 50 percent ticket refund—occurred on fewer than 4 percent of trains.
In August, passengers were reimbursed 137.2 million forints under the delay compensation scheme, the statement added.
They detailed that compared to last August, punctuality also improved on the Balaton lines—by about 9 percent on the northern line and 7 percent on the southern one. Performance also improved on the Miskolc, Hidasnémeti, Békéscsaba, and Szeged lines, thanks in part to the deployment of high-capacity electric locomotives and the temporary introduction of motor train operations during the summer.
However, they pointed out that much work remains on the No. 100 Budapest–Debrecen–Záhony railway line, which was among the worst performers in the August statistics. Further maintenance and renovation work is planned on the line in the near future to improve punctuality.
MÁV also highlighted that the HÉV suburban railway faced major tasks in August. The green trains handled the mass passenger demand for the Hungarian Grand Prix, the Sziget Festival, and the August 20 national celebrations. Despite several severe downpours around the capital, they performed excellently, achieving a punctuality rate of 99.64 percent.
InterCity trains and their premium seats remained popular according to sales data. The number of passengers traveling with bicycles was also exceptionally high in the last month of summer. Meanwhile, the number of regional and nationwide passes sold not only failed to drop—as is typical during the school holidays—but even increased compared to July.
Traditionally, August has one of the worst punctuality rates of the year. In 2025, however, the “August curse” was broken: thanks to targeted track works, new locomotive acquisitions, and other fleet-strengthening measures, the favorable trend observed in June and July continued into the last month of summer—despite the severe early-summer storms.
The statement also noted that extreme heat, which puts a strain on rail infrastructure and rolling stock, was once again a factor. In August 2025, the national average temperature was 0.5 degrees Celsius above the 1991–2020 average. In addition, nearly two dozen fatal track accidents and several level-crossing collisions also disrupted scheduled operations.
(MTI)
