MÁV is leasing ten InterCity carriages from Austrian Railways to handle summer traffic at Lake Balaton, Minister for Transport and Investment Dávid Vitézy wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
According to the minister’s explanation, “one consequence of the railway-damaging policies of recent years is that MÁV has simply been unable to handle the summer traffic surge caused by the Lake Balaton season.” He added that the situation is currently still serious, as the collapse of the Dunakeszi rail vehicle repair plant and the suspension of IC carriage overhauls mean that MÁV now has fewer operational InterCity coaches than last year or the year before. For this reason, immediate action was needed, and leasing was considered the fastest and best solution.
He also noted that work is ongoing on a long-term solution, namely the complete renewal of the long-distance fleet, which “has to be started almost from scratch,” since the relevant tenders were withdrawn by the previous minister at the end of 2022.
The minister said that negotiations with Austrian Railways already represent a significant shift compared to the previous government, as “János Lázár did everything to ensure the worst possible relationship developed with the Austrians.”
He recalled that in November 2023, the Hungarian side immediately dismissed the Austrian deputy CEO of Győr-Sopron-Ebenfurti Vasút Zrt. (GYSEV), and attempted to push the Austrians out of GYSEV, in response to which the Austrian state sued the Hungarian party.
He added that in recent years there had practically been no communication between the two sides. This has now been restored within a few weeks to the point where agreements like this have become possible.
“This case also proves that if we approach every issue not with power arrogance and pride, but with a willingness to cooperate and solve problems, then meaningful results can be achieved quickly,” he wrote. He also noted that he and Péter Magyar, along with several government members, will travel to Vienna this week to put bilateral relations on a new footing in even larger and more important matters.
(MTI)
