Large-scale reorganisation of MÁV announced

MÁV Pályaműködtetési Zrt. will be created through the separation of the railway operations. MÁV, Volánbusz and MÁV-HÉV will merge to form MÁV Személyszállítási Zrt. with around 30,000 employees, and MÁV Szolgáltatóközpont Zrt. will provide the service background. The work of the three large professional units will continue to be coordinated by MÁV Zrt. as the holding company.

EIB loan for developments

The Hungarian railway network has a length of 8,218 km, of which 6,926 km are used for passenger transport. Of these, around 50% of the passenger sections are speed-limited due to technical problems. Nagy pointed out that EU funding for railway development has been put on hold indefinitely by Brussels for political reasons. This situation is forcing MÁV to use its own funds and loans. At the beginning of next year, the company plans to take out a loan of 1 billion euros from the EIB, which will be supplemented by 1 billion euros of its own funds. This will enable investments totalling around 800 billion forints to be made.

Immediate measures to remedy the situation

317 km of track will be modernised, 50 km of which will be electrified and 490 km will be equipped with a modern central traffic control system. The modernisation of the vehicle fleet is expected to take several years. As an immediate measure, the overhaul of 100 railcars has begun. Half of the carriages are IC carriages, the others are long-distance, dining or couchette carriages. All of these vehicles should be back in service by the end of 2025, most of them by the summer.

Around 53,000 MÁV employees serve 4.5 million passengers a year. The restructuring of the fare and discount system will further increase the number of passengers, said Nagy.