Beer and hamburgers on trains to Lake Balaton

Róbert Homolya, chairman of MÁV Zrt gave an interview about the completion of the maintenance of Keleti railway station. He pointed out that, from the middle of June up until the end of the summer, they will test new dining cars, which have been missing from Hungary’s trains for a while now. There will be 16 Balaton expresses daily on which passengers will be able to buy street food and drink; there will be beer and hamburgers.

Thanks to the MÁV-START service development, between June 15 and August 25, 16 (eight-eight returns) trains to Lake Balaton will have dining cars daily, between Déli railway station and Keszthely, according to MÁV.

The company’s goal with this measure is for passengers to sense an improvement in the services provided by public transportation by offering them a diverse and affordable street food menu (like beer and hamburgers).

Dining cars are like proper restaurants in a railroad passenger car with tables, where passengers can sit down and have a nice meal.

Dining cars were used on international or only some InterCity trains in Hungary. As of June 15, 2012, however, MÁV put a stop to these services on domestic rides. They reasoned that it cost way more to operate this service than the money they made with it; it was not profitable.

Back in the day, trains usually had dining cars, as they were much slower than our trains today, so the passengers had to eat something. As time passed by and trains got faster, people started bringing to prepare and pack food for themselves or choose other types of transportation for longer trips.

MÁV Nosztalgia Zrt. offers a service which mainly focuses on nostalgia and the experience of travelling by train. On these so called Gyertyafény Expresszes (Candlelight Express) the emphasis is on the dinner that people get to enjoy on the train.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Read more about the railway station maintenance HERE and HERE.

Check out the story about the Hungarian Airlines HERE.

Featured image: Wikimedia Commons

Source: www.mavcsoport.hu