Hungarian railway system to be cut from Western Europe much longer than expected

Hungarian trains will remain cut off from the Western European railway system until at least December, a Hungarian news outlet wrote based on inside information from the Austrian railway company ÖBB. The original end date of the ÖBB’s drastic measure would have been October.

According to Magyar Hang, Hungarian trains will not be able to continue their journey to Germany and Austria until 10 December. Passengers will have to change trains in Vienna until then. The measure entered into effect two weeks ago because of the regular delays of the international trains in Hungary. The original end date was 27 October. Right now, it seems the Austrians decided to extend that period significantly. The measure concerns direct trains between Budapest and Munich, Linz and Salzburg.

The restriction’s reason is that János Lázár, Hungary’s construction and transport minister, ordered the renovation of the Budapest-Vienna railway line. However, the Hungarian State Railways (MÁV) could not organise the punctual running of the international trains despite only one railway line being closed, as the other remained operable. After weeks of delays, the Austrian railway company decided to detach the Hungarian railway system from the Western European on 30 September.

As a result, passengers commuting to Germany and Austria from Budapest must change trains in Vienna, which means extra travelling time. However, the Austrians did not want their entire schedule to be crushed because of the regularly delayed Hungarian trains. Dávid Vitézy, Hungary’s former transport secretary, slammed MÁV because of the measure. He said MÁV’s failure to organise transport between Budapest and Vienna without delays shows that the institutional and professional control over the state-owned company ended.

You will have to change twice to get to Germany

The measure means that between 27 October and 18 November, passengers will have to change twice, provided they want to travel from Budapest to Linz or Munich. First, they will need to travel with replacement buses between Budapest and Tatabánya. In Tatabánya, passengers will have to get on the railjet. Then, they will have to change trains in Vienna. After 18 November, the trains will commute between Tatabánya and Budapest again, but you will have to change in Vienna until 10 December.

The measure does not apply to Budapest-Zürich railjet setting off at 6:40 from Keleti railway station and the Budapest-Salzburg railjet (5.40 pm, Keleti). Furthermore, it does not concern the Kálmán Imre Euronight (EN 462) train. All railjets coming to Hungary remain direct without a Vienna change. Of course, during the railway line renovation, you must get on a replacement bus in Tatabánya between 27 October and 18 November.

Interestingly, MÁV’s Elvira booking system does not show the change. According to that system, there will be direct trains between Budapest and Vienna, which contradicts the statement of ÖBB. Probably MÁV has not yet updated the system.

The closure and the train change means travel times will be longer. Before, the Budapest-Munich journey took 6 hours and 51 minutes. Now you should add one more hour to it. You could reach Salzburg in 5 hours and 13 minutes, but that will increase to 6 hours and 9 minutes. Furthermore, it will take 6 hours and 39 minutes during the entire closure of the Budapest-Tatabánya line.

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