Budapest-Vienna travel time will decrease significantly due to Austrian development

Currently, the travel time between the Hungarian and the Austrian capital is hard to calculate and much longer than it should be because of the renewal of a segment of the railway line in Hungary. However, that might change sooner than anybody thought. Austria announced a grandiose railway development plan, which would mean connecting Budapest with Vienna’s international airport by train and decreasing travel time between the two capitals significantly.

As we wrote HERE, the Austrian railway company separated the Hungarian system from the Western one due to the constant delays of the Hungarian State Railways (MÁV). That comes after János Lázár, Hungary’s minister for transport and construction, decided to renew the Vienna-Budapest line out of the blue. As a result, capacities from the Belgrade-Budapest railway development project had to be relocated, and MÁV was not able to keep its schedule to Vienna. Therefore, international trains always arrived late to the Austrian capital, so the Austrians decided to introduce a compulsory train change in the city’s railway station. As a result, they can stick to the timetable.

The renovation project will finish in December, so hopefully, normal traffic will be restored. And much more is to come, thanks to the Austrians.

According to g7.hu, the Austrian government plans to invest more than EUR 21 billion in railway development projects between 2024 and 2029. The Austrian climate protection and mobility ministry developed the relevant plans with their railway company, ÖBB. The aim is to increase the number of passengers and make railway transport attractive for shipping companies.

Budapest-Vienna travel time to decrease significantly

Apart from other lines (Brenner tunnel, Graz-Klagenfurt, etc.), the ambitious project has some Hungarian relevance. Critics say the railway development plan is too Vienna-centered, but that is good news for those travelling from Hungary to the Austrian capital.

Between 2025 and 2029, travel time between Budapest and Vienna will decrease from 2 hours 40 minutes to 2 hours 20 minutes. That is a considerable 20-minute fall. Furthermore, the Austrians will build a new railway line to the international airport. As a result, the airport will become easily reachable even from Budapest and Bratislava. That means Hungarians and tourists in Hungary may access many direct flights to destinations not connected with Budapest, e.g. the Transatlantic ones. We wrote about that in THIS article. Budapest Airport’s CEO, Kam Jandu, shared when Transatlantic flights may return to Budapest. We wrote about those plans HERE.

Moreover, the Vienna-Munich travel time will decrease by 15 minutes thanks to the project. That would mean you can arrive from Budapest to Munich 35 minutes earlier.

Big Hungarian railway development project also announced but there is no money

János Lázár announced a HUF 6,000 billion (EUR 15.9 billion) railway development plan this summer. The project would focus on railway line renovation and acquiring new trains. However, it is just on paper since the government does not have money for it. Even if the EU gave the euro billions Brussels froze due to rule of law concerns, that would not be enough. Anyway, Lázár said the government would start the most pressing renovation works in 2024.

Before, Dávid Vitézy, a former transport secretary, wrote that Hungary won EUR 256 million to renew the Nyíregyháza-Debrecen railway line. In Budapest, a new Danube railway bridge was completed. But that is not connected to the railway system, and NGOs keep protesting against doing so.

Because of the Budapest-Vienna railway line’s renovation work, trains do not commute between Tatabánya and Szárliget until 17 November. Afterwards, international and fast trains will return to the route because one line will be opened for traffic. The entire project will only be finished by 9 December.

We wrote about the closure HERE. And HERE is an alternative to travel from Budapest to Vienna quickly.