Budapest suburban traffic lacks operational trains: Orbán’s former mayoral candidate Vitézy blames minister

Dávid Vitézy, a politician who works with the LMP-Greens in the Budapest assembly, has convened an extraordinary meeting of the transport, urban development committee for Monday over the planned cuts to suburban railway HEV’s services.

The proposed cuts at the lines connecting Budapest with the souhern suburbia in Gödöllő, Csepel and Ráckeve would result in a 20-30 percent drop in their overall capacity, Vitézy said in a post on Facebook on Wednesday.

H7 suburban railway line to Csepel, district 21. Photo: FB/MÁV-HÉV Ltd

He said that he had invited the mayor of Budapest, the leaders of the construction and transport ministry, the Budapest public transport centre (BKK) and state railway MÁV, the mayors of affected districts and civil organisations representing passengers to attend the meeting.

Vitézy cited his letter sent to BKK and MÁV, in which he pointed out that the city “has run out of operational HÉV carriages which is not a surprise since the oldest of them are aged 58-61.”

He said that the government (namely, János Lázár, Hungry’s construction and transport minister) had put a halt to the purchase of public transport vehicles, adding that it was the transport ministry and “central bureaucracy to be blamed for the collapse of the maintenance and spare parts supply system.”

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