Heatwave: Even MÁV doesn’t recommend you to travel by trains in Hungary!
As an extreme heatwave arrived in Hungary, more and more passengers experienced significant delays in train traffic. RTL Klub now has numbers: more than 10 thousand trains were delayed in ten days, while 500 were cancelled. Meanwhile, the workload on Volánbusz increased by 30%. The government also shared the number of ongoing procedures concerning flight delays.
Most trains are not climatised, many are delayed
According to RTL Klub, in the first ten days of the red warning due to the extreme heat, more than 35 thousand trains started their journey. 70% were punctual or arrived at their destinations with less than 6 minutes delay. Between 5 and 15 July, 30% of the trains were delayed, meaning more than 10,500. 1.6% of them were cancelled, which is 560 trains. Passengers could continue their journey with replacement buses only 73 times. MÁV said they substituted the trains with climatised buses.
That comes after the warning of László Kormányos, Deputy CEO of MÁV-Start, who recommended postponing travel or opting for bus services if possible (where, according to them, “at least the AC is working”). That is because the trains of MÁV’s fleet are 40-50 years old, they were not designed for the current climatic conditions, and most of them do not have an operable AC device. Meanwhile, 84% of Volán buses do.
MÁV highlighted that trains and the railway infrastructure (overhead wires, tracks) suffer from the extreme heat. For example, the expanding track material harms the structure, and MÁV must introduce a speed limit on the section. That is why trains are so slow in Hungary. We wrote HERE how that led to record delays in 2023.
Former Fidesz candidate slammed Lázár for MÁV’s performance
A Hungarian transportation engineer, Botond Szalma, said that Hungary has four seasons, so summer heat is not an explanation. He added that the government should build high-quality railways instead of letting companies steal 30% of the allocated money.
Dávid Vitézy, a former mayoral candidate in Budapest backed by Orbán’s Fidesz, harshly criticised transport minister János Lázár, who was outraged because of the fruit content of the Fanta in Hungary (which is lower than in Italy) but did not do enough for an operable railway transportation. Vitézy highlighted that MÁV has not been this inaccurate for decades. We wrote about the Coca-Cola’s Fanta scandal and its consequences HERE.
Hungary may fine 5 airlines due to delays
Delays made air travel chaotic in the last few weeks. The government said in a reply to an MP question that there were 12 ongoing procedures against five airlines concerning flight delays between 21 June and 1 July. The fine can span from HUF 1 million to HUF 650 million (EUR 2,557 – EUR 1.662 million), 24.hu wrote.
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