The Hungarian government is repaying a decades-old debt and will upgrade the Csepel suburban railway (HÉV) line thanks to the availability of EU funds to finance the project, Transport and Investment Minister Dávid Vitézy announced on Facebook on Sunday evening.
42 brand-new suburban trains in Budapest
The minister said new low-floor, air-conditioned trains would be introduced on the Csepel, Ráckeve, and Szentendre lines, with the government to launch tenders for 42 new trains this year alone. In addition to replacing the rolling stock, platforms, power supply, and tracks will also be modernised so that “the HÉV finally provides a 21st-century service”, Vitézy said as per the Hungarian news agency.
In his post, the minister said he had visited Szent Imre Square with Vilmos Kátai-Nemeth, the minister for social and family affairs (who is also the MP for Csepel, Budapest’s 21st district), to mark the adoption of the Baross Gábor Railway Development Plan.
In an attached video, Vitézy said the current trains on the line are too hot in summer, too cold in winter and not low-floor. He added that accessibility improvements are also part of the project, so platforms will be raised, and the entire road and the Csepel terminus on II. Rákóczi Ferenc street will need to be rebuilt.
Transport Minister Vitézy vows to end bus shortages across Hungary
Kátai-Németh, who lost his sight at the age of 16, remarked in the video that the trains on the Csepel HÉV line are so old that he had still been able to “see” them.
Easier after dark: Budapest expands night transport to a lot more suburbs
I note there’s no mention of the Godollo HEV. There were people that attended the first F1 GP at Hungaroring in 1986 who used the same trains last weekend as they did 40 years ago.
I know there are proposals to extend M2 to run over the line while all the retired rolling stock from the other three lines would provide a plentiful supply of (used) spare parts to keep the Godollo trains running for a while longer but even so. One year it would be good to demonstrate to the F1 fans that Hungary has entered the 21st century.