Hungarian State Railways announce total closure of Budapest-Vienna line

János Lázár, Hungary’s construction minister, ordered the renewal of the railway line connecting Budapest with Vienna as soon as possible. Work started rapidly, but it seems it will result in the total closure of the line.

As telex.hu wrote today, work could only be started with the manpower and machinery of the Orbán-close Lőrinc Mészáros’s V-Híd. They are a subcontractor of the consortium of two Chinese and one Mészáros company carrying out the Belgrade-Budapest railway upgrade. As a result, work halted there.

The first phase of the Budapest-Győr-Vienna railway line reconstruction will last until 27 October. However, after that, the line will be closed for traffic between Biatorbágy and Szárliget. A partial rail line closure started this Monday.

The Hungarian State Railways promised they would share a new timetable and all the needed information with the passengers two weeks before the start of phase 2.

Read also:

• New timetable: travelling between Budapest-Austria changes, travel times increase
• Budapest’s Nyugati railway station got a prestigious film award

MÁV apologised for the inconvenience and thanked passengers for their patience. They said the total closure will last until 17 November. That is because they will replace not only the rails, but also the railway embankments. Therefore, they must do dirt work, which makes it impossible to hold up safe railway traffic on the line. After the reconstruction, the railway line connecting Hungary with the West will serve passengers at 140 km/h speed.

The third reconstruction phase will be between 18 November and 9 December, during which the other rail track will be renewed. As a result, traffic will continue on one line just like until 27 October.