MÁV’s railway maintenance spells chaos for Budapest-Austria commutes

MÁV has announced that spring maintenance will continue on the railway line linking Budapest to Austria. Upgrading one of the two tracks will take place which will result in delays and extended travel duration for commuters.

MÁV’s railway maintenance

In the lead-up to last December’s timetable change, there was a large improvement project on the main Győr railway line spanning from Biatorbágy to Szárliget. This work covered an area of 29 kilometres and included complete track reconstruction which is being completed with necessary temperature-controlled finishings.

From the middle of April until early July, a set of maintenance activities are scheduled to happen along various parts of the track. These involve adjusting tracks and switches, replacing ballast, releasing track tension and carrying out overhead line maintenance in partnership with MÁV FKG’s (Structure Maintenance and Machine Repair) subsidiary. Additionally, platform asphalting in Biatorbány will continue, slated for the latter half of June, according to MÁV.

The forthcoming retrofitting during spring-summer will be conducted in phases and smaller sections, guaranteeing that the whole 29 kilometres are not disrupted all at once. During these phases, traffic will be kept on one track. This means that most of the trains can still run without needing substitute buses. However, due to single-track operation, there may be alterations to departure and arrival times and some trains may not cover their full routes.

In contrast to the previous maintenance, these upcoming works are not predicted to cause similar passenger inconvenience. The period of maintenance that lasts until July might slightly increase journey times by 5 to 20 minutes. Passengers will be given notice about these alterations beforehand so they can adjust their travel plans accordingly, with minimum disturbance.

Photo: facebook.com/mavcsoport

The schedule of the maintenance

Maintenance work on the Budapest-Győr-Hegyeshalom line has been planned from the 15th of April until the early hours of the 27th of April. This will affect different trains like the S10, S12 and G10 trains as well as Savaria InterCitys from Szombathely, InterCity trains coming from Sopron and other international ones too.

The objective of this maintenance is to increase reliability and punctuality for train services on one of Hungary’s key transport routes after renovations done in the past autumn season. Most tasks are dependent upon temperature conditions such as constructing or welding seamless tracks; so they have been scheduled during springtime and summertime periods.

During the period between the 15th of April and the 27th of June, there will be intervals for track and switch adjustments along the open line between stations like Biatorbágy-Herceghalom, Bicske-Szárliget, as well as Herceghalom-Bicske. This involves the “breathing” of new gapless tracks installed in the autumn of 2023 and standardising temperature conditions.

The work will be done on one track at a time so that train services can continue without interruption on other tracks, impacting both domestic and international trains during day and night periods.

Maintenance work is ongoing on the catenary network, focusing on replacing longitudinal chains in sections where dismantling occurred during previous works, alongside inspections and periodic maintenance. This is happening along with inspections and periodical maintenance. A substructure problem near the lower Bicske stop from the 10th of May to the 20th of June will lead to a speed restriction of 40 km/h over a 400-metre area which will cause minor delays.

During this time, trains will run on one track between Herceghalom and Bicske. Maintenance happening from the 21st of June to the 1st of July will include station works at Bicske and Biatorbágy, affecting just night trains starting from the 28th of June. In late June, platform asphalting is planned at Biatorbágy station which is going to affect service on one platform temporarily. Track reconstruction continues between Ferencváros and Budapest-Kelenföld stations, which was taken into consideration for change in the timetable.

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