Much-needed upgrade: modern Eurosprinter trains to arrive to Hungary
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In the near future, the MÁV-START Group will lease 9 Siemens Eurosprinter trains, thereby expanding its existing fleet to a total of 24 trains. Speculation is already rife regarding the lines on which the new locomotives will operate.
The internet magazine Indóház Online (iho.hu) has received news that the MÁV-START Group, Hungary’s state-owned railway company, intends to further expand its fleet of Siemens Eurosprinter electric locomotives.
Currently, there are 15 state-of-the-art, high-powered electric locomotives in the country, all of which are used trains in good condition, presently leased by the MÁV-START Group.
Contracts were finalised between MÁV Rail Tours, a subsidiary of the group, and Akiem SAS, a French-based company specialising in leasing railway vehicles. MÁV-START, in turn, uses the locomotives under an existing cooperation agreement with MÁV Rail Tours Ltd.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Iho.hu queried MÁV about the forthcoming leasing of new Eurosprinter trains, to which the railway company responded:
“Short-term solutions are also necessary to alleviate the vehicle shortage; therefore, as previously planned, we will use the option as part of the leasing of the 15 used Siemens Eurosprinter ES64 U2 V7 type dual-current, high-power electric locomotives chartered from Akiem, allowing nine more vehicles to be delivered to MÁV-START.”
Leasing Eurosprinter trains was a necessity for the Hungarian railway company
These new Siemens electric locomotives started operations in the second half of October 2023 in Hungary. They had to be put into service primarily because, as of December of that year, Austria ceased to accept trains on its domestic lines lacking onboard equipment capable of employing the European Train Control System Level 2 (ETCS L2).
