Profound changes in the Hungarian railways

New stops have been added to the list of conditional stops by MÁV (Hungarian State Railways) to reduce overhead expenses. In addition, MÁV also aims to improve the punctuality of train arrivals with this action.

As the Hungarian news site napi.hu reports, during the December timetable change, the range of low-traffic stopping places, located on six different railway lines, has been expanded by fourteen. The change mainly affects the stations with generally low passenger traffic throughout the day. MÁV justified their decision by explaining that at these stations trains would stop only in the cases if passengers indicated their intention to alight in advance or if there were people waiting on the platform. They stress, however, that the trains would also stop if the engine driver was unable to judge whether there was a passenger who intended to get on or off the train.

According to the Hungarian Railways, by passing through low-traffic stations, hopefully, they will enhance energy efficiency by reducing the consumption of diesel and electricity. This would be possible due to fewer restarts and accelerations of trains from a stationary position. Moreover, MÁV also hopes to make up for some of the potential delays, making trains more punctual.

The railway lines affected by the changes are the following:

• On the Balatonszentgyörgy―Tapolca―Ukk line, the stopping places of Gyenesdiás, Balatongyörök and Gógánfa (only the Helikon InterRégió trains),
• on the Pusztaszabolcs—Pécs line, the stopping places of  Sáregres, Belecska, Szárazd, Regöly, Dúzs and Csibrák,
• on the Sárbogárd―Bátaszék―Baja line, the stopping place of Szekszárd-Palánk,
• on the Nagykanizsa―Pécs line, the stopping place of Zákány (only some passenger trains),
• on the Vámosgyörk―Gyöngyös line, the stopping places of Kitérőgyár and Gyöngyöshalász,
• on the Budapest―Újszász―Szolnok line, the stopping place of Zagyvarékas.

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An overview of the conditional stop system on MÁV lines

As napi.hu writes, MÁV implemented the so-called conditional stop system ten years ago, in 2013. Along with the system, a signalling equipment was also introduced, which allowed the passengers to indicate their intention to get off the trains.

In 2021 and 2022, the list has also been extended. Prior to this recent change, there were also a number of minor modifications regarding the system in April last year. As of April 2022, it is necessary to indicate in advance the intention to alight at certain stops on the Székesfehérvár-Tapolca, Pusztaszabolcs-Székesfehérvár and Székesfehérvár-Sárbogárd lines, as well as at most of the stops on tram-train services to Szeged and Hódmezővásárhely.

Source: napi.hu