State-owned railway company: takeover of suburban railway to be completed by early 2017

Budapest (MTI) – State-owned railway company MÁV said on Saturday that it expects to complete its takeover of the operations of the Budapest suburban railway (HÉV) by early 2017.

The metropolitan general assembly last month approved separating the HÉV from Budapest transport company BKV effective Nov. 1, and setting up a new company dubbed BHÉV, with assets solely for operating the suburban railway service. This will then pass to MÁV via the state.

BHÉV is being established with capital of over 18 billion forints (EUR 58.4m). The costs of the separation is estimated to be 135-145 million forints.

MÁV told MTI on Saturday that it is working closely with the National Development Ministry, the Budapest Transport Centre (BKK) and BKV on the transition.

Asked about the estimated costs of operating the HÉV services, MÁV said it was still in the process of compiling its business plan, but previous experience indicated that annual costs would fall in the range of 14-15 billion forints.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI