Superfast trains to connect Budapest with Warsaw and Cluj Napoca?

The detailed feasibility study about a fast train connection between Budapest and Cluj Napoca (Kolozsvár, Romania) will cost 750 million HUF (EUR 2.1 million) and the Trenecon Tanácsadó és Tervező Kft. won the project together with the Kontúr Csoport Tervező, Építtető, Kivitelező Kereskedelmi Kft. 

According to napi.hu, NIF Nemzeti Infrastruktúra Fejlesztő Zrt. (NIF National Infrastructure Development Ltd.) announced the results of the open tender in the public procurement journal of the European Union. The winners have to write the paper following the EU’s allocation distribution regulations.

Both lines (to Warsaw and Cluj Napoca) will be 250-300 kilometres long allowing a speed of 250-300 or even 350 kilometres per hour. Furthermore, the line has to provide service for at least 500 thousand passengers per year and it

has to be attached to the traffic system of at least two cities having a minimum of 135 thousand inhabitants.

Moreover, it has to include in their route monumental buildings like bridges above big rivers (Tisza, Szamos, Körös). The winners and NIF signed the relevant contract on September 28.

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There were further applicants on the tender like the “KÖZLEKEDÉS” Fővárosi Tervező Iroda Kft., Transinvest-Budapest Mérnöki, Konzultánsi, Kereskedelmi és Ügynöki Kft., and the FŐMTERV Mérnöki Tervező Zrt.

In March 2018,

Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó and his Romanian colleague, Teodor Meleșcanu agreed on a summit that they would like to connect the Hungarian capital with the “capital of Transylvania”, Cluj Napoca, by a superfast railway line.

Shortly afterwards, the Hungarian government separated 1 billion HUF (EUR 2.8 million) for a feasibility study.

According to index.hu, that is not the first superfast train line on the drawing board aiming to connect Hungary with the rest of the world. The Budapest-Belgrade railway line will be built of Chinese loan, but many experts say that it will never return the investment. Meanwhile, the Budapest-Warsaw fast train line is going to be ready by mid-2021 improving traffic between the Visegrad4 countries.

Source: napi.hu, index.hu