Metro line 3 upgrade

Mayor of Budapest wants guarantees for metro upgrade funding

Budapest (MTI) – Budapest will not take responsibility for the upgrade of the third metro line unless the adequate funds are available, as this would be illegal, Mayor of Budapest István Tarlós said on Friday.

The bids the city has received for the upgrade are “strangely overpriced in a similar way”, that is, all the bids are higher than the 137.5 billion forint (EUR 448m) upper limit set in the tender, Tarlós told a press conference. He said this fact is hindering the starting of the project.

The mayor said it is untrue that the government was providing 200 billion forints for the upgrade and that there were “no guarantees set down in ink”. He also said if costs rise, Budapest could lose the expected European Union funding for the project, too.

Government office chief János Lazár said on Thursday that the government had so far allocated 200 billion forints towards the metro upgrade, and that it was prepared to provide additional funding if needed.

Tarlós rejected accusations that his earlier suggestion that the metro upgrade was in danger and could be cancelled were part of political tactics or his own bitterness. He said he was very committed to the metro upgrade and was disillusioned at the government’s lack of professionalism in this matter.

LMP to start collecting signatures calling for full-scale renovation of M3

Budapest (MTI) – The opposition LMP party said it will collect signatures in the coming weeks to demand the full-scale renovation of Budapest’s metro 3 line, including the provision of wheelchair access.

Giving a press conference at one of the metro stations of line 3 on Saturday, Antal Csárdi, a Budapest councillor of the party, said the government “is gambling with the lives of Budapest residents” when it refuses to see the importance of the metro reconstruction and will not start the work immediately. “We often hear from Fidesz that there is no money for this,” Csárdi said, adding that the 40 billion forints that the state did not pay to the Budapest Transport Centre (BKK) to finance agglomeration transport would provide sufficient funding for the renovation of the metro stations.

Csárdi said “it is wrong to think about Budapest” … “as if it were a small settlement”, adding that Budapest is the heart of the country and they expect the government to treat it in a way that is worthy of the capital.

The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) party has demanded that Budapest mayor István Tarlós should shut down the sections of the metro 3 line that are classified as dangerous by experts.

Councillor Erzsébet Gy. Németh also called on the mayor at her press conference in Budapest on Saturday to name those who are obstructing the reconstruction of the metro line.

Tarlós on Friday expressed serious concern about the metro reconstruction project, adding that he had the impression that “certain people have the intention of thwarting the plan”.

Budapest mayor sees metro 3 revamp project “endangered”

Budapest (MTI) – The project to renovate Budapest’s third metro line is in danger, Budapest Mayor István Tarlós said on Friday.

Tarlós told a press conference that he was seriously concerned and had the impression that “certain people have the intention of thwarting the plan”.

He said he had contacted Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on the matter as a last resort.

He accused government office chief János Lázár of “laughing in the face of Budapest residents and simply belittling the metro problem.”

The opposition Socialists called for an assessment of the safety of the third metro and demanded that services on the stretches that are not 100 percent safe should be stopped. Budapest representative Csaba Horváth told a Friday press conference that thanks to the hard work of Budapest transport company BKV workers, tragedy had so far been prevented on the metro line which transports 3 million passengers daily.

Public procurement committee annuls tender on metro replacement buses

Budapest, October 19 (MTI) – The public procurements committee (KDB) has annulled a tender invited by the Budapest Transport Centre (BKK) for replacement bus services to be used during the revamp of metro line 3 and fined BKK 40 million forints (EUR 130,000).

BKK in July launched a tender procedure for 150 articulated buses to replace the third metro line during the project to renovate it. It then launched the procedure to order the buses.

Before this, in June, the Budapest City Council said replacement bus services would be ordered if the government supported the plan and provided financing for the extra costs. The official gazette Magyar Közlöny published a decision on July 1 to provide the necessary funding.

The public procurement committee’s website noted on Wednesday that BKK broke the public procurement law and the tender is annulled, including all relevant documents and preliminary information released after June 15.

According to earlier plans, BKV intended to buy 110 Polish-made Solaris buses at costs of 9.7 billion forints and also use 40 existing buses currently in service on other lines.

The government has said it wants Hungarian-made buses to be used as replacements.

Budapest Mayor István Tarlós told MTI that he was “astonished” by the procurement committee’s decision. KDB’s reasoning for invalidating the tender — the failure to clarify that providing bus service includes bus drivers — is “unprecedented arrogance”, he added, stressing that the procurement was for bus service, not buses. He said none of the bidders had asked for clarification as to whether the bus service included drivers, arguing that it was evident that it did.

Tarlos said BKK was considering legal action over the tender’s annulment.

The mayor said BKK was now considering putting buses from its own fleet to use for replacement service, allowing renovation to start along at least a stretch of the metro line.

Tarlos said he will again turn to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán over the delays in the project, as the situation has become “intolerable”.

Budapest Mayor: No money for Metro 3 stations unless funding raised

Budapest, October 14 (MTI) – Budapest Municipal Council will not have enough money to upgrade the stations on the third metro line unless budget for the revamp is raised from central coffers, Budapest Mayor István Tarlós said on Friday.

If the budget for the project remains “capped” at the current 140 billion forints (EUR 458.3m), plans to upgrade the stops will have to be abandoned, Tarlós told a press conference.

The offers the capital has received so far for the upgrade of the stops were so high that the city and Budapest transport company BKV do not have the funds to cover them, he said.

Tarlós said the national development ministry had told the municipal council that the government would be unable to cover the extra costs of upgrading the metro stops.

On Thursday government office chief János Lázár said that the government considered the metro upgrade a priority issue and that the city council should decide whether it is necessary to revamp the carriages only or the stops as well.

 

“We will finance whatever the capital decides to do,” Lázár said. He voiced hope that Tarlós would not draw the conclusion from disputes with various ministries that they wanted to hinder the project.

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The opposition Socialists called on Tarlós to restart talks with the prime minister on government funding for the metro upgrade. Socialist council member Csaba Horváth said delays to the project were “unacceptable”, arguing that “everyone knows” that pushing back the start of the upgrade would carry serious risks to public safety. Horváth accused the government of attempting to delay the start of the upgrade until after next August’s World Aquatics Championships in Budapest. He said Budapest residents pay 20 billion forints in taxes a day and therefore can rightfully expect “to get a few days’ worth of” their money back “every forty years” in the form of a metro upgrade.

Government’s regular press briefing – Defence of southern border, new Budapest hospital, constitutional amendment

The government has decided to award 29.4 forints (EUR 96m) of supplementary funding to the interior ministry for the protection of the Serbia-Hungary border, the government office chief said on Thursday. The aim of the government is to convince Hungary’s parliamentary parties that the amendment of the constitution is “indispensable for protecting Hungary’s borders”, János Lázár said. There are no grounds to fear that the European Union will suspend payments to Hungary.

Interior ministry to receive extra financing for defence of southern border

Lázár told a regular government news briefing that the handling of illegal migration on the southern border in the past year and a half had cost over 100 billion forints.

On other topics, Lázár said that at the initiative of Semmelweis University, which is Hungary’s primary medical training centre, a new medical centre for children would be established, among other health-related developments.

On the subject of public administration, Lázár said that in the next 3 years, 250 billion forints would be channelled towards revamping the civil service, and 45 related laws would be amended with the aim of reducing red tape.

Constitutional amendment ‘indispensable’ 

Lázár told a regular government news briefing that the prime minister had consulted on the matter with the leader of the Socialist Party and that he would hold talks next week with the leader of Jobbik.

Lázár said taking into consideration consultations that have already taken place, it was likely that the amendment proposal would have the parliamentary majority required for it to pass. He noted that parliament is scheduled to start debating the proposal next Monday and is expected to vote on it on either the first or the second week of November.

Socialist Party leader Gyula Molnár later said in a statement that he would not meet the prime minister. Molnar confirmed that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had reached out to him to set up a meeting on the amendment proposal.

Molnár said he would be willing to meet Orbán if the prime minister wanted to discuss security policy matters concerning Hungary, the future of the EU or the “restoration” of the rule of law and the freedom of the press in Hungary.

On the topic of next week’s session of the European Council, Lázár said that the political goal of Hungary is to block binding migrant quotas, and that it is expected that the council’s members would confirm their standpoint that the quota can only be voluntary. He noted that on Thursday evening he is set to meet Austrian Chancellery Minister Thomas Drozda in Vienna in advance of the European Council session.

The Hungarian government supports Germany’s efforts to try to curb illegal migration into the EU through the migration deals the bloc has signed with Turkey and certain African countries, Lázár said. But Hungary also believes these agreements are no reason for the EU to give up on protecting its external borders, he added. Lázár also said he thought the EU had so far done “ridiculously little” to protect the external borders.

Lázár also commented on a recent editorial by The New York Times about Hungary’s migrant quota referendum, in which the paper’s editorial board said that “[Prime Minister Viktor] Orbán and other nationalists who are rejecting the liberal values of tolerance and free movement … risk stirring animosities that less than a century ago led the Continent into world war.” The government office chief said it was “obviously crazy” of the NYT “to imply that the Hungarian government is a Nazi government”.

Commenting on recent remarks by certain European politicians who have suggested that the EU should suspend funding for Hungary, Lázár said that the EU’s founding treaty did not allow any way for a member state to be stripped of its rights to cohesion funds. If cohesion funds were to be suspended, Hungary would have to protect its economy, he said. But Lázár insisted that fears of Hungary having its EU funds suspended were unfounded. He added, at the same time, that there was always a possibility that “political decisions” could be made against Hungary, but he insisted that such decisions would penalise the Hungarian people and not the government. Lázár said he would travel to Brussels next Wednesday to clear up the situation around EU funding for Hungary.

Lázár said Hungary was entitled to 8.9 trillion forints (EUR 29.1bn) in EU money in the current budgetary period, adding that tenders have already been called for 6.391 trillion forints, or 71 percent of the funds. The government aims to call tenders for the remaining funds before the year is out, he added.

Asked about the investigation into recent reports of organised criminals obtaining large quantities of SIM cards in Hungary which are believed to have ended up in the hands of terrorists, Lázár said the Constitutional Protection Office was in contact with telecommunications service providers and was examining whether the system of distributing SIMs needed to be changed. The matter will also be on the agenda in next Wednesday’s session of parliament’s national security committee, he added.

Lázár said he had offered to brief the national security committee about Hungarian-American financier George Soros’ influence in central Europe and the methods with which he said Soros attempts to “change” countries and influence policymakers.

Fears over suspension of EU funds ‘unfounded’

János Lázár told a regular government news briefing that he would be travelling to Brussels next Wednesday to clarify the situation.

He said that Hungary had received 8,900 billion forints in the current EU financial period and that 65-70 percent of this funding had been put out to tender. He added that this year, the government’s intention was to tap the entire amount.

Hungary stands in first place among the Visegrad Group of countries when it comes to EU funding amounts, while it is in 6th place in the bloc as a whole, Lázár noted.

New Budapest hospital to be built near Kelenföld station

The government has decided that the capital city’s new south-Buda super-hospital should be built near Kelenföld railway station, the government office chief said. Lázár told that the new facility would have over 1,000 beds. The decision over its location took into consideration the proximity to the M1 and M7 motorways as well as the metro and bus junctions nearby.

The human resources ministry is assessing two plots and talks have already begun with the owners. An 8-10 hectare site will be needed and the building will have total floor space of 100,000 square metres. It will be the government’s most significant health development project in Budapest, Lázár said.

He also said that at the request of the prime minister, the human resources ministry will give junior doctors a fairer wage deal following September’s general pay rise.

Commenting on a new law amendment concerning tax secrecy, he said just as the optional recipient of 1 percent of each taxpayer’s personal income tax is kept a secret, which sport clubs get donations from the corporate tax of companies should also be a tax secret.

Meanwhile, Lázár said Hungary is ready to offer help to Ukraine to address the financing problems associated with mandatory vaccinations. Some residents in western Ukraine have not received the jabs.

In response to a question about the suspension of daily Népszabadság, he said the government had not discussed the issue, since neither the paper’s staff nor the publisher had asked the cabinet for its help. Commenting on speculation that the suspension was political rather than for financial reasons, he said questions should be directed to the publisher.

“We received two-thirds support in 2010 and in 2014 with Népszabadság exercising its blessed activities, so why would it be in our interest to stop them?”

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The will of the government or the party is not decisive in this case; the fate of a paper depends on its subscribers and paying readers. If there is need for the spirit that Népszabadság represented, then it will continue, he said, adding that in any event its employees should be given fair treatment.

In response to a question about press reports claiming that central bank governor György Matolcsy lived in a residence owned by the head of the Hungarian Banking Association Mihály Patai, he said it would be wrong for the government to comment on issues concerning the central bank. He added, however, that the Banking Associaiton should be more careful.

In response to a question about the planned revamp of the third metro line, he said the government considered it a priority issue and the city council should decide whether it is necessary to revamp the carriages only or the stops as well.

“We will finance whatever the capital decides to do.” He voiced hope that Mayor István Tarlős would not draw the conclusion from disputes with various ministries that they wanted to hinder the project.

Photo: MTI

Orbán promised again to speed up metro revamp?

Budapest, October 7 (MTI) – Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has promised to speed up the delayed project to renovate Budapest’s third metro line, Budapest Mayor István Tarlós told Friday’s Magyar Nemzet.

Tarlós had detailed talks with Orbán on Thursday about project. Insisting that certain government bodies are hindering the project, he warned of the consequences of any further postponements, telling Orbán that a grave situation could emerge unless 150 replacement buses are soon made available so that the revamp may start.

Asked to comment on reports that Development Minister Miklós Seszták had asked the public procurement committee to suspend a tender for replacement buses, Tarlós said the prime minister had promised to do everything possible to speed up government decision-making processes, though he could not interfere in decisions made by the authority.

The legal steps necessary to end the suspension could drag over into next year and this could delay the revamp project by months, which would then increase the risk of metro stoppages caused by poor technical conditions, he added.

The government has said it wants Hungarian-made buses to be used for replacement services but these have not been manufactured yet.

Tarlós: Budapest rejects any responsibility over Metro 3 delay

Budapest, September 30 (MTI) – Budapest’s Municipal Council will no longer assume any responsibility for the delay in the third metro line’s upgrade, Mayor of Budapest István Tarlós said on Friday.

Tarlós told a press conference that he will turn to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán over the “problems in communication” and statements made by government office chief János Lázár on Thursday, of which he said “nothing was true”.

Lázár said on Thursday that the Public Procurements Committee had halted a tender for procuring supplementary buses that would be in operation during the metro line upgrade, because the tender invitation put out by the Budapest council was “distorting competition by excessively limiting potential bidders”. Lázár said a new, corrected public procurement tender must be prepared. He also added that the refurbishment project could not “realistically” start before next summer.

In his response, Tarlós said that the city had published all tenders, but it has not received the necessary financing from the central budget. He noted that the government had made a commitment to ensure the funds, but added that “the money is not yet in our coffers”.

The opposition Socialists slammed Tarlós for his “inability to make progress” concerning the M3 project. Socialist council member Csaba Horváth said that “nobody thinks” that the project would be completed by 2019, as originally planned, since work has not even started. He also suggested that the 140 billion forints (EUR 452m) budgeted for the scheme would not be “anywhere near” the actual cost.

Photo: MTI

BKK: M3 substitute service tender doesn’t exclude Hungarian buses

Budapest, September 7 (MTI) – Budapest transport authority BKK has said a tender for a substitute bus service along the M3 metro line does not exclude domestic bus makers.

BKK issued the statement after Economy Minister Mihály Varga complained that the company had done nothing to establish the conditions for the use of domestically produced buses during the project to renovate the metro line.

 

BKK noted that the tender is for the supply of substitute service, not the procurement of buses. It is up to the supplier to decide which buses to use, as long as they meet certain technical parameters, it added.

BKK has informed the National Bus Procurement Committee — a body established to coordinate purchases by public transport companies with the aim of supporting local industry — of these facts. BKK staff continue to be available for professional consultations, it added.

Photo: MTI

Hungarian bus procurement committee approves funding for purchase of 436 new buses

Budapest, September 5 (MTI) – Hungary’s National Bus Procurement Committee, a body established to coordinate purchases by public transport companies with the aim of supporting local industry, has approved government funding for the purchase of 436 new buses, the economy minister said on Monday.

The bus purchases will be made primarily by national bus operator Volán and local transport companies, Mihály Varga told MTI. Volán has a number of contracts that are about to expire and it will need new buses, he added.

The bus procurement committee also approved the continued operation of some 150 used buses already on the roads, Varga said.

On the topic of replacement buses that will be needed during the renovation of Budapest’s third metro line, he said the metropolitan council, and specifically Budapest Mayor István Tarlós, are committed to finding a way for the capital to be able to replace metro services with Hungarian-made buses. Around 150 articulated buses are needed to replace metro services, the minister noted.

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Varga criticised the tender for replacement buses currently being worked on by transport company BKK for not taking into consideration Hungary’s bus industry. He said BKK had not accepted a single proposal that would have made it possible to use Hungarian-made replacement buses during the upgrade.

The minister said Tarlós and the Budapest leadership are committed to strengthening Hungarian bus manufacturing but have so far been unsuccessful in enforcing their will with BKK.

Jobbik: Metro upgrade slippage govt’s responsibility

Budapest, August 31 (MTI) – The slippage in the schedule to upgrade Budapest’s Metro 3 is clearly the responsibility of the government, and if there is an accident along the metro line then the cabinet must take the blame, opposition Jobbik Budapest lawmaker Marcell Tokody told a news conference on Wednesday.

Speaking ahead of a meeting of the City Assembly, the Jobbik politician said metropolitan lawmakers originally had been scheduled in February to debate bus replacement services covering the period of the metro’s renovation but, under government pressure, the assembly dropped the issue from the agenda three times.

The upgrade of the metro line, which carries 500,000 people each day and is generally considered to be in a poor state of repair, has been delayed because the government and metropolitan council have been unable to agree on the method of financing, he said.

Opposition LMP metropolitan lawmaker Antal Csárdi told a separate news conference that the issue of bus replacement services was “scandalous”. “Making the excuse of a national bus industry that does not exist, the government is trying to push its own circle of business interests,” Csárdi said, referring to a dispute between the government and Budapest over whether to lease buses for the period of the metro renovation or do as the government wishes, and wait until domestically made buses are available.

The opposition Socialists called on city leaders not to make decisions on reducing transport services in “secret chambers” but submit the issues to the public session of the assembly. Socialist lawmaker Csaba Horváth told a press conference before the assembly meeting that instead of “sneaky changes”, the city leaders should make it clear to Budapest residents what services are planned to be reduced.

Contract for metro bus replacement tipped for late September, early October

 

Budapest, August 25 (MTI) – The municipal council of Budapest is expected to sign a contract in late September or early October on leasing buses for replacement services for metro line 3 while it is being renovated.

The related proposal was submitted by two deputy mayors and the Budapest assembly will debate it next Wednesday.

The Budapest transport authority (BKK) invited public bids for the project on July 12. A contract is expected to be signed unless an appeal is launched.

The winning bidder must start preparations quickly. A municipal decree is therefore needed to ensure financing for the project. Without the decree further delays are inevitable, the deputy mayors said.

Budapest Mayor István Tarlós earlier this year asked the government to cover the extra cost of contracting bus services instead of buying buses.

Whereas the government initially said Budapest should buy Hungarian-made buses for the replacement route, as this would dovetail with its strategy to create a national bus industry, it has since agreed to cover the costs of leasing the 150 buses in question.

At a press briefing today, government office chief János Lázár said the revamp of the third metro line would definitely not start this year because a public procurement tender that needs to be invited by the metropolitan council has not even been published. Even if it is published now, work cannot start before next spring, he added. Commenting on the possibility of introducing a congestion charge for Budapest, he said the government maintained that this would be undesirable.

In response, Tarlós told commercial broadcaster Hír TV that the debacle over the renovation of the metro line was not the fault of the Budapest municipality but the government was to blame. He said the government should be responsible for keeping negotiations on track. “It is incapable of concluding an agreement, and it is for this reason that the process has stalled,” the mayor said, adding that there were “serious political risks involved”.

Budapest mayor expects EU support for metro renovation

Budapest, July 15 (MTI) – Budapest expects European Union support to cover no less than 60 percent of the cost of renovating the capital’s third metro line M3, the city’s mayor said on Friday.

Talks have taken place between the European Commission and the European Investment Bank on financing the rest of the project’s cost, István Tarlós told a press conference.

He dismissed a report by daily Népszabadság saying that the city would have to borrow the entire amount, which he put at 137.5 billion forints (EUR 436.5m).

“Taking out a mammoth loan for the metro upgrade project is out of the question,” Tarlós said.

According to “pessimistic projections”, the city will only have to repay credit of 40-50 billion forints, he added.

The opposition Socialists, however, lambasted the mayor for his remarks and suggested that for him Budapest’s going down in debt would be “no problem”. Socialist councillor Csaba Horváth insisted that the European loan and the city’s current, metro-related loan portfolio of some 60 billion forints could add up to as much as 110 billion forints (EUR 349m).

Budapest’s mayor: Budapest not ready to set start date for metro revamp

Budapest, July 8 (MTI) – Budapest’s municipal council has yet to set a start date for upgrading the third metro line, Budapest Mayor István Tarlós said on Friday.

The planned duration of the project has not changed, Tarlós told a press conference, adding that delays may be avoidable.

Regarding the possibility that the upgrade may have to be financed from an increased European Investment Bank loan instead of EU funds, he said the capital should be allowed to spend the 137.5 billion forints (EUR 436.9m) originally allocated for the revamp on other development projects.

Concerning the replacement bus services that will be needed during the renovation, Tarlos said the capital had been consistent in its stance that the best way to serve national interests in this case is for the government to cover the extra cost of contracting bus services instead of buying buses.

The government initially said it wanted the municipality to buy Hungarian-made buses to cover the replacement route along the metro line as part of its recently finalised national bus industry strategy, which aims to boost bus production in Hungary to an annual 1,000-1,200 units in three years.

The government has since decided to cover the extra costs of leasing buses in a resolution published in the official gazette last week.

The mayor expressed hope that the capital could find a service that uses Hungarian-made buses.

On the topic of the government’s plan to take the terminal of Déli station underground, the mayor said it would be impossible to implement because the concomitant expansion of Kelenföld station in Buda, in the southwest, could not go ahead due to space restrictions.

He revealed that the Budapest city council is preparing a plan to revamp the Népliget Park in the outer 10th district and Obuda Island.

Photo: MTI

Government to decide on metro replacement buses by July 5

Budapest, June 30 (MTI) – The government supports the revamp of Budapest’s third metro line and will be ready with a plan to secure replacement buses by July 5, government office chief János Lázár told Klubrádio late on Wednesday.

Lázár said the government was “happy to help” Budapest with the metro upgrade financially, adding that the two sides are still in talks about the details of the government’s contribution.

Regarding the replacement buses needed for the project, Lázár said the capital should also consider the capacities of Hungary’s bus industry.

He said Hungary expects to buy around one thousand buses over the next couple of years and added that the country has 6-8 bus manufacturing companies of its own. “We are lobbying for Hungarian bus companies,” the government office chief said.

Around 150 articulated buses are needed to replace metro services.

In June, the local council decided to contract bus services along the line for the time of the renovation as favoured by the government, rather than buying buses, but only if the government covers the cost exceeding that of acquiring the necessary buses.

Budapest Mayor István Tarlós said on Wednesday that if the government did not give guarantees that it will cover the extra cost of contracting bus services instead of buying buses by the July 5 deadline, the capital would use its own funds to buy replacement buses for the metro upgrade.

The metro upgrade will cost about 140 billion forints (EUR 441.8m) and is scheduled to start in November.

Photo: MTI

Tarlos: Russian metro cars for Budapest not new

Budapest, June 11 (MTI) – The metro cars that have arrived under a Russian procurement contract are refurbished, not new, Mayor of Budapest István Tarlós told a press conference on Friday, dismissing earlier reports about foul play in the tendering process.

The contract involving the delivery of Russian metro carriages signed on May 5 has come under fire as according to press reports the carriages delivered were new while the contract specified the procurement of refurbished cars. The leftist opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) filed charges suspecting abuse of office and a restriction of competition in the 69 billion forint (EUR 220m) tender.

Critics argued that the supplier, the Russian Metrowagonmash, would not have come out as a winner had the tender been for refurbished cars.

Tarlós said a majority of the components of the cars delivered are new, though not all of them, but the cars “did not come from unsalable stocks”. There is every reason to call these cars refurbished, he added.

Authorities said there had been no violation of the laws in connection with the metro car procurement, Tarlós said.

Budapest should be happy that the problem of the metro carriages is resolved and “we should not be complaining that we got something nicer and better than expected,” he said.

Tarlós admitted that there will be a delay in the reconstruction work on the third metro line which will range between 45 days and six months.

The renovation was originally scheduled to start in November and last until the summer of 2019.

Photo: wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons

Russian metro carriage scandal

The renovated carriages of the Budapest M3 metro line arrived last week from Russia. However, experts say that the carriages were not the ones sent away for renovation, and Metrowagonmash has probably delivered new ones instead, nol.hu reports.

There have been rumours that the renovation works cannot possibly be completed in the given time, and the Russian company is probably just refurbishing carriages they have already had in storage. This suspicion was supported by the fact that the parties began negotiations about the modifications almost immediately, which involve a wide range of parameters from the brake system to the engine and the floor levels.

According to nol.hu, the reason why the tender entailed the renovation of the old carriages instead of the delivery of new ones was to provide advantage for the Russian company’s application. Had the tender been announced for new carriages, Metrowagonmash, whose technology is not the most up-to-date, would not have got any chances to win. As a solution, a more narrow tender for renovation was announced in 2014, and the other, Estonian applicant was ruled out.

Moreover, while the metro carriages have arrived in Hungary a group of Russian mechanics are still working on them, and they could not name even an approximate date for when trial runs could begin. The Russian company delivered the carriages on time, but they are not actually finished yet.

metro-m3

Photos: MTI

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LMP councillor complains Metro 3 renovation could be delayed

Budapest, May 23 (MTI) – The renovation of Budapest’s third metro line could be delayed, said Antal Csárdi, a councillor for the opposition LMP party, on Sunday. 

Csárdi said that though the Municipal Assembly was to decide earlier this week on who would supply the replacement buses that would shuttle passengers during the metro line’s renovation, the decision was postponed.

The next time the assembly can decide on the replacement buses is July, which means that the renovation schedule will not be met, Csárdi said.The winner of the bus procurement tender will not be able to deliver the buses in time, so it is not clear how Budapesters will travel during the renovation, Csárdi said, suggesting that the central government and “Fidesz interests” were behind the hitches. He said the government had earlier prevented Budapest from taking out a loan to purchase the buses which made “the whole process very difficult, nearly impossible”.

The contract for the renovation of Budapest’s metro 3 was signed on May 5. The upgrade is set to be supported by 120 billion forints (EUR 380m) in European Union funding and 20 billion from the central budget. The state will guarantee the full 140 billion forints even if EU funding for the project falls through. The renovation is scheduled to start in November and last until the summer of 2019.