We reported before about a plan to build a railway line between the biggest Hungarian airport and Budapest’s downtown. We looked after the project and tried to find out when it might be ready. But you may not like our results.
Superfast railway to the airport from EU money
We wrote about the ambitious plan of creating a superfast railway connection between Hungary’s main air gate, the Ferenc Liszt International Airport and Budapest’s downtown several times. Our last article on the issue, published in 2020, before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, was about the question of a Hungarian MP, Péter Ungár, concerning the plans. Secretary Tamás Schanda said then that the construction of the new fast railway line would start in 2021, and the government planned to use the 2021-2027 EU development funds to back it financially.
Of course, nothing happened. In October, the head of the Budapest Development Centre (BFK), Dávid Vitézy, said in a Facebook comment that the airport did not decide. And without their consent, nobody can build a railway line there, he added. Before, hvg.hu wrote that the Chinese CRRC wanted to create a superfast railway connection there.
Since then, many things changed. First, the government does not seem to get the money in the EU development funds allocated for Hungary soon. Secondly, the coronavirus pandemic hit Hungary hard and reduced airport traffic for two years significantly. Afterwards, Russia invaded Ukraine, and an economic and energy crisis started in Hungary. Therefore, the government needed to make multiple hard decisions concerning several projects the BFK wanted to realise in the capital and its neighbourhood.
6-storey-high parking garage and other plans
János Lázár, the Minister of Construction and Transport, crossed several proposals recently. According to a list leaked to the press, the government no longer wants to build the superfast railway line or widen and develop the fast road. If the comments in the list are valid, in the former issue, the government at least has some plans, but in the latter one, nothing happened, it was just the idea that was born. Even so, telex.hu wrote that the plans will be made for that project. Here is a visual from 2020:
Interestingly, before 2020, the government wanted to build a huge, 6-storey-high parking garage near the airport, but later, they threw out the idea. Here is a photo of it:
But the Orbán cabinet did not change its mind about buying back the airport. According to napi.hu, Márton Nagy, Hungary’s economy minister, acknowledged that the government was in talks with the owners. He added buying back the airport is in the country’s national strategic interest.
A research fellow at the University of Public Service, Zoltán Felméry, said that the estimates regarding the price range around HUF 1,500 billion (EUR 4 billion). That reaches 4-5 percent of the state expenditures.