A serious railway accident disrupted traffic on one of Hungary’s key eastern rail routes on Thursday afternoon after an InterCity train derailed near Gyomaendrőd in southeastern Hungary. According to the state railway company MÁV, one passenger suffered serious injuries and another was lightly hurt in the incident.

The affected service was the Békés InterCity (IC 7404), which departed Budapest’s Keleti Railway Station at 12:10 PM bound for Lőkösháza near the Romanian border, MÁV reported.

Four derailed carriages damaged hundreds of metres of track

MÁV said the train derailed shortly after leaving Gyoma railway station under circumstances that remain unclear. The locomotive and five-carriage trainset saw four carriages leave the tracks, causing major damage along approximately 300 metres of railway line.

Although the carriages tilted during the derailment, they did not overturn completely. Emergency services, including firefighters and paramedics, were dispatched to the scene, while replacement buses were arranged to transport stranded passengers onward.

According to MÁV chief executive Zsolt Hegyi, around 240 passengers were travelling on the train at the time of the accident.

Injured passenger airlifted to hospital

Hegyi later confirmed that one passenger sustained serious injuries and had to be airlifted to hospital by rescue helicopter. He said the injured passenger had reportedly been returning from the toilet to their seat when the derailment occurred. Another passenger suffered lighter injuries.

“The exact cause of the accident can only be determined through a thorough investigation,” Hegyi wrote in a social media update, adding that the immediate priority was ensuring passengers’ safety and organising their onward journey.

Minister Dávid Vitézy travelling to accident site

Hungary’s Transport and Investment Minister Dávid Vitézy also reacted quickly to the incident, confirming that both he and the MÁV chief executive were travelling to the site.

Vitézy noted that the railway line had undergone renovation only a few years ago. He reiterated that while the train carriages had not toppled over, the derailment still resulted in serious personal injuries.

Major disruption on the Békéscsaba railway line

Following the derailment, MÁV warned passengers to expect significantly longer travel times on the Békéscsaba line, with replacement buses operating between Gyomaendrőd and Csárdaszállás while railway traffic remains suspended.

Thursday’s incident marked the second train derailment in Hungary within a single day. Earlier in the morning, a passenger train derailed near Nyugati Railway Station, although no injuries were reported in that case. The earlier accident nevertheless caused considerable delays in rail services.

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