Fantastic news for travellers: Vienna-Budapest train services boosted with more frequent connections
State-owned Hungarian railway company MĂV signed a cooperation agreement with Austrian peer ĂBB at the InnoTrans international trade fair in Berlin on Tuesday.
Cooperation for better train service
The agreement extends to international passenger transport, maintenance and cargo service, MĂV said in a statement.
It added that both sides will work to step up passenger train service between Budapest and Vienna.
The agreement, which covers improving the quality of international passenger transport, performing maintenance tasks, and improving the competitiveness of rail freight transport, was signed by Zsolt Hegyi, CEO of MĂV Plc. and LĂĄszlĂł MosĂłczi, CEO of MĂV-START Plc. on the Hungarian side, and Andreas MatthĂ€, Chairman of the Board of ĂBB Holding AG on the Austrian side.
More frequent train services between Vienna and Budapest
Under the terms of the agreement, the two countries’ railway companies will work towards a two-hour journey time between Budapest and Vienna, and will try to adapt the timetable structure and the stopping patterns of international passenger trains accordingly.
Although a significant reduction in journey times will only be possible from 2028 after the renovation of the railway line between Hegyeshalom and Vienna, both parties are working to introduce timetable changes that will allow more passenger trains to run at shorter journey times each year without stopping at Hegyeshalom and TatabĂĄnya.
Currently, two pairs of Railjet trains per day cross the Hungarian-Austrian border without stopping at Hegyeshalmom with MĂV-START drivers as part of a pilot project. To extend this, MĂV-START and ĂBB are jointly providing the drivers and the necessary train crews.
ĂBB will endeavour to ensure that Railjet trains from Budapest and beyond Vienna can run faster and with new rolling stock in the new timetable model. At the same time, to improve passenger satisfaction, MĂV and ĂBB will develop a quality assurance system that will allow for a fast and efficient exchange of information between the companies in the event of disruptions.
As we wrote earlier, MĂV trains to commute differently this autumn, Budapest Airport and Vienna lines affected.
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