August will be a busy period for Hungarian rail infrastructure workers since they will be occupied with renovating critical railway links. Those include the Gubacsi bridge in Budapest, the section between Ferencvárosi railway station and Soroksári út, including a bridge renovation, and the reconstruction of railway line 150. What is the trick in this case? The fact that work co-occurs, thus creating substantial disruptions to intermodal operations.
For a country like Hungary, where rail cargo transit options are already considerably restricted, the simultaneous launch of rail infrastructure works seems like a red flag. Hungarian rail professionals are expressing their discontent in this regard: “The stakes are high, as around 90 per cent of intermodal traffic in Hungary takes place at the terminals available on these routes,” commented Lajos Hódosi, managing director of HUNGRAIL, adding that perfect coordination is critical to avoid immense loses for operators.
Hódosi relies on the goodwill of the Hungarian rail infrastructure manager to ensure smooth coordination and operations during the closures. However, he was critical regarding the lack of coordination prior to launching the renovation.
Specifically, he told Hungarian media that “railway companies would like their views to be taken into account to a greater extent. Without […] proper coordination, the continuous production of factories, especially the car and battery factories, would be in jeopardy.”