Plans Revealed to Renovate 1,000 km of Railway

The renovation of a thousand kilometers of railway track may begin in the coming period; the necessary funds are fully available, said János Lázár, Minister of Construction and Transport.

At a hearing of the National Assembly’s Committee on Economics on Tuesday, the Minister of Construction and Transport explained that the total length of the railway network in Hungary is 8,000 kilometers, with 6,000 kilometers of tracks currently in use. Since 2010, 103 projects have been implemented, with HUF 2,091 billion (EUR 5.5 billion / EUR 1=HUF 380.58) allocated to railway construction, of which 1,800 kilometers have been renovated to date.

He said that

55 percent of Hungary’s suspended transport funds will be partially replaced by a loan from the European Investment Bank at a favorable interest rate, but the withheld amount will also be received.

The minister called it a significant achievement that the railway’s timetable adherence has improved to around 80 percent, the minimum travel service is enshrined in law, and the number of trips on public transport has increased from 600 million to 1.2 billion per year since 2022.

With this growth, the MÁV Group (public transportation company) alone has fulfilled the entire country’s emission reduction obligation, while offering the fifth cheapest transport service among EU member states, he pointed out. János Lázár believes that after decades of decline, Hungarian railways are now on a path to development, and the results of this will be felt in the coming years.

The minister said that the state manages 31,000 kilometers of the domestic road network, the total value of the 305 road construction projects currently underway is HUF 1,327 billion gross, and the amount spent since 2010 is nearly HUF 5,000 billion.

Among the investments that have been started or are planned, he highlighted the continuation of the M44 towards Nagyszalonta, the construction of the M49 connecting Szatmárnémeti (Satu Mare, in Romania), the section leading to Budapest Airport, and the Danube bridge in Mohács.

The section of the M44 expressway between the M5 motorway and Szentkirály on the day of its opening, near Nagykőrös, April 15, 2025. Photo: MTI/Koszticsák Szilárd

While in 2010 there were three motorways reaching the country’s border, there are now 11, that is of great economic importance because the majority of the approximately HUF 880 billion in annual motorway revenue is paid by international freight carriers, the minister detailed.

Hungary will gain a strategic advantage and influence if the connections to the west pass through here, and the GDP-generating capacity of domestic regions could also increase several times over,

he explained.

In 2025, the ministry managed HUF 1,700 billion and companies managed HUF 2,000 billion. The Ministry of Construction and Transport is currently responsible for 566 investments worth a total of HUF 3,056 billion. Of the previously suspended investments worth a total of nearly HUF 5,500 billion, the amount of those restarted is already approaching HUF 3,300 billion. The total value of the investment plans ordered is HUF 553 billion.

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Together with planning and public procurement, the construction of a railway line takes about eight years and the construction of a motorway takes six years, hence investment policy is a task that spans government cycles, he explained. The minister fears that there will be no funds for railway and road developments in the next EU financing cycle unless they can be classified, at least in part, as military investments. In this case, in accordance with EU regulations, they could be financed from extra-budgetary resources.

Minister Lázár does not see any chance in the coming years that MÁV will be able to renovate the large railway stations entirely from its own budget. However, he believes that this is not necessary, because parts of high-traffic railway buildings that are not used for railway purposes are operated as shopping centers elsewhere in Europe with the participation of business partners.

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