Once the railway line is fully completed, the journey time between the Serbian and Hungarian capitals will not exceed 2 hours and 40 minutes.Continue reading
With the laying of the last track in Kiskőrös (central Hungary), the track-laying works on the Hungarian section of the Budapest-Belgrade railway line outside Budapest have been completed.
Sándor Font, Fidesz Member of Parliament, spoke about the Hungarian section of the Budapest-Belgrade railway line modernization and capacity expansion project at an event in Kiskőrös on Wednesday, where Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, also addressed the audience. Hungary was not allowed to have a double track pair south of Kiskőrös after the end of the world wars because it would have posed a threat to the Balkan countries, he recalled.
The politician emphasized that
over time, however, the world has turned” and Hungary is currently building the double track with one of the countries concerned, Serbia, and Chinese partners.
V-Híd, which is part of the Mészáros Group, presented its latest, unique large-scale railway machinery in Kiskőrös on the occasion of the event. Lőrinc Mészáros, owner of the Mészáros Group, said: “The development of their railway construction sector began nine years ago with the acquisition of V-Híd and by next year, the tenth anniversary of its existence, they will have almost all the tools and machinery needed to build quality railways.”
In recent years, V-Híd has grown from a medium-sized company with 200 employees to a large enterprise with 1,200 employees, mainly engineers and machine operators. Over the past eight years, they have built more than 800 kilometers of railway network, he added.
The group owner stressed that “building railways is important for all Hungarians, as rail transport is indispensable,” and expressed the hope that the Hungarian state would be able to reallocate as many resources as possible to the development of green transport.
The company has made huge investments in recent years, with the construction of the Budapest-Belgrade railway line, worth around USD 2.2 billion,
and the construction of the Southern Circular Railway, costing around EUR 1 billion, in addition to the modernization and capacity expansion project.
According to a press release issued on the occasion, the group ordered three giant locomotives from Austrian Plasser & Theurer in 2022, two of which arrived at the end of the summer.
The UNIMAT 08-4×4/4s Dynamic tamping machine and the USP 2000 c2 ballast distributing and profiling machine were built by Europe’s largest railway construction machinery company with the help of Hungarian engineers. Both machines were developed for the maintenance of railway sidings and tracks. The computer-controlled machines are fast and precise, and can cut maintenance time by up to 40 percent.
Plasser & Theurer SMD SMD80 track-laying machine. Photo: MTI/Máthé Zoltán
Mészáros noted: “the development will not end with the delivery of the machines to Kiskőrös, as the SMD80 track-laying machine will arrive in February next year. Thanks to the new machines, the efficiency of construction will increase significantly, as they will result in shorter construction times and less downtime.”
He also pointed out that V-Híd’s machinery fleet has been continuously improved for years, with a total investment of over EUR 100 million in purchases.
István Sárváry, CEO of the V-Híd, underlined that the current purchase of machinery was part of a strategy to end dependence on foreign companies in railway construction. The group now represents a force on the market that Hungary can always count on.
Via MTI; Featured image via MTI/Máthé Zoltán