Sopron–Szombathely–Szentgotthárd Railway Line Renewed14 December 2010
The renewed railway line between Sopron–Szombathely–Szentgotthárd has been officially opened in a ceremony at the Bük railway station. The reconstruction that is part of a complex development worth 48.6 billion HUF, co-financed by the EU, concerned a total length of 116 kilometres of track.
As a result of the investment, electric traction vehicles will operate on this line as from the timetable change of this Sunday, instead of diesel locomotives. With a speed increase to 120 km/hour between Szombathely and Szentgotthárd planned for the summer of 2011, travel time will significantly decrease on the renewed railway section. The project is expected to be completed in December 2012 with the construction of an underpass in Sopron, an overpass in Szombathely and with the purchase of four electric locomotives.
The main aim of the railway line development is to satisfy the demand of passengers and freight traffic in a cost-effective way and to improve the service quality. Further aims are: decreasing travel time, reduction of environmental noise and air pollution and increasing transport security.
In the opinion of Zoltán Schváb, deputy secretary of state in charge of transport, it is an urgent task to renew the entire Hungarian railway system and to strengthen the entire community transport sector. State-of-the-art vehicles and track network are needed to create an attractive service offer for passengers. The transport administration plans to implement railway development projects worth 650 billion HUF, in EU co-financing, up to 2015. Railway track investments will be completed over nearly 100 kilometres by the end of next year.
Zoltán Schváb announced that in the interest of better planning of the development and renewal projects, the operation of the Transport Development Coordination Centre will be enriched by railway know-how that was previously missing. By ensuring the required financial, institutional and staff-related resources, the Ministry wishes to stress that no transport development can be envisaged in Hungary without taking the railways into account.