HUNGARY: Working with the Ministry for Innovation & Technology, infrastructure manager MÁV Zrt has signed framework contracts with four freight operators aimed at supporting single wagonload operations.
Responding to a request from the Hungarian Railway Association, the government obtained approval from the European Commission to provide support for wagonload operations as a sustainable alternative to road transport for small and hazardous consignments.
A total of HF26bn has been allocated to enhance the competitiveness of sustainable rail freight over the next five years, with HF6·4bn per year being budgeted for 2022-25. Individual operators can apply for grants of up to HF1bn per year.
The first contracts have been awarded to CER Hungary, GySEV Cargo, Floyd and Rail Cargo Hungaria, supporting an estimated 2 000 railway jobs and removing 400 000 lorries from the country’s roads.
The contracts are expected to secure the supply of raw materials for 700 Hungarian companies, ranging from large strategic concerns to SMEs, as well as ensuring that their products can reach end markets. The four operators’ single wagonload businesses transport an estimated 2·3 million tonnes of hazardous materials which are increasingly not being allowed to move by road in other countries.
‘The state grant stabilises the field and makes it predictable, bringing an estimated 2% to 4% increase in GDP over the medium term’, explained Tamás Schanda, Minister of State at the Ministry for Innovation & Technology when the grants were announced on November 5. ‘The preservation of capacities is essential for Hungary to become the freight, logistics and distribution centre of Central Europe, in accordance with the goal set in our railway programme.’
‘The signing of the agreements gives the Hungarian national economy a competitive advantage over those countries that do not help to maintain single wagon transport’, added Rail Cargo Hungaria Chairman Imre Kovács. ‘The contracts signed today will also bring us closer to meeting the climate targets, as the sustainable and clean single wagon transport replaces hundreds of thousands of trucks on the road each year.’
As President of the Hungrail association, MÁV-Volán President & CEO Róbert Homolya anticipated that the revitalisation of single wagonload operations would ‘bring the railway even closer to businesses’.
