Hungarian National Infrastructure Development Company awarded NSV Warsaw Consortium a HUF 1.14 billion (EUR 3.6 million) contract for the Budapest-Warsaw HSR feasibility study. The consortium is formed by the Utiber, Trenecon and Főmterv, which are exclusively of Hungarian companies.
The contract is expected to be signed on May 25 and will enter force after all details will be negotiated relating to the loan agreement between China’s Exim Bank and the Hungarian Government. The negotiations are expected to occur before mid-summer.
The feasibility study will include cost-benefit, traffic demand analysis for the construction of the high-speed railway line, the environmental impacts, necessary environmental permit procedure and documentation for the environmental analysis. During the preparation of the study, NSV’s technical proposal will take into account a railway line with an estimated length of 700-900 km, designed for a minimum speed of 250 km/h, but there are under consideration option for 300 km/h and 350 km/h.
According to the requests, the line should be able to transport at least 500,000 passengers per year.
The line would offer transport connection with the urban public transport for at least 4 cities, with an average of at least 250,000 inhabitants, providing intermodal junction. According to the contract, the line would be operated only by high-speed trains.
According to the announcement made by the Hungarian government in March, the line would link Budapest and Warsaw, via Bratislava, Brno and Ostrava.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said that the construction works will be launched this year or early in 2020, and it is expected to be completed within five years following the coming into force of the contract.
“With the renovation of the railway line connecting Budapest and Belgrade, Hungary will be offering the fastest transport route for Chinese goods between Southeastern and Western Europe”, the Szijjártó said.
Trade flow between Hungary and China achieved a record of USD 8.7 billion in 2018, and a further increase in food industry exports is expected this year, according government’s estimations.
For this project, the European Investment Bank may offer a loan, as discussions were held between the bank’s representatives and the V4 countries.
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