Delays haunt Budapest Transport Corporation

Those who rely on the Hungarian capital city’s extensive public transit network, operated by the Budapest Transport Corporation (BKV Zrt), will likely be dismayed to discover that not only is there yet another delay in the completion of the M4 metro line, but the old Soviet-built subway cars used on the M2 line will only be replaced next year. According to a report on Index, a Hungarian online newspaper, workers have suspended the drilling of the new M4 metro tunnel. The suspension will last for two months and it will likely set back the completion of the city’s fourth metro line by at least half a year. The M4 may only be available for passengers in 2011. Originally, the line’s opening was expected in late 2010. Transportation authorities required the suspension of all work on the tunnel, under the River Danube, due to a lack of proper permits.

The second piece of bad news to hit the BKV, and passengers in Budapest who rely on the city’s public transportation network, is that Alstom-the French company which is assembling new metro cars for the city-has announced a production delay. The BKV had expected to start replacing the old Soviet-built cars this autumn, because they have already exceeded their maximum life span of three million kilometers. Alstom, however, received a much larger order from China and as such, it appears as though Budapest’s needs may have been placed on the back burner. The new metro cars will only arrive in 2009, but no concrete date has been given.

Nearly a third of all metro cars used on the M2 metro line-which is also popular among tourists-should have already been retired. The Alstom delay means that the BKV will have no choice but to keep repairing these increasingly rickety cars. Budapest Mayor Gabor Demszky described the delays an unpleasant.

Thank you to Index.hu for the initial report.

www.bkv.hu