Hungary's national railway service, MÁV-Start, will purchase 40 high-capacity bi-level electric trains from Stadler Rail, and the first KISS railcars will go into commission in the spring of 2019 on the Vác and Cegléd lines.
Bence Tuzson, minister of state for Government Communication and ministerial commissioner for Railway Vehicle Development, said that Hungary's involvement in the manufacturing of the vehicles would be over 50 percent.
Tuzson said that vehicle manufacturing is one of the flagship sectors of the Hungarian economy. Hungary has a long tradition in railway vehicle production, and the government has adopted an action plan for developing the production of railways vehicles, which includes modernizing trains, the suburban railway system and the vehicles of the capital’s underground railway.
Hungarian railway vehicle manufacturing is looking forward to a new period of prosperity, as plans also include the reinforcement of the vehicle repair unit at Dunakeszi and MÁV’s plant in Szolnok.
The Hungarian government is striving to maintain the best possible relations with Hungarian manufacturers to ensure that they create as many jobs as possible in the upcoming period and enable an improvement in public transport services, he added.
MÁV-Start serves 140 million Hungarian passengers each year, 40 percent of whom now travel using new electric trains, and this ratio will hopefully soon increase to above 50 percent.