The State Railway Administration (Ukrzaliznytsia) does not plan to increase the number of trains to Hungary. The existing Kyiv-Budapest train, which consists of a direct wagon, is only 15 percent full and the Lviv-Budapest wagon is 12% full. This is shown by data for the first 10 months of this year, the press service of Ukrzaliznytsia reports.
Last week, several Transcarpathian media reports claimed that a separate Budapest-Mukacheve train might be launched. For example, the Mukachevo.Today publication reported that the European Union was ready to provide EUR 1 million for the opening of a new route.
The CFTS portal asked Ukrzaliznytsia to comment on these reports, and the press service of Ukrzaliznytsia said that introduction of additional trains were not planned and that this issue had not been discussed with the Hungarian side.
The Hungarian national railway operator MÁV did not respond to a request from the CFTS portal.
As reported, the Kyiv-Budapest train is initially attached to the Kyiv-Truskavets train (No. 49). The train and a Lviv-Budapest wagon are added to the Kyiv-Uzhgorod train (No. 13) in Lviv. Bogies are replaced in Chop and the wagons continue as part of a Hungarian train.
