MAÚT30: Hungarian and European professionals met in Budapest

On the first two days of October, MAÚT (Magyar Út- és Vasútügyi Társaság) held its international scientific symposium, which takes place every five years. This year, the organisation, which brings together Hungarian professionals, invited its members, leading figures and experts in the sector in Hungary, and numerous international professionals to a special anniversary event marking the thirtieth anniversary of its founding.

The main themes of this year's meeting, organised in the Hotel Helia in the capital, were organised according to eight areas:

• technical control systems
• climate check, decarbonisation
• innovation that pays
• social responsibility
• circular economy
• mobility technologies
• sustainability

In addition to national speakers, representatives of organisations such as European Union Agency for Railways, FSV Austria, TU Delft and Czech Technical University Prague were invited to the event.

In his opening speech, Sabolcs MAÚT President Nyiri Szabolcs welcomed the representatives of about a hundred major Hungarian member companies and about half a thousand individual members of the association. He stressed that the conference was attended by a very important international group of professionals and underlined that this could be an inspiration for both foreign and Hungarian guests.

The host then handed over the word to Nándor Csepreghy, Deputy Minister of Építési és Közlekedési Minisztérium, who first of all conveyed the greetings of János Lázár, Head of the Ministry of Finance to the participants.

In his speech, Nándor Cseprghy outlined the government's views from both the investor and the regulatory side. He stressed that the post-2022 world will be different from the previous decade, both in economic and international political perspectives. He said that the pandemic and the war situation had also negatively changed the international environment and the government had responded to the challenges by strategically rewriting its strategy: Építési és Közlekedési Minisztérium itself was created with this in mind.

Strategic decisions had to be taken

He looked back at the past positives of the Hungarian and European economies and their transformation, pointing out that the technological advantage that Western Europe had enjoyed for decades was increasingly being shifted to the Far East, that the European workforce, which had previously been reliable in terms of both quantity and skills, had lost its appeal, and that cheap European energy had been eroded by the Russian-Ukrainian war.

His words revealed that the automotive focus of the domestic economy has strengthened in the last decade and a half. As Chinese players are taking up significant positions in the dual process in the global economy, while a technological shift is also taking place, Hungary is responding. The deputy minister cited the construction of the BYD plant in Szeged as an example, and also talked about the increasing and maintaining presence of German automotive brands in Hungary - he mentioned the construction of the BMW plant in Debrecen, as well as Mercedes and Audi.

Key issues for road and rail freight

It was clear from his words that the logistical background of road freight transport is particularly important for these actors. In this context, he referred to the spectacular development of the motorway network in Hungary since 2010 and the remainder of the network. He also spoke about the importance of rail freight, highlighting the Budapest-Belgrade rail link, which is under construction and will offer a realistic alternative to the current import of goods from the Far East via ports in the German Alps, from the Greek port of Budapest to Western Europe.

In addition to the Ministry's investment coordination strategy, Nándor Csepreghy also spoke about the regulation, including the Public Investment Act and the Hungarian Architecture Act. While the former lays down how the state will spend public funds on public investments in the future, the Hungarian Architecture Act is more about the technical and, not least, aesthetic legacy we leave behind - what kind of rules we apply to architecture as a whole, so that in the future, the buildings of today can be looked back on in the same way as we look back on the Monarchy-era ones today.

Following the Deputy Minister's speech, the conference, divided into sections, could begin – those interested can read the detailed programme here.

The link between politics and the road building profession

The main sponsor of the event is Duna Aszfalt, with additional support from Colas, STRABAG and SWIETELSKY Magyarország Kft.

Support for MAÚT is very important for a company such as SWIETELSKY Magyarország Kft, which has been operating and developing on the market for 33 years.  – said Zoltán Hegyi, managing director, who sees the organisation as a link between politics and the road construction industry. „In recent years, MAÚT has done a great deal to gather the professional experience of companies involved in railway and road construction. It is working to make this knowledge and constantly evolving theoretical knowledge, as well as EU regulations, available to support the profession by creating modern technical regulations and standards.” SWIETELSKY is represented in several working committees of MAÚT. „We see that all road regulations, which are created with the intention of improvement, are based in part on theoretical considerations. This requires professional expertise that only companies with experience in railway and road construction can provide,” continued the executive. „Our goal is to increase this knowledge in MAÚT and make it useful to the industry.”