Green light for the Gubacsi bridge project, Sopron railway station development to come - along with several other investments

Építési és Közlekedési Minisztérium posted this on its Facebook page this morning: news that a number of major transport projects have been given the go-ahead. They immediately refer to the relevant issue of Magyar Közlöny, which was published yesterday.

According to the ministry's statement, the government is supporting the implementation of several major transport and infrastructure projects, and the ministry has authorised the head of the ministry to conclude grant agreements for projects supported by the European Network Facility (CEF) in the cases concerned. Here, the communication indicates that the domestic government has approved the necessary elements of the reserve list items and if the CEF does the same, the implementation of the investments can start.

First they will arrive in Szekszárd :

Preparation of the second and third phases of the Szekszárd bypass will receive priority funding, including the preparation of the necessary study plans, environmental impact assessments and obtaining environmental permits - a net amount of HUF 201.5 million will be provided for this over the next two years.

New Gubacsi bridge referred to, huge railway developments could come to the Csepel excavator

Then, the first phase of the Gubacsi urban railway bridge will be discussed: the land acquisition and land preparation works for its implementation will be supported, which will allow the land acquisition process to start. Here, the Magyar Közlöny uses the wording of the new structure of the Gubacsi bridge for the whole project - this may indicate that the construction of a new bridge is being prepared. The wording of the project proposal here reads exactly as follows:

"The main objective of the development of the Gubacsi railway bridge and its associated facilities is to provide a reliable, safe and sustainable railway service to the Csepel Free Port by improving the railway connection between the Gubacsi railway bridge and the Csepel Free Port. The new bridge structure will allow higher speeds and increased axle loads."

For the tasks related to land acquisition and planning, the state budget will allocate HUF 2 billion next year and a further HUF 600 million over the next three years, while the European Network Facility (CEF) is expected to provide a total of HUF 25.137 billion net (the project is on the CEF reserve list), and the total domestic funding requirement is expected to be around HUF 12.421 billion net.

Békéscsaba: geothermal energy, road construction, industrial infrastructure

Under the Modern Cities Programme, Békéscsaba will receive additional funding for several investments. As they write,

• These include the development of a geothermal energy recovery system that will provide heating for several facilities,
• and the development of the second phase of the Builders' Road, which will improve transport access to the Lencsés housing estate.
• In addition, support will be provided for the development of infrastructure in industrial areas, with the aim of creating safe cycling links between the state and the northern industrial area.

EU money would be used to develop a railway station and rail network in Sopron

CEF funds would also be earmarked for projects to expand the capacity and modernise the Sopron railway station. As stated in the government decision, the current single-track design of the Győr-Sopron railway line between Harka and Sopron represents a critical bottleneck that needs to be removed.

This is the aim of the development of the Sopron-Harka section of the Győr-Sopron line, planned as the first step of the development of the line, which will be implemented in two phases: in Phase I, the development of Sopron station, ensuring station capacity to efficiently handle future traffic demands and to overcome TEN-T interoperability gaps. It is expected to receive CEF 11.791 billion EU funding and have a net domestic cost of HUF 2.08 billion.

The Minister for Works and Transport has been given the power to negotiate grant agreements with the European Commission and to conclude the necessary contracts for the projects. They say that with these decisions the government has removed all obstacles to the implementation of projects financed by the CEF. If the European Commission decides to implement the projects on the reserve list, the government is ready to implement the investments and take the necessary domestic measures without delay.