About 10 kilometres of railway track to be renewed in Baranya by November

The railway line between Szentlőrinc and Szigetvár will be renovated, and replacement buses will transport passengers on this section until the end of October, MÁV Zrt. announced on its website on Sunday morning.

According to the announcement, the maximum speed limit on the Nagykanizsa-Pécs line connecting Szigetvár and Szentlőrinc is 80 km/h, but the technical condition of the track has deteriorated so much in recent years that speed restrictions have had to be introduced on several sections, causing regular delays.

The complex reconstruction of the track will include the replacement of the rails, the concrete sub-base, the reconstruction of two level crossings, the use of 20,000 tonnes of crushed stone, 7,000 reinforced concrete sub-bases and 174 new longitudinal rails, each 120 metres long.

The cost of the investment is over three billion forints, which MÁV is financing from its own resources. Last year, MÁV spent HUF 900 million on this line, and if money becomes available, the Nagykanizsa-Pécs line will be upgraded on other sections as well, the statement said.

During the closure period, until the end of October, replacement buses will transport passengers between Szentlőrinc and Szigetvár. They said that the renovation "will make train services somewhat faster and more predictable, and will significantly reduce delays on the Nagykanizsa-Pécs line".

From November, speed restrictions will be lifted on around ten kilometres of the upgraded section, allowing trains to travel at 80 km/h again. The timetable between Szentlőrinc and Szigetvár will become more predictable.

Passenger trains will run faster and more reliably in the settlements along the Drava in Somogy and in the Szentlőrinc and Szigetvár areas of Baranya, as well as the Pannónia InterRegio connecting Pécs and Szombathely. On the Barcs-Szigetvár-Szentlőrinc-Pécs route, trains will run every hour during peak hours and every two hours outside peak hours

- reported by MÁV Zrt.