Debrecen4U January 5, 2026

Historic Track Renovation Funding: MÁV CEO Calls Out Debrecen’s Role

“HUF 800+60 billion for next year’s track renovations. This is one of the most important pieces of news on MÁV’s railway infrastructure following last week’s Board of Directors meeting,” the CEO of the MÁV Group Zsolt Hegyi writes in his post.

As stated in his post, the board has approved his proposal, which means that in the 2026 business plan the company’s own funds available for track renovations have increased significantly, to around HUF 60 billion.

This exceeds their 2025 capacity by HUF 25 billion, and it is further complemented by the approximately HUF 800 billion infrastructure development programme jointly financed by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Hungarian state, from which the final administrative obstacle was also recently removed.

In total, that is 800 + 60 billion HUF for track maintenance and renovation. With this — an amount not seen in the Hungarian railway sector for decades — they can finally not only take a step forward, but make a real leap in modernising Hungary’s railway infrastructure.

Hegyi Zsolt outlines the major track renovations planned for 2026 beyond the HUF 800 billion programme — that is, from the additional HUF 60 billion in own resources. Among these, he notes that in 2026 the company plans to replace around 40 groups of worn‑out switches across the network, focusing on the busiest lines and stations.

The programme has not yet been finalised; the locations currently under discussion are Budapest–Kelenföld, Rákospalota–Újpest, Kőbánya–Kispest, Debrecen, Maglód, Újszász, Herceghalom and Biatorbágy. These are places where trains often have to slow down solely because of a single switch in poor condition, leading to frustrating delays and significant energy loss when accelerating again.

As the CEO summarises: many different interventions, but one shared goal — preserving safety, lifting or preventing slow orders (that is, speed restrictions), and creating more reliable, more predictable rail transport.

Source and photo credit: dehir.hu