Our transport system requires development

The density of the Hungarian transport network approaches the EU average. The density of the public road network (329 km/1000 km2) was 88% of the EU average, while the density of the railroad network (83 km/1000 km2) was 128% of the EU average in 2005. However, the capacity, operation, load bearing and safety of the transport network make access of the country rather difficult. Also, the isolation of transport networks makes it difficult to change between transport modalities or to prefer transport means with less environmental pollution. The traffic of the international airport in Budapest (Ferihegy) has grown very substantially over the past period of time (primarily because of growing traffic with low cost carriers), and the traffic of regional airports is also expected to increase.

Despite a dense transport network, traffic needs exceed the capacities of the road and rail networks in many places

Developed regions of the country have a rather good infrastructure, while the lack of the same hinders development in regions that are remote from Budapest or are peripheral. The fact that the entire transport network is concentrated in Budapest makes it time consuming and difficult to access certain regions, micro regions or even regionally important towns, sometimes even within the regions. For the reasons of access businesses consider Budapest and its neighbourhood and certain areas in Central and West Pannon as attractive sites; while regions beyond the river Tisza, in South Transdanubia and far from larger towns are less attractive. Looking at the daily transport needs of the population, micro regions along the eastern borders and certain micro regions in the south of Hungary are in the most disadvantaged situation. The long term forecast prepared for the development of traffic shows an even growth of 35-40% and 45-50% in case of the primary network, in the average of the entire network. Additionally, traffic will further be concentrating on the primary network especially in the region of the capital and major towns.

The transport network is centred around Budapest, and there are large regional differences

Hungary is crossed by four major Trans-European transport (road, railway, and inland waterway) corridors that link East-, West- and South- Europe: the common sections of corridor IV (Vienna-Budapest-Sofia) and X/b6 (Budapest-Belgrade), corridor V/b (Trieste-Budapest-Kiev), transport corridor V/c. (Budapest−Eszék−Sarajevo) and the Danube (corridor VII). The expected substantial growth of cargo traffic between

Hungary enjoys a very preferential economic geographical position

West- and East-Europe and South- and North-Europe offer very good opportunities for the development of international commercial, transport and logistics services.

Despite major investments over the past period of time, the density of motorways (6.1 km/100 km2) is only one quarter of the average of West- Europe. The importance of the development of the rapid way network is well illustrated by the fact that the proximity of motorways has been a fundamental factor for foreign businesses when they selected a destination for investment. The majority of greenfield investments are connected to existing elements of the rapid way network or to a 30-40 km wide band around these.

The vicinity of motorways has been a key factor for foreign capital selecting a destination

The capacity of tangential roads connecting the regional centres of the country is not adequate relative to the volume of traffic. In addition to the shortcomings of the network, additional maintenance is required by the fact that these roads were constructed for a lower level of load bearing: 100 kN instead of the 115 kN that is customary in the EU. In order to meet the obligations undertaken in the accession treaty, additional 1000- 1200 kilometres of roads need their surfaces to be reinforced by 2008 beyond the surface reinforcement programmes already started.

The quality of the road network is lower than traffic needs

The 7600 km railroad network of Hungary is characterised by a focus on Budapest and a radial structure. Almost 40% of all railroad tracks operate with speed limits due to their rapidly deteriorating technical status. 16% of all tracks are double tracks, 33% of them are electrified – thought the majority of personal and freight transport is delivered in these lines.

The length of rail network is good but it offers weak technical features

Cargo traffic on public roads grows faster than railroad cargo. The reason for this is the need of the economy for flexible stocks management and reducing costs. However, due to the relatively high rate of rail and community transport, the rate of distribution of cargo traffic is still much better in Hungary than in the EU-15 in terms of sustainability.

Rail cargo is loosing ground also in Hungary, but the situation is still better than the European average Looking at passenger traffic, the rate of individual, car transport is

increasing to the detriment of community transport. The growing rate of car use leads to more crowded roads, increased risks of accident and more environmental pollution. Passenger rail transport has lost some of its importance due to the low level of services; however, it has been able to regain some of its positions from 1995. The volume of trucks shipped by train (Ro-La), which was in 2003 more than 100.000, in 2004 89.000, in 2005 continued to decrease to 64.000, and will certainly decrease further on, because of the EU’s regulation of international road freight transport liberalisation. Even so, the volume of non-escorted combined road-rail freight transport, which was in 2005 5,2 million tons, in 309.000 units, has a modest yearly gain.

Individual car use is rising

Due international forecasts, on the major transport routes, the volume of transport will grow two-threefold, which will heavily increase road congestion. The volume of railroad transport will increase substantially

On the major transport routes, the volume of transport will grow two-

too, but that requires interoperability. threefold In the field of personal transport, the individual means of transport (by

cars) are growing against the community transport means. This makes the roads crowded, increases the risks of accidents and the pollution of the environment. The railway lost its former weight – mainly because of low service level, but it has gained back some of its position since 1995.

Personal means of transport are growing

Although our public transport network is developed in European terms, stronger urbanisation and desurbanisation processes present and important challenge for domestic public transport. The former unidirectional relations of towns and townships is changing continuously; multidirectional contacts become more important within micro regions and suburban areas. Despite the fact that the quality of the service is still not right in many areas (insufficient frequency of lines and customer service, low level of comfort on lines, problems with linking transport modalities and schedules to each other), community transport is used by a higher proportion of the population than in West-European countries The level of development and quality of community transport is widely varied from one region to the other. Just in the Budapest agglomeration, there are 600.000 daily commuters, and this type of transport demand is continuously increasing.

Community transport is still unable to keep up with the growing number of commuters from suburbs

2.4.5. The change for market economy has required substantial social