The Szeged-Hódmezővásárhely Tram-train is a tram-train system in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

between the cities of

Csongrád-Csanád County Csongrád-Csanád ( ) is an administrative county (Counties of Hungary, comitatus or ''vármegye'') in southern Hungary, straddling the river Tisza, on the border with Serbia and Romania. It shares borders with the Hungarian counties Bács-Kisku ...

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...

(the county seat) and

Hódmezővásárhely Hódmezővásárhely (; also known by other alternative names) is a city with county rights in southeast Hungary, on the Great Hungarian Plain, at the meeting point of the Békés-Csanádi Ridge and the clay grassland surrounding the river Tisz ...

(a city with county rights). Construction began on 4 April 2018, and it was inaugurated on 29 November 2021.

History

Many commute between the two cities during the school days, 60% of which by public transport. The cities are connected by regional buses and a train service that runs by the hour. The distance between the two bus stations is 26,2 km (16,2 miles) and the journey takes about 30–37 minutes (depending on the number of stops the bus has to take). Because of the traffic jams caused by the number of vehicles and the number of passengers, most buses are up to 10 minutes late. There is also a train service between Szeged and Hódmezővásárhely provided by a fleet of diesel trains, however this system is poorly operated as there is only one track available with the trains running on an hourly basis with a maximum speed of 80 km/h (50 mph). In 2007, a plan was made for the

Szeged Transport Ltd. The Szeged Transport Ltd. () is the name of the transport company of the city of Szeged, Hungary. Aims The Szeged Transport Ltd.'s aims are: the operation of electric track-based transport, a public pay parking system, vehicle rescue and transport ...

and by 2016 permission for construction was given.

The project

The goal of the project is to create a modern, frequent, easy and fast mean of public transport between the two cities. The system is planned to connect with the old Szeged–Békéscsaba railway, tram line 1 in Szeged and there's also planning of creating a brand new tram system in Hódmezővásárhely the tram-train can connect with.

Route

* Szeged pályaudvar * Galamb utca * Bécsi körút * Aradi vértanúk tere * Somogyi utca * Széchenyi tér * Anna-kút * Rókusi templom * Tavasz utca * Damjanich utca * Vásárhelyi Pál utca * Pulz utca * Rókus vasútállomás * Algyő * Hódmezővásárhelyi Népkert * Strandfürdő * Hősök tere * Kossuth tér * Kálvin János tér * Hódmezővásárhely vasútállomás

Fleet

In 2017, MÁV-START Zrt. (today MÁV Személyszállítási Zrt. a subsidiary of MÁV for passenger transport) ordered a tender for a fleet of hybrid diesel-electric tram-trains that would run on the system. This ended on February 8, 2017 with Stadler winning with its Stadler Citylink trams. The first vehicle was delivered by Stadler Rail Valencia in January 2021 with the last ones planned to arrive until the end of the year. Finally, the last one, Unit 012, arrived in September 2022. A maintenance depot was constructed at the Szeged-Rendező station.

Criticism

The project received most of the criticism for its budget overruns. In 2017

János Lázár János Lázár (born 19 February 1975) is a Hungarian politician and Member of Parliament. He was former leader of the Fidesz parliamentary group (2010–2012) and State Secretary, then Minister of Prime Minister's Office (2012–2018) in the ...

, former mayor of the town of

criticized the ''National Infrastructure Developing Company (NIF Zrt.)'' for letting the price tag go up from the 23,5 billion HUF (approx. EUR 64 million) estimated in the feasibility study to 71 billion HUF (approx. EUR 193 million), as of 2017, mostly due to the price increase on the railway line reconstruction that costs 48,5 bln HUF.{{Cite web, url=https://orszagszerte.atlatszo.hu/meszaros-lorinc-vejenek-cege-3-milliardert-dolgozik-a-szeged-hodmezovasarhely-kozotti-tram-train-projektben/, title=Mészáros Lőrinc vejének cége 3 milliárdért dolgozik a Szeged-Hódmezővásárhely közötti tram-train projektben However, Lázár continued to support the project as the member of the government.

References

Tram transport in Hungary Railway lines opened in 2021 2021 establishments in Hungary