EUR 4bn for faster railways

Budapest-Beograd problems from passenger's point of view

The line between Budapest and Beograd is single lane between Budapest-Ferencváros and Stara Pazova. The speed of the trains on that line on Hungarian territory is rarely over 100 kmh. The trains are frequently late even before reaching Serbia and from that point on it's usually even worse.

Also frequently there are delays even between Hegyeshalom (Austrian border) and Budapest, which is an upgraded line. That means, the Avala or Dacia/Beograd express is often late before even reaching Budapest from Vienna. The delays are rarely fixed, more often a small delay will become more at the end.

The line is slowest between Subotica and Novi Sad as well as on the river bridge right after Novi Sad, which is a shared bridge: trucks, personal cars are going between the rails if there is no train.

All this would be acceptable, if:

- the departure time of Avala in BG is too early
- there is no noon/afternoon connection between BG and BP
- the "Beograd Express" arrives in BP to early, before 6 AM
- the reasonably-priced Bulgarian sleeper is almost never on the Beograd Express because the connecting train from Sofia is late EVERY SINGLE DAY by several hours and "Beograd Express" does not wait for the connection, so the passengers from Sofia have to spend the night in BG in the sleeper staying at the station and reaching BP only, they cannot reach Vienna because the car cannot be turned.
- the condition of the Bulgarian sleeper is difficult to describe. It is well below the Serbian standard (not very high anyway)
- the passport and customs formalities would be done in the sleepers waking up the passengers only if necessary.

There could be some easy a creative solutions, but it seems, the clocks of the involved Serbian/Hungarian/Ukrainian/Russian railways are ticking sometimes backwards :(

But if someone travels between Chop and Lviv, he would find the conditions and speed of the Serbian and Hungarian railways being far better than of said Ukrainian section. (How they intent to transport the crowds during Soccer Championship of 2012?)

I agree with Ataman. Trains in Hungary rarely go over 100km/h so I think the author/source should do a bit more research before claiming speeds of 200km/h.

I agree with both of you. Railway infrastructure in entire EE is a crap. It`s cheaper and better to fly with a low-cost-carrier.

"Trains between Sofia and Plovdiv go with 200 kms/h??"

Hey, this train is absolute shame and never really going more than 100km/h in ANY point of the distance. And the situation in the train stations both in Sofia and Plovdiv are really thirld world!

The fast train line between Athens and Thessaloniki is true that is much better and for most of the distance is going with about 160 km/h (not 200 km/h).

But Sofia to Plovdiv? For God sake..

2 months ago i have taken the intercity Latorica from Budapest and it was good..like in Italy..a little expensive but good..
Bad experience was 1 year ago the Eurostar Venice-Budapest..2 hours late for a long pause in the middle of the Magyar planes...

Eurostar Venice-Budapest..2 hours late for a long pause in the middle of the Magyar planes...
(Luigi, 15 August 2008 09:10)

It's EuroNight, not EuroStar, but it can be late at any random point. Our trick with the EN Venezia-BP is to travel from BP to Venezia on Tuesdays and go back on Wednesdays. These are the days when the RZD (Russian) Venezia-Moscow direct sleeper goes. In Their Infinite Wisdom that sleeper does not exist in the Trenitalia/FS booking, so it's going usually empty. A little conversation with the "provodnik" (sleeping car attendant) usually means a 10-15 Euro surcharge to your 29 Euro ticket. And don't forget: the tea is (almost) free and VERY strong.

People do not know, the Russian sleeper is cheaper than the couchette... and better than many sleepers. For instance the Swiss bi-level CNL sleepers are horrible, you feel inside like in a fish conserve. Hungarian sleepers are every day, I am not sure which is better: HU has A/C, but it means you can't pull down the window. RO and RU sleepers have shower. The tea in RO sleeper is very expensive, so is in HU sleeper, but very reasonable (0.4 Euro) in RU sleeper.

In general, the only bad thing about that train is the HU dining car, I was surprised about the very high prices and low quality. The HU sleepers are on the other side excellent.

Budapest-Beograd problems from passenger's point of view

The line between Budapest and Beograd is single lane between Budapest-Ferencváros and Stara Pazova. The speed of the trains on that line on Hungarian territory is rarely over 100 kmh. The trains are frequently late even before reaching Serbia and from that point on it's usually even worse.

Also frequently there are delays even between Hegyeshalom (Austrian border) and Budapest, which is an upgraded line. That means, the Avala or Dacia/Beograd express is often late before even reaching Budapest from Vienna. The delays are rarely fixed, more often a small delay will become more at the end.

The line is slowest between Subotica and Novi Sad as well as on the river bridge right after Novi Sad, which is a shared bridge: trucks, personal cars are going between the rails if there is no train.

All this would be acceptable, if:

- the departure time of Avala in BG is too early
- there is no noon/afternoon connection between BG and BP
- the "Beograd Express" arrives in BP to early, before 6 AM
- the reasonably-priced Bulgarian sleeper is almost never on the Beograd Express because the connecting train from Sofia is late EVERY SINGLE DAY by several hours and "Beograd Express" does not wait for the connection, so the passengers from Sofia have to spend the night in BG in the sleeper staying at the station and reaching BP only, they cannot reach Vienna because the car cannot be turned.
- the condition of the Bulgarian sleeper is difficult to describe. It is well below the Serbian standard (not very high anyway)
- the passport and customs formalities would be done in the sleepers waking up the passengers only if necessary.

There could be some easy a creative solutions, but it seems, the clocks of the involved Serbian/Hungarian/Ukrainian/Russian railways are ticking sometimes backwards :(

But if someone travels between Chop and Lviv, he would find the conditions and speed of the Serbian and Hungarian railways being far better than of said Ukrainian section. (How they intent to transport the crowds during Soccer Championship of 2012?)

I agree with Ataman. Trains in Hungary rarely go over 100km/h so I think the author/source should do a bit more research before claiming speeds of 200km/h.

I agree with both of you. Railway infrastructure in entire EE is a crap. It`s cheaper and better to fly with a low-cost-carrier.

2 months ago i have taken the intercity Latorica from Budapest and it was good..like in Italy..a little expensive but good..
Bad experience was 1 year ago the Eurostar Venice-Budapest..2 hours late for a long pause in the middle of the Magyar planes...

Eurostar Venice-Budapest..2 hours late for a long pause in the middle of the Magyar planes...
(Luigi, 15 August 2008 09:10)

It's EuroNight, not EuroStar, but it can be late at any random point. Our trick with the EN Venezia-BP is to travel from BP to Venezia on Tuesdays and go back on Wednesdays. These are the days when the RZD (Russian) Venezia-Moscow direct sleeper goes. In Their Infinite Wisdom that sleeper does not exist in the Trenitalia/FS booking, so it's going usually empty. A little conversation with the "provodnik" (sleeping car attendant) usually means a 10-15 Euro surcharge to your 29 Euro ticket. And don't forget: the tea is (almost) free and VERY strong.

People do not know, the Russian sleeper is cheaper than the couchette... and better than many sleepers. For instance the Swiss bi-level CNL sleepers are horrible, you feel inside like in a fish conserve. Hungarian sleepers are every day, I am not sure which is better: HU has A/C, but it means you can't pull down the window. RO and RU sleepers have shower. The tea in RO sleeper is very expensive, so is in HU sleeper, but very reasonable (0.4 Euro) in RU sleeper.

In general, the only bad thing about that train is the HU dining car, I was surprised about the very high prices and low quality. The HU sleepers are on the other side excellent.

"Trains between Sofia and Plovdiv go with 200 kms/h??"

Hey, this train is absolute shame and never really going more than 100km/h in ANY point of the distance. And the situation in the train stations both in Sofia and Plovdiv are really thirld world!

The fast train line between Athens and Thessaloniki is true that is much better and for most of the distance is going with about 160 km/h (not 200 km/h).

But Sofia to Plovdiv? For God sake..