Railway PRO

30
leaders
> site currently water and waste water
network renovations are in progress by
different investors. The total estimated
costs are 10,5 billion HUF (EUR 34,2
Million). The planning is finished and
public procurement for choosing the
most favourable contractor is now in
progress. The projects may start this summer,
and will be finished late 2015.
By finishing the Széll Kálmán tér development
project, a brand new, greener,
cleaner and more friendly environment
will be made with much greater liveable
space than currently. Together with the
“’Budai fonódó” project, the new concept
of tram network on the square will
enable new tram line connections. The
project also contains building demolishment
and construction, public utility
works, road construction and architecture.
According to our sooner study,
every day 200.000 persons pass through
the square now. We will improve all of
their conditions. It is a great challenge
from our side during the construction to
ensure their passage; therefore we made
several well-detailed organisation plans.
The estimated cost is 5,2 billion HUF
(EUR 17 Million). Currently the planning
is finished and public procurement
is in progress. The projects may start this
summer, and will be finished late 2015.
The renovated tram lines, the more reliable
power supply result faster journeys,
the new tram line connections mean less
total travelling time. They all have favourable
impact on the local public transport
system. All of these benefits were calculated
and well considered before making
the decisions on starting and financing
the projects. All the projects above are
financed by the state, the local government,
and mostly by the European Union.
For further information, tram networks
plans, 3D visualizations, and 3D
model you are kindly welcome to visit
our website on www.bkk.hu.
Railway PRO: By 2020, the entire fleet
of trams could be replaced by low-floor
vehicles in order to increase the quality
of services and ensure accessibility. What
is the objective of this project and what
will be the value of the vehicle procurement
contracts?
Dávid Vitézy: Budapest has cca 200
trams at the age over 40 years. In order
to replace these old vehicles, we prepared
a project. Originally we had a few
integrated tram project: one project contained
both the infrastructure renewal/
extension and the rolling stock. It would
not have been very efficient so I am glad
we managed to convince the European
Commission to have separate infrastructure
projects and one large rolling stock
procurement. Apparently the first rolling
stock only procurement funded by the
EU. Learning from existing examples we
constructed a contract which allows us
to buy more trams once we have more
funds available. This strategy saves us
two years as the average time required
for completely closing a tram procurement
process. As a result, cca. 46% of
the trams of Budapest will be low-floor
by 2020, in order to increase the quality
of services and ensure accessibility.
The value of the vehicle procurement
contracts are: 106.360.000 EURO for
47 trams (delivery contract signed with
CAF), and further 150.000.000 EURO
is needed to buy the other 77 trams (as
an option).
Railway PRO: What is the preparation
stage of the extension of Metro Line 1,
the acquisition of new metro trains and
the development of links to other modes
of transport?
Dávid Vitézy: The pre-feasibility
study of the extension of metro line M1
is done, the feasibility study will be ready
in August 2014. As a part of this project
we would like to replace the 40 years old
vehicles of this line. The vehicles of the
metro line M3 are almost 40 years old, so
they need to be replaced. Budapest has
two main alternatives of renewing the
rolling stock fleet: one is the major overhaul
of currently operating rolling stock,
upgrade of transmission and signalling to
ensure a 15-year extension of operational
lifetime, the other is the replacement
of all vehicles operating on the line. We
haven’t made the decision between the
two major alternatives yet – we are in the
preparation phase, in which we make a
feasibility study about the complex renewing
of the M3 infrastructure. As a
part of this study we will investigate every
aspects of the renewing or replacing
question. We would like to connect the
metro line M2 to the H8 suburban railway,
the project is in preparation phase
now. To make this we will need new vehicles,
which can be operated in the metro
line and on the suburban line, as well.
We are planning to connect Szentendre
and Csepel HÉV suburban railways (H5
and H7) under the inner city. For this
project we will need interoperable vehicles,
which can run on railway lines and
suburban railway lines, as well.
Railway PRO: How do you envisage
the accession level of European financing
in these projects for 2014-2020?
Dávid Vitézy: We are still in the preparation
phase, but we already have the
strategy and feasibility studies for all of
our preparation projects, which could be
built in the next 7 years. BKK’s organisation
and experts are prepared and ready
to execute the projects. Building up this
capability is one of our major achievements.
We continuously consult about
the possible sources and time of constructions
with the competent people.
According to these consultations will be
clear the degree of the municipality, the
governmental and EU funds for each
projects.
Railway PRO: Do local authorities
have a budget on the allocation of funds
for these projects, allocation which relies
on Budapest’s transport system development
strategy?
Dávid Vitézy: The previous transport
development plans contained a large
scale, long-term developments which
required a large amount of development
funds – many, many billions of euros.
These funding requirements undermined
the feasibility of the previous plans. Opposed
to this approach, the Balázs Mór
Plan sets general guidelines, goals and
measures. After the approval of these basic
principles a programming process can
be done which determines the programs
and projects according to the available
funds. EU budget negotiations for the
next 7 years are under process and these
funds will be available more than just Budapest,
but we hope the results will enable
the developments in Budapest.
Будапешт: транспорт на
рельсах лежит в основе
развития системы
общественного транспорта
С учетом доли общественного
транспорта на уровне более 50%, жители
города Будапешта требуют всё более
высоких стандартов плотности и качества
сети. В этой связи, BKK (Транспортный
центр города Будапешта) осуществляет
ряд проектов развития. Большинство
из них касается транспорта на рельсах и
его подключения к сети пригородного
железнодорожного транспорта. Кроме
проектов, находящихся на стадии
внедрения, BKK разрабатывает стратегию
и технико-экономическое обоснование
всех проектов, которые намеревается
внедрить в период с 2014 года по 2020 год.
Интервью с господином
Давидом Витези, который является
Исполнительным директором BKK.
www.railwaypro.com | August 2014