The official was reacting to a Telegraph article published on Sunday, claiming that the European Union was urged to launch an investigation of the train line, which received €2 million in EU funding, as according to initial plans the train was supposed to carry 2,500-7,000 passengers daily, and only carried 30 passengers in the first month of operation.

Based on documents Csepreghy sent to 444.hu, the Hungarian government initially said that the nostalgia train was expected to transport 28-29 people daily. Based on this information, the state secretary said he is sure that the European Union would not launch an investigation into the matter, despite opposition MP Benedek Jávor reporting the issue to OLAF, as the Telegraph article writes.

Csepreghy said that the Telegraph may have acquired the same documents used by Hungarian investigative news portal Atlatszo.hu, 444.hu reported. Csepreghy said that Atlatszo.hu mistook the data in the documents, as those “routine calculations” of 2,500-7,000 passengers show how many passengers could be carried daily if the train ran on a 50%-100% load.

By Christian Keszthelyi

Source: BBJ

Republished with permission