The project is part of a Ft 1.5 trillion undertaking that will involve the modernisation of 900km of track from EU and state funding, as well as the purchase or railway carriages that will raise passenger capacity by 45,000.

The railway line connecting Budapest, Hatvan, Szerencs, Miskolc, and Sátoraljaújhely is one of Hungary’s busiest, with 9 million passengers annually and 9.1 million tons of freight passing through this line each year, said Eszter Kiss-Becze, strategic director of state railway company MÁV.

After the work is completed, trains will travel at a maximum speed of 160kph.