Feasibility studies for a high-speed railway between Bucharest and Budapest

Bucharest and Budapest would be connected by a high-speed railway, and the governments of Romania and Hungary will start feasibility studies in this regard, said Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, after the informal meeting he had on Friday in the Capital with his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban.

Immediately after the meeting, Marcel Ciolacu said: "I had a pragmatic discussion with the Prime Minister of Hungary, Mr. Viktor Orban, on the topics of common interest of our bilateral cooperation. Our trade amounts to around 13 billion euros and we agreed with the Hungarian counterpart that there is still untapped potential. We conveyed to Prime Minister Orban that we want to work together to strengthen a positive bilateral agenda for the benefit of our citizens, regardless of ethnicity. At the same time, we agreed to start the feasibility studies on the implementation of a flagship project at the bilateral level - the Budapest-Bucharest high-speed railway link, a strategic project of regional interest, with an impact on the railway networks in the Central European region. Hungary holds the presidency of the EU Council this semester, and in this capacity, Romania relies on Hungary's honest action to strengthen the European Strategic Agenda. At the same time, I thanked Prime Minister Viktor Orban for his unequivocal support of Romania's accession to the Schengen area and land borders".

For his part, Viktor Orban stated that this autumn he will put on the agenda of the Council of Justice and Internal Affairs (JAI) the reception of Romania in the Schengen Area and with the land borders. Hungary holds the rotating presidency of the European Union and has the opportunity to set the agenda of the Council. Romania joined the Schengen area by air and sea on March 31, 2024, but Austria still opposes the full accession of Romania and Bulgaria with land borders.

Regarding the high-speed railway between Budapest and Bucharest, we recall that a few months ago the European Commissioner for Transport, Adina Vălean, stated that the Bucharest-Budapest high-speed railway section still shows increased interest from the Hungarian government, in particular regarding the connection of the Hungarian capital with the municipality of Cluj-Napoca. Adina Vălean showed that the intention to ensure a high-speed train line on an uninterrupted distance between Budapest, Cluj-Napoca and further to Bucharest is not abandoned, but is in the process of being realized, on various portions of the route Bucharest-Oradea, in various stages of execution.

For the high-speed train line that would connect the national railway network with the central and western European one, the Ministry of Transport presented two options in the spring of 2022. The first route is through Pitesti, Sibiu, Cluj and Oradea with a length of 590 kilometers, while the second is a hybrid route that includes some modernized segments for the speed of 160 km/h (Corridor Braşov - Arad via CEF and POIM or Cluj - Episcopia Bihor via PNRR) combined with new alignment for speeds over 200 km/h.

The Hungarian Minister of Construction and Transport, Janos Lazar, said last year in Cluj that the Budapest authorities intend to initiate negotiations with the Romanian Government for the construction of a high-speed railway between Budapest and Cluj-Napoca. Lazar emphasized that this investment would significantly contribute to the improvement of bilateral cooperation between Hungary and Romania. According to the minister, the journey between Budapest and Cluj-Napoca could be reduced to just three and a half hours with a high-speed train.

Referring to a high-speed/high-speed line, Bucharest-Budapest, the European Commission had advanced the 2040 completion deadline to 2021. Currently, Romania still has one of the most inefficient railway networks in Europe, having passenger trains with a average travel speed of only 45 km/h in 2022.