The Chinese-Hungarian Railway Nonprofit Ltd. on behalf of MAV Co. has called for the upgrade of the Hungarian stretch of the Budapest-Belgrade railway line. The invitation to tender was published on the webpages of Tenders Electronic Daily and MAV Co. and the procurement will be a two-phase procedure. The main subject matter of the contract is to upgrade the 152 kilometre MÁV railway line No.150 between Soroksár (Budapest) — Kelebia (country border) to licensing speed 160km/h with mixed traffic, according to the specification related to the existing EU TEN-T network.

Three bidders will be chosen for the second, final phase and the winning bid will be selected 50% based on the quality of the technical bid and 50% on the financial aspect. The duration of the contract will be 86 months.

Moreover, the contract is for the full reconstruction of the current single track and the building of a 2nd track with an axle load of 225 KN. The new line will allow freight trains with maximum length of 750 m, while the facilities in stations for passenger service will also be renewed to fulfil the PRM requirements.

The upgrade is set to cut the journey time on passenger trains from Budapest to Belgrade from the current eight hours to around three and a half hours.

(Source: MÁV)