Tarlós: further
negotiations are needed with the government
After the vote, Budapest Mayor István Tarlós said the city would move to start train renovations but further negotiations with the government are needed to clarify the financing of the infrastructure upgrade.
Fully 220 carriages would be renewed, extending their lifespan by another 20-25 years and costing HUF 60-65 billion, while buying new carriages would have cost HUF 90 billion, Tarlós said.
Upgrading of the carriages is scheduled to be completed by the turn of 2015/16, he added. Complete renovation of the tunnels, tracks, control system and stations could be finished by 2019.
Tarlós said he would consult the development minister on possible ways of using European Union funds. The mayor said track replacement, which started 18 months ago, would be completed next year.
Radical nationalist Jobbik called for state funds to support the project. Ferenc Falus, the Budapest mayoral candidate of the opposition Socialist, E-PM and DK parties in the upcoming municipal elections, said the government should use the HUF 100 billion set aside to move the Prime Minister’s Office to Buda’s prestigious Castle District for the metro refurbishment instead.
The green opposition LMP said M3, used by hundreds of thousands each day, was in a dangerous state of disrepair, and insisted that “the city is behind with the project [and] still in the preparatory phase…”
Before the vote, Budapest council member Ákos Hanzély (E-PM) said his party suspected a secret deal whereby a contract to renew the trains would be dished out to a preferred bidder. He said it was “unacceptable” that “run-down, 30-year-old trains should be renovated at two-thirds of the price of new ones”.
