Recently revealed documents indicate that the government, citing national economic interest of special importance, intends to lease the properties of major Budapest railway stations to private entities for the next 99 years.
Tamás Soproni, Mayor of Terézváros (Budapest’s District 6), announced on Saturday that the railway areas around Nyugati (Western) Railway Station are to be privatised. However, according to the announcements, many rural stations, as well as Déli (Southern), Keleti (Eastern), and Kelenföld stations are also affected in the tenders closing at the end of January.
According to the tender, the goal of MÁV Plc. is to implement property developments meeting the demands of the current century, while in its response to our newspaper, the state railway company stated that further consultations are expected to finalise the concepts. However, according to Dávid Vitézy, a representative on Budapest’s General Assembly, this is exactly the model of ‘plundering privatisation’ that characterised Hungarian politics in the early 1990s in the wake of the system change.
Vitézy: You will not see this happen in Western democracies, nor in Arab oil monarchies
Keeping the properties in public ownership, while involving external funding sources in their development to achieve results faster, across more locations and with greater impact – this is the essence of the national railway station renovation programme for which the Ministry of Construction and Transport (ÉKM) and the Máv Group is now announcing a tender.
This is how the announcement begins on the state railway company’s website. According to the official justification, the core idea of the programme is that property developers who successfully participate in the tender will gain the opportunity to use parts of the railway properties – that are delineated from rail traffic – commercially, while the stations, railway areas, and their surroundings remain state-owned without exceptions and throughout the entire cooperation period.
The winning project companies will manage all Budapest railway station properties from 2025 to 2124. Specifically:
- Nyugati Railway Station: The entire historic hall, the entire railway operational area, the undeveloped strip along Podmaniczky Street (formerly government district plots) up to Dózsa György Street.
- Keleti Railway Station: The entire historic hall and the area up to Kerepesi Street, including the area of the coach repair workshop near Vágány Street.
- Déli Railway Station: The entire area, including the areas along Mészáros Street, and all railway operational areas between Hegyalja Road and Krisztina Boulevard.
- Kelenföld Railway Station: The entire area, along with highly valuable development areas south of the Volán bus station.
