A concept regarding a cross-border Austrian-Hungarian railway network and road infrastructure development was presented in Pándorfalu (Parndorf) in Burgenland on Wednesday.

The CrossBorder Rail development will be implemented within the framework of a project worth EUR 12.7 million. Thanks to this, journey times will be shortened, the safety of transport will improve, and the stations on the cross-border railway line between Nezsider (Neusiedl am See), Pomogy (Pamhagen) and Fertőszentmiklós will be refurbished. Six new road transport routes will also be built in the vicinity of the Austrian-Hungarian border.

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Levente Magyar, State Secretary for Economic Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said at the press conference that they will shortly be able to report on the progress of specific works on the railway line between Nezsider and Fertőszentmiklós, and the railway links between Felsőőr (Oberwart) and Szombathely as well as between Jennersdorf and Szentgotthárd are already in the preparatory phase. They are also working on two motorway connections to be completed by 2022, at the latest: on the one hand, on the construction of the motorway section leading from Sopron to Austria, and on the other, on the construction of the Rábafüzes border connecting section of the prospective M8 motorway.

„It is perhaps the most important for those living in villages directly by the border that the construction of six minor road connections may soon begin”, he highlighted.

The information document of the development project reveals that they are seeking to improve connections between localities along the border through the refurbishment of the roads between Szentpéterfa and Nagysároslak (Moschendorf), Kőszeg and Rőtfalva (Rattersdorf), Zsíra and Locsmánd (Lutzmannsburg), Fertőrákos, Sopronpuszta and Szentmargitbánya (Sankt Margarethen), Várbalog, Albertkázmérpuszta and Féltorony, and Rajka and Németjárfalu (Deutsch Jahrndorf).

After the presentation of the development, Mr Magyar spoke about the smoothness and high standard of Burgenland-Hungarian cooperation, and highlighted at the same time that Hans Niessl, Landeshauptmann of Burgenland, never allowed the difficulties emerging in bilateral relations from time to time to affect the joint efforts. The State Secretary highlighted in his interview given to the Hungarian news agency MTI: they managed to separate the former disputes from the other areas of cooperation, and consequently, the joint efforts continued steadily in the field of transport development.

Hans Niessl described the cooperation as a uniquely successful regional initiative, and thanked the Hungarian Government for its support at the same time. By the state leader’s account, a feasibility study is being prepared regarding a railway development project between Szentgotthárd and Gyanafalva (Jennersdorf) in South-Burgenland, and according to plans, the cross-border project will also be presented in Brussels in the second half of the year.

The project will be implemented in cooperation with the Austrian railway company Neusiedler Seebahn and Győr-Sopron-Ebenfurti Vasút Zrt. (GYSEV Zrt.). The Chief Executive of GYSEV Zrt., Szilárd Kövesdi said at the press conference that, as part of the development, bicycle storage facilities will be built, a passenger information system will be installed, lighting will be installed on the platforms, the safety of railway level crossings will be enhanced, and the speed of trains will be increased, in consequence of which journey times will decrease by ten minutes on the Fertőszentmiklós and Nezsider railway line.

(MTI/Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)