Writing on Facebook, Dávid Vitézy said the Hungarian railway company MÁV launched a new public procurement procedure on Monday for 15 years of maintenance on the Stadler GTW trains from Switzerland. Whether the vehicles are purchased will depend on the financial outcome.
No purchase without a maintenance deal
The idea of acquiring the Swiss trains was first raised in 2025. Vitézy said their operation in Hungary would require maintenance to be secured for the next 15 years. Without such an agreement, the sale cannot go ahead.
MÁV had previously requested an offer for the work. According to Vitézy, the company examined it in detail and found it uncompetitive and overpriced. His statement did not give a figure, making it impossible to establish how much lower MÁV expects the new bids to be.
How the previous offer was assessed
Vitézy alleged that János Lázár, the former construction and transport minister, had ordered the contract to be signed despite the unfavourable assessment. He also said he withdrew that instruction in September, arguing that the agreement would have imposed unjustifiably high costs on the railway for the next decade and a half.
MÁV is now seeking a substantially better financial offer through the new procedure. Vitézy said the railway wanted modern, comfortable, low-floor and reliable vehicles, “but not at any price”.
A decision only after the result
The launch of the procedure does not mean that all 93 trains will necessarily join MÁV’s fleet. Vitézy said the final purchasing decision would be made only once the cost and terms of maintaining the vehicles for 15 years were known.
Source: Vitézy Dávid
