Green Future for Narrow Gauge Railways – Vision and Reality in Hungary

The history of narrow gauge railways starts at 1870 in Hungary. The first lines were constructed for industrial purposes: timber and stone delivery in forests, local logistic services in mines and in agriculture. Later narrow gauge railways began to have a role in regional and suburban transport too. Six thousand km long lines of such railways operated financially and efficiently by 1914. Similar trends were in Austria, Germany or Scotland. The nature of traffic began to change after 1920; public passenger transport gained more importance. After 1945 reconstruction supported the recovery of the agricultural sector. After 1968 many railway lines have been closed by political decision. For 2015 Hungary had 29 separate lines and companies with a total length of 503 km. (24 lines – 224 km are in operation.) The main present function of these “light railways” is green tourism. Only two forestry rail lines deal with freight transport. In Hungary there are some 3800 passengers/day, and 1.3 million passengers annually. [5000 to 380,000 per company.] Currently operation is co-financed by “cross-financing subsidy” of the owner and/or the state. The Hungarian Co-ordination Centre for Transport [“KKK”] ordered a study concerning that topic in 2015. The authors have studied the present situation in the field of regulation, funding and investment. After consultations with local rail companies, development proposals were collected. Finally the authors made some rankings concerning realistic proposals. The main considerations were: a) improvement of narrow gauge railways connected to tourism and to regional development objectives; b) green education for future generations and introducing the Industrial Heritage to families and to “rail fanatic people”; c) promoting public service, enhancing competitiveness; d) better system performance facilitating “intermodal connections”.

• Record URL:
  http://master.grad.hr/cetra/ocs/index.php/cetra4/cetra2016/paper/view/527
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://master.grad.hr/cetra/ocs/index.php/cetra4/cetra2016/schedConf/presentations
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Abstract reprinted with permission of University of Zagreb Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Transportation.
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Zagreb

  Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Transportation
  Kačićeva 26
  Zagreb,   Croatia  1000
• Authors:
  • Orosz, Csaba
  • Bachmann, Dóra
• Conference:
  • 4th International Conference on Road and Rail Infrastructure – CETRA 2016
  • Location: Šibenik , Croatia
  • Date: 2016-5-23 to 2016-5-25
• Publication Date: 2016-5

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 567-572
• Monograph Title: Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Road and Rail Infrastructure – CETRA 2016: Road and Rail Infrastructure IV
• Serial:
  • Proceedings of the International Conference on Road and Rail Infrastructure CETRA
  • Publisher: University of Zagreb
  • ISSN: 1848-9850

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Infrastructure; Narrow gage track; Policy; Railroads; Regional development; Tourism
• Geographic Terms: Hungary
• Subject Areas: Finance; Policy; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01632726
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 27 2017 9:25AM