📋 Tender Overview
The last month before the winter timetable change brought a mixed result in terms of punctuality statistics. On one hand the investments in track maintenance on the Szekesfehervar Tapolca and Nagykanizsa lines have paid off which is now reflected in a significant improvement in punctuality data. On the other hand the maintenance work on the 100a line - around Cegled - negatively affected the months punctuality: the planned timetable during the work proved to be too tight causing a significant portion of the services to run late.
The net effect is that the punctuality of MAV Groups passenger trains was 76.66% in November. This is 2% lower than the previous month but still 4% better than the punctuality data from last November which overall demonstrates the validity of efforts to eliminate so-called slow signals (railway speed restrictions).
In the improving punctuality of the mentioned Szekesfehervar Tapolca and Nagykanizsa railway lines not only the removal of slow signals - raising the track speed to 160 km/h on the 30a railway line - played a decisive role but also the increasing deployment of high-performance locomotives.
Following the removal of slow signals on the Rakosrendezo and several 71 lines the punctuality of the Veresegyhaz line improved by more than 7%. As expected there was also a slight improvement on the Pecs line as the Mecsek and Somogy ICs are now mostly pulled by high-performance locomotives. The improvement in the punctuality of these lines also positively affects the surrounding lines due to the connection systems.
The proportion of delays over 20 minutes decreased from 6.5% to 4% compared to last November - of course this applies to all of them under the MAV Groups summer delay compensation through which we refund half of the ticket price to our passengers.
In November the elimination of slow signals which caused most delays continued. This has a beneficial long-term effect on punctuality but it can negatively impact punctuality in the short term. The aforementioned track closure on the 100a line caused particularly many delays for passengers in November which particularly affected the busiest IC route in our country the Szeged Napfeny IC. In the future - in similar track closure cases - we will establish looser timetable structures. With the completion of significant works such as the Albertirsa-Cegled track closure and the increase of speed at the Eastern Railway Station further substantial improvements in train punctuality have begun nationwide.
We cannot overlook the sad fact that approximately 15 fatal accidents occurred in the past month partly due to suicidal intent and partly due to mere negligence. Such accidents which cannot be attributed to the railway occur on average every two weeks on the Gyor Miskolc and Szeged railway lines.
The HEV was able to improve by a few hundredths of a percent compared to the 99.65% in November 2024 while the punctuality of buses fell short of previous results. The slight deterioration in regional and long-distance services was primarily caused by increased passenger exchange times at stops while the more than 5 percentage point negative change in Budapest agglomeration services was caused by the malfunction of MAN CNG buses - these are warranty issues that have been resolved by December.
Sales of county and national passes have increased by a further 5-7% compared to the same month last year. The detailed statistics can be accessed here.
