Stadler: Better Than Expected Performance

This year, Stadler Trains Hungary Ltd. celebrates its 15th anniversary. The company’s Country Manager, Zoltán Dunai tells Diplomacy&Trade about the company’s successful one and a half decades in this country since contracting with MÁV Hungarian State Railways to supply FLIRT trains in 2005.

“The past 15 years were very exciting for us, nobody would have believed in 2005 that Stadler was going to be so successful in Hungary. Altogether, we have sold in the Hungarian market 195 rail vehicles, 63 four-car electric FLIRT trains to MÁV, 20 four-car electric FLIRT trains to GYSEV (that operates routes between Hungary and Austria), 40 double-deck KISS multiple units to MÁV, and 8+4 tram-trains that will operate between Szeged and Hódmezővásárhely in southeast Hungary. This is an incredible achievement,” the Country Manager points out. In fact, Stadler did not only become the largest supplier in the history of MÁV Hungarian Railways, but also became an important employer and a strategic partner for Hungary. It built car body and bogies factories in Szolnok, a maintenance center in Pusztaszabolcs, and there are altogether 600 people working for Stadler Trains Hungary.

Shifting to one shift
The Country Manager says the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is different from country to county. “In Hungary, there was a month where we reacted to the pandemic by moving to one shift in our factories from the original two, so that we could adhere to the rule of social distancing and reduce the number of contacts as much as possible. However, in Spain, where the situation was really bad, we needed to close down the whole factory. The rail industry is not like the automotive market, we have a firm order backlog, so the potential impact of shutdowns will only be known later, maybe years later, as – due to the pandemic – investments and procurements are postponed, too. At the moment, we are trying to work as normal, and do everything to keep the strict delivery schedules.”

Company structure
Currently, Stadler has three companies in Hungary. The first one, Stadler Trains Hungary Ltd., which was established in 2005 and acts as the head office of the group in the country, is mainly responsible for sales and communications. “We have the maintenance center of the company for the service of trains in operation in the Hungarian market in Pusztaszabolcs. The production activities of the group are located in Szolnok, where we have a car body manufacturing factory and a revision and production facility for railway bogies. The volume of investment in Hungary in the past 15 years has totaled HUF 30 billion while the consolidated turnover of Stadler companies here in 2019 was HUF 44 billion,” Zoltán Dunai highlights.

Tram trains
This July, Stadler announced it will deliver four additional hybrid tram-train vehicles to the Hungarian Railways. The Hungarian state railway company MÁV-START Co. Ltd. signed a contract with Stadler for the supply of eight bi-mode tram-train vehicles with an option for four additional units in May 2017. This option has now been called by the customer. The new vehicles, which will connect – without transfer – the tram networks of Szeged and Hódmezővásárhely, are the first tram-trains in Hungary. The objective of the project is to provide a high quality public transportation system for passengers commuting every day between the two cities. The bidirectional and bi-mode Citylink vehicles cover tramway applications and full train operations at 100km/h. They are able to operate in electric mode under 600 V DC overhead on the tram networks in both cities, and in diesel mode on the mainline connecting both cities. The new tram-trains have been designed according to the latest safety standards and have a capacity over 200 people.