Transport and Infrastructure The Hungarian transportation infrastructure is currently undergoing major governmentsupported reconstruction to extend the construction of four-lane highways, which currently only cover a part of the country. The state-run domestic railway system is widely used for industrial shipping due to its low cost and high reliability. Hungary's major airport, Ferihegy, is located in Budapest. The airport currently operates on two modern terminals. Budapest is serviced by numerous major international airlines, with strong growth in the charter air service market to closer destinations in the region. Regular domestic air service was reestablished in the summer of 2000, connecting the capital of Budapest with Miskolc, a major industrial city in Eastern Hungary, in order to assist the further development of this part of Hungary. Larger cities that maintain airports for private aircraft and development plans are close to the implementation phase for transforming several former Soviet military air bases into domestic passenger and cargo airfields. Hungary now has a highly developed telecommunications system and the choice of 450, 900, or 1,800 MHz mobile service with 100 percent physical coverage. To comply with EU accession requirements, the Hungarian government passed a telecommunications liberalization law in 2001, which went into force in January 2002. The law opened the local and international fixed-line market to competition (the mobile market was already open). However, MATAV, the national telephone company, still holds the major share of the international calling and local service market. There are about 50 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Hungary. The reason why a lot of investors choose Hungary as their location is that the country is in a central position geographically, it is a good connection to the east and to the west. Hungary is also an integral part of the European rail network and can be reached by international express trains from neighbouring and numerous other European countries. The central airport is in Budapest, but there are two more international regional airports in Hungary, namely in Debrecen and Győr. Further regional airports will open for international purpose in the Western part of the country.
Roads
In its preparation for EU accession, Hungary has invested heavily over the last few years to upgrade and extend its motorway network and road infrastructure. The Hungarian transportation infrastructure is currently undergoing major government-supported reconstruction to extend the construction of four-lane highways, which currently only cover a part of the country. Good roads lead to Hungary from neighbouring countries. Seven of Hungary's eight major highways start from Budapest and all link up with the European road network.The road network in Hungary is good and needs less improvement work than other countries in the region. The improvement of the motorway network and four lane motorways linking all the major cities in Hungary will result in drive times decreasing by approximately 40% on the main inter-city routes. All Hungarian municipalities are accessible via hard surface roads. Motorways are marked ’M', international roads are marked ’E'. Seven of the eight main roads start from Budapest (designated by single digit numbers, running clockwise from the Vienna motorway M1). The No. 8 road starts from
Székesfehérvár in the direction of Rábafüzes. Secondary roads are marked by two or more digit numbers. Motorways: M1 Budapest - Hegyeshalom M15 Hegyeshalom - Rajka (semi-motorway, construction of additional sections underway) M3 Budapest - Gyöngyös – Füzesabony- Polgár (connection to Slovakia, construction of additional section underway) M5 Budapest - Kiskunfélegyháza (construction of additional sections towards Szeged and the southern border of Hungary underway) M7 Budapest - Zamárdi Distances between capital cities and Budapest, by road: Athens: 1570 km Vienna: 250 km Belgrade: 400 km Berlin: 910 km Brussels: 1370 km The Hague: 1525 km Helsinki: 2360 km Kiev: 1155 km Copenhagen: 1290 km Lisbon: 3240 km Ljubljana: 432 km London: 1760 km Luxembourg: 1200 km Madrid: 2620 km Moscow: 1980 km Paris: 1460 km Prague: 570 km Riga: 1398 km Rome: 1250 km Stockholm: 1920 km Sofia: 790 km Warsaw: 680 km Zagreb: 342 km
Rail
The Hungarian state-run domestic railway system is widely used for industrial shipping due to its low cost and high reliability. There are direct railway connections between Budapest and the capital cities of 16 European countries. Budapest is the hub of the Hungarian railway network. Domestic Intercity and Express trains depart from Budapest towards the larger provincial towns of Hungary. Towns accessible by Intercity trains and the duration of the trip: Békéscsaba 2 hours 40 minutes
Debrecen Dombóvár Eger Győr Hajdúszoboszló Kaposvár Kecskemét Keszthely Miskolc Nagykanizsa Nyíregyháza Pécs Siófok Sopron Szeged Székesfehérvár Szolnok Szombathely Tatabánya Veszprém Zalaegerszeg
2 hours 21 minutes 1 hour 56 minutes 1 hour 30 minutes 1 hour 25 minutes 2 hours 08 minutes 2 hours 30 minutes 1 hour 14 minutes 2 hours 40 minutes 1 hour 55 minutes 2 hours 58 minutes 2 hours 56 minutes 2 hours 45 minutes 1 hour 33 minutes 2 hours 25 minutes 2 hours 17 minutes 1 hour 1 hour 30 minutes 2 hours 42 minutes 55 minutes 1 hour 30 minutes 3 hours 25 minutes
Water
Hungary is landlocked but has access to the Black Sea and the North Sea via the Danube. Ports are located in Budapest and Dunaújváros. The opening of the Danube-Rhine-Main channel in 1992 made possible the performance of export-import traffic with the countries along the Rhine and the maritime ports in the north too. In the end of the 1990s Freeport Budapest followed the direction of the European economy and transformed into a logistical collecting and distributing centre.
Air
A total of 19 airline companies operate services from 48 cities in 32 countries to Budapest. MALÉV (Magyar Légiforgalmi Rt.), the Hungarian airline company, has regular flights to over 40 countries world-wide ensuring that one may travel to or from Budapest from or to any point in the world. Ferihegyi Repülőtér (Ferihegy Airport), the international airport in Budapest has three terminals. Flights of foreign airline companies depart from and arrive at Ferihegy 2B while those of MALÉV arrive at and depart from Ferihegy 2A. Larger cities maintain airports for private aircraft and development plans are close to the implementation phase for transforming several former Soviet military air bases into domestic passenger and cargo airfields.
Flying times to Budapest
Amsterdam Berlin Brussels Frankfurt London Madrid Milan Paris Hong Kong New York Tokyo 2 hrs 10 mins 1 hr 30 mins 2 hrs 5 mins 1 hr 40 mins 2 hrs 35 mins 4 hrs 30 mins 1 hrs 50 mins 2 hrs 15 mins 15 hrs 35 mins 9hrs 55 mins 19 hrs 35 mins
Telecommunications
The Hungarian telephone network has been drastically improved over the last 10 years. To comply with EU accession requirements, the Hungarian government passed a telecommunications liberalization law in 2001, which went into force in January 2002. The law opened the local and international land-line market to competition (the mobile market was already open). The biggest provider, the former state monopoly of the Hungarian telecom company MATÁV is fully privatised and now is majority owned by Deutsche Telecom. Presently, 85% of land lines have a digital service and 80% of the population have mobile phones, shared between the three existing networks. There are 30 internet providers covering Hungary and more than one million regular internet users.