MÁV CEO Refutes Claims of Manipulated Train Delay Data
Amidst concerns over train delay reporting, MÁV's Director General asserts commitment to transparency in operations.
Zsolt Hegyi, Chief Executive Officer of MÁV (Hungarian State Railways), recently addressed allegations regarding the possible manipulation of train delay data.
In a social media post on Saturday, Hegyi dismissed claims that the rail operator had disabled a platform for monitoring train delays, stating, "There is no cosmetics: a delay is a delay, which triggers our compensation policy according to our commitments." He emphasized that there is only one platform for tracking train delays, namely the Vonatinfó online map.
Hegyi's statements appear to be a direct response to concerns raised by David Vitézy, the leader of the Podmaniczky Movement, who claimed in a Facebook post on Monday that Hungarian Minister of Construction and Transport János Lázár instructed MÁV not to display significantly delayed trains in their information system.
Vitézy asserted that late trains were being renumbered and would thus disappear from the public train information system, although this could be tracked through the Electronic Locomotive Operational Information Collection System (EMIG).
In a rebuttal, MÁV labelled Vitézy's claims as false and claimed they were "offensive to railway workers."
The issue of train renumberings has been the subject of further investigation.
Gergely Andó, a railway transport expert and former employee of MÁV-START, explained that it is common for trains to be given new numbers, especially when they change routes or stops.
This occurred on Tuesday when overhead wire issues caused Z30 trains between Székesfehérvár and Budapest to stop at Érd felső instead of Érd alsó.
Following the controversy on Monday, MÁV made efforts to clarify these train number changes through their communication platform, Mávinform.
Concerns heightened when the EMIG system reportedly went offline on Friday, with the notice indicating it was under "development and maintenance." Questions about whether the outage was linked to the renumbering criticisms were subsequently directed to the railway company; however, no response was received.
In response to the growing scrutiny, Hegyi reiterated the functionality of the Vonatinfó online map, asserting that it is continuously available and has not been disabled.
Nonetheless, he did not provide clarity on the ongoing status of the EMIG platform.
Andó indicated that the EMIG system offered visibility into train locations and was utilized in operational management, including real-time data on available train capacity.
He noted that train number changes could also be tracked via EMIG, whereas the Vonatinfó platform does not have this capability.
The unavailability of EMIG, according to Andó, has generated operational management challenges.
In a social media post on Saturday, Hegyi dismissed claims that the rail operator had disabled a platform for monitoring train delays, stating, "There is no cosmetics: a delay is a delay, which triggers our compensation policy according to our commitments." He emphasized that there is only one platform for tracking train delays, namely the Vonatinfó online map.
Hegyi's statements appear to be a direct response to concerns raised by David Vitézy, the leader of the Podmaniczky Movement, who claimed in a Facebook post on Monday that Hungarian Minister of Construction and Transport János Lázár instructed MÁV not to display significantly delayed trains in their information system.
Vitézy asserted that late trains were being renumbered and would thus disappear from the public train information system, although this could be tracked through the Electronic Locomotive Operational Information Collection System (EMIG).
In a rebuttal, MÁV labelled Vitézy's claims as false and claimed they were "offensive to railway workers."
The issue of train renumberings has been the subject of further investigation.
Gergely Andó, a railway transport expert and former employee of MÁV-START, explained that it is common for trains to be given new numbers, especially when they change routes or stops.
This occurred on Tuesday when overhead wire issues caused Z30 trains between Székesfehérvár and Budapest to stop at Érd felső instead of Érd alsó.
Following the controversy on Monday, MÁV made efforts to clarify these train number changes through their communication platform, Mávinform.
Concerns heightened when the EMIG system reportedly went offline on Friday, with the notice indicating it was under "development and maintenance." Questions about whether the outage was linked to the renumbering criticisms were subsequently directed to the railway company; however, no response was received.
In response to the growing scrutiny, Hegyi reiterated the functionality of the Vonatinfó online map, asserting that it is continuously available and has not been disabled.
Nonetheless, he did not provide clarity on the ongoing status of the EMIG platform.
Andó indicated that the EMIG system offered visibility into train locations and was utilized in operational management, including real-time data on available train capacity.
He noted that train number changes could also be tracked via EMIG, whereas the Vonatinfó platform does not have this capability.
The unavailability of EMIG, according to Andó, has generated operational management challenges.
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