The ongoing drought is diminishing capacity in the inland waterway shipping sector. Water levels in Europe’s rivers are low. As a result, the loading capacity of barges has become much smaller. Rail freight, despite taking place on land, is not left unscathed by the drought either. Hungary has suspended evening traffic.
The suspension enters into force today, Monday 3 August. No freight trains will run on the Hungarian network, with the exception of “essential” trains, between 17:00 and 22:00.
Hungary’s barring of evening freight trains is a measure aimed at curbing national energy consumption. It should save between 70 to 90 MW daily, according to transport minister Dávid Vitézy.
Budapest is looking for ways to reduce energy consumption following the shutdown of the country’s only nuclear power plant at Paks. It usually produces around 40% of Hungary’s electricity, but could not continue operating with the low water levels in the Danube. The power plant uses that water for cooling.
Vitézy did not say when Hungary might allow freight trains to run during the evening hours again. It is also unclear when the Paks power plant could reasonably restart.
Delays and transit times
Already on Friday 31 July, the national rail operator MÁV announced restrictive electricity measures. For example, MÁV decided to limit the electricity consumption of locomotives between 17:00 and 23:00 to “75% of the nominal value”.
Rail freight operator METRANS told its customers that they should expect delays to train services and longer transit times. “Train operations will be planned according to the available capacity of the MÁV railway infrastructure, with every effort made to minimise the impact of these restrictions on overall transit times”, the company stated.
Impact beyond rail
The energy emergency in Hungary has not only impacted rail freight operations. The government has mandated public administration employees to work from home and requested the same from the private sector. The entire country has been asked to implement energy saving measures.
“In the coming period, it is particularly important that all large domestic consumers ensure that their electricity consumption is kept as low as possible, especially in the late afternoon and evening hours”, stated transport minister Vitézy. “But in the current situation, we are not only counting on them, but on everyone who can reduce their electricity consumption even a little, whether at work or at home.”
Hungary implemented a similar measure in January, added the transport minister. At the time, heavy snowfall pushed Budapest to reduce operations to protect rail switches against clogging by snow.