Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) acknowledged that several vehicles leased by Hungarian State Railways (MÁV) had to be sent back to Vienna for cleaning shortly after their arrival, as they had arrived in Hungary defaced with graffiti. While the Hungarian side has not provided any substantive information on the matter, the Austrian railway company confirmed that the affected cars were repaired and then returned to service, reported Magyar Nemzet.
Just a few weeks after the rail cars provided by ÖBB arrived in Hungary amid a major publicity campaign, it turned out that not all of the cars were in proper condition. The Austrian railway company acknowledged that several cars had to be sent back to Vienna for cleaning after they arrived in Hungary covered in significant graffiti damage.
As Világgazdaság confirmed, the story is noteworthy because the Hungarian public received no information about it from either MÁV or the Ministry of Transport. The details of the matter ultimately came to light through a statement from the Austrian side.
Ten InterCity cars arrived from Austria to serve summer passenger traffic. The cars were put into service on the Balaton and Békéscsaba lines and, according to reports, are intended to alleviate capacity issues on the Hungarian rail network.
However, the joy was not entirely unclouded. A video posted on social media clearly showed that the exteriors of several cars were covered in extensive graffiti. Based on the footage, at least two vehicles arrived in Hungary in a condition unworthy of an InterCity train operating on international routes.
The story took a strange turn when the Hungarian railway company failed to provide a substantive response to questions raised about the matter. Instead of informing the public, they merely referred to earlier social media posts, which made no mention whatsoever of the condition of the vandalized cars.
The Austrian railway company, however, confirmed that the vehicles, which had been defaced with graffiti, did indeed have to be returned to Vienna. As ÖBB confirmed, the cars were cleaned at the end of last week and then sent back to Budapest.
This means that some of the vehicles intended to serve Hungarian passengers were not originally in a condition suitable for service.
The case is particularly interesting in light of the fact that ÖBB has repeatedly emphasized that graffiti constitutes vandalism and that it has a zero-tolerance policy toward it. The Austrian railway company has campaigned for years to curb vandalism and has regularly taken action against perpetrators.
Given this, it is difficult to understand why some of the cars sent to Hungary were allowed to remain in service despite having significant exterior damage and paint vandalism.
Via Magyar Nemzet; Featured image: Pixabay
