Rail freight volumes in Hungary have fallen by more than 23% since 2022 — a historic low, according to industry association HUNGRAIL — and the sector is now pressing the Hungarian government to include rail in the freight support package currently being prepared for the autumn.

The figures sharpen the contrast with the wider European market. HUNGRAIL says rail freight performance in Hungary declined 12.5% in 2025, against an average fall of just 1.8% across the EU. The association tabled its demands at an extraordinary meeting between freight industry representatives and the government on 29 September, which brought road and rail freight organisations face to face with Transport & Investment Minister Dávid Vitézy, Economy & Energy Minister István Kapitány and Finance Minister András Kármán.

Vitézy said after the meeting that the government intends to support the sector through "substantive policy measures" and confirmed that longer-term measures are being prepared to preserve the market share of domestic freight operators. Ministries and industry organisations will continue consultations on measures that could be adopted during the autumn.

So far, no rail-specific support has been announced. That gap is the core of HUNGRAIL's complaint. The association is not disputing the case for helping road hauliers, but it argues that support for one mode "must not further worsen the competitive position of another, more sustainable mode."

The shopping list

HUNGRAIL's proposals are specific. The association wants the government to examine extending diesel fuel price compensation — currently framed around road haulage — to rail operators. It also wants action on track access charges and traction energy costs, clarity on the long-term sustainability of single-wagon support, and incentives for combined transport.

The commercial stakes for operators are immediate. HUNGRAIL says intervention is needed on two timescales. Temporary measures are required right away because operators cannot pass much of the current cost increases on to customers under contracts that have already been signed. Margins on existing business are therefore being squeezed directly.

The second deadline is barely a month away. Negotiations over 2027 freight contracts are already under way, and HUNGRAIL wants the market to know by October which medium-term measures will apply. That would allow operators and their customers to build the support framework into next year's commercial and pricing decisions rather than discover it after the deals are done.

"Predictability is itself a competitiveness factor," the association said, calling for the issues raised at the meeting to be converted into "concrete, quantifiable and quickly implementable measures."

Asymmetric risk

For shippers, the concern is structural. If the government's package lands on road haulage alone — through diesel compensation or equivalent relief — the relative cost of moving goods by rail in Hungary shifts further against rail, accelerating modal shift in the wrong direction. Hungarian rail operators, already carrying a 12.5% performance decline, would face a subsidised road competitor on lanes where rail has traditionally held price advantage, particularly on bulk and single-wagon traffic.

For forwarders and logistics companies, the timing question matters as much as the content. Contract talks for 2027 are live now, and pricing decisions made in the coming weeks will embed whatever cost base — subsidised or not — operators can forecast. Ambiguity into late autumn would force conservative pricing on both modes.

The government has signalled that measures will come during the autumn. Whether diesel compensation, track access charges and traction energy costs make it into the final package will determine whether Hungary's rail freight decline bottoms out or extends into a fourth consecutive year.