János Lazar announced the replacement of MÁV CEO at his press conference on Friday. The dismissed Zoltan Pavry commented on the announcement by the Minister of Construction and Transport on LinkedIn, in which he stated that he would be replaced by Zsolt Hegyi, the former deputy general manager, as of September 1.
My mission ends with preparing for the restructuring of the company group.
– Bavari wrote in the post, then wished his successor much success and thanked Janos Lazar for the trust and appreciation, and also mentioned the dedicated work of the railway workers.
“I thank the Minister for the trust and cooperation so far and for the words of appreciation he said about me at the press conference. I especially thank my 53,000 colleagues, with whom we have been able to implement and achieve a decade of change in the past two and a half years.”
Zoltan Pavri finally referred to his speech on the Railway Day: “The glass is half full! Full of the results we have achieved despite the challenges. Thanks to the knowledge, talent and performance of our colleagues, we have been and continue to be able to do this again and again – thanks to the community of railway and bus drivers. Thank you for letting me be one of you.”
New system and new management
At Janos Lazar's press conference on Friday, in addition to replacing the CEO, he also announced a five-point transport action plan, according to which:
- Submitting a new passenger transport law to Parliament, where the right to transport will be declared a citizen’s right;
- A new railway construction programme has been announced: the government will build 500 kilometres of railway in four years from 2025, for which it will apply for a €1 billion loan;
- They will obtain new vehicles, either by purchasing from foreigners or by manufacturing their own vehicles;
- It will increase passenger comfort. The passenger information system will be launched from 2025, and railway stations in major cities such as Debrecen, Győr and Siófok will be renovated;
- MÁV and its subsidiaries are being reorganized. MÁV will operate with three subsidiaries, whose tasks will be to transport passengers, operate the route and serve the two former companies.
Janos Lazar's announcements have been criticized from several quarters. For example, David Vitezzi, former State Secretary for Transport and former candidate for LMP mayor, believes: “János Lazar, as the most unsuccessful transport minister of the past decades, should resign and not be replaced by others.” The politician believes that the Minister of Construction and Transport “has done so much damage with his ministerial decisions that he is lower than the transport ministers of the communist decades.”
(Cover photo: Zoltán Pafféri is the President and CEO of the MÁV-Volán Group on April 28, 2023. Photo: Tamás Vasvári/MTI)
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