Széchenyi István University and the Association of Transport Sciences organised the XIV International Conference on Transport Sciences in Győr under the motto “Navigating the path of the future”. Participants were able to listen to 88 presentations and interesting round-table discussions on the current issues of the sector from prominent representatives of the profession and leaders of transport companies. The institution also involved international students, who participated in the scientific sessions in English.

The conference was organised by the Department of Transport of Széchenyi István University to promote Hungarian professional cooperation, to present scientific research and to expand publication opportunities. The institution has been organising the programme since 2011, and since 2014 it has been organised in partnership with the Transport Science Association. Since 2016, the event has become international with English language sessions.

This year's two-day conference was opened by Dr János Kerékgyártó, Deputy State Secretary for Transport at the Ministry of Building and Transport. He said that the event was an excellent opportunity for industry players, transport professionals and representatives of the public administration to review the most important changes. “In the last ten to fifteen years, Hungary has developed roads on a historic scale: 870 kilometres of motorway and more than 1,000 kilometres of expressway network have been built, with 22 cities with county status directly connected by 2025. In 2010, we had three expressway border intersections, and by 2025, this number will be ten,” he said.

Dr. János Kerékgyártó, Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Building and Transport, opened the conference (Photo: Csaba József Májer)

The Deputy State Secretary also referred to infrastructure developments in rail transport and the restructuring of the public transport tariff system, as well as the introduction of national and county fares. He stressed that the increasing number of passengers shows the effectiveness of this: in May alone, nearly 900,000 season tickets were exchanged. "There is also a lot of work on the regulatory side. Last year's amendments to nearly 150 pieces of legislation are bringing them up to date, and a number of areas are currently under review, including the renewal of the road transport regulatory framework," he said. Regarding EU legislation, he mentioned as a priority the framework for green interchanges, which will have a fundamental impact on all road transport.

The conference participants had the opportunity to listen to 88 presentations on transport science (Photo: Csaba József Májer)

Dr János Tóth, co-president of the 75-year-old Transport Science Association, said that they joined the organisation of the event, which was launched by the University, because of its significance, which has developed from a narrow professional forum to an international conference. "Every year we organise the programme to allow participants to present their scientific work. Our Transport Science Review will soon be included in the Open Journal System and we hope to become a Scopus-registered journal within a few years. This will make our scientific results more easily accessible not only at home but also internationally," he stressed.

Dr Balázs Horváth, Head of the Department of Transport at Széchenyi István University welcomed the participants as the host of the event. "From the perspective of global knowledge sharing, it is gratifying that our country has been awarded the hosting of Europe's largest transport conference, the Transport Research Arena 2026. The four-day programme will attract the entire transport sector to Budapest. The preparatory process has been launched under the leadership of the Institute of Transport Sciences, in which our University is also involved," he said. He added that the event will be an excellent opportunity for the institute to showcase its research results and build new contacts. "This is also the aim of the Győr conference, which will feature 88 presentations over the two days. The English language sessions are aimed at foreign partners and international students," summarised the head of the department.

The professional programme started with the opening speech of Gábor Veigl, CEO of Balaton Shipping Company Ltd., followed by a round table discussion on the current issues of the sector (from left to right in the picture), Gábor Kürti, President of the Hungarian Cyclists Club, Dr László Kormányos, deputy CEO of MÁV-Start Ltd., Péter Ákos Kameniczky, Director General of Operations of Volánbusz Zrt., János Kerékgyártó, Deputy State Secretary for Transport Authority Affairs and Gábor Veigl.