Sustainable transport is central to Europe’s efforts to cut emissions, reduce congestion and ensure reliable connections for people and businesses. The EU supports infrastructure upgrades, innovation and cross-border cooperation so that mobility becomes safer, cleaner and more inclusive. 

Hungary’s central location makes it a key transport hub, but bottlenecks and capacity constraints, particularly around the capital, Budapest, present an ongoing challenge. Through major investments in modern infrastructure and innovative mobility solutions, including projects managed by CINEA, the EU is helping Hungary move towards a more sustainable transport future. 

Below we explore three EU-supported initiatives that illustrate how ambition is being turned into reality. 

Kelenföld – Százhalombatta – Pusztaszabolcs railway upgrade: removing bottlenecks 

With almost €370 million from the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF Transport), nearly 50 km of double-track railway on the Kelenföld – Százhalombatta – Pusztaszabolcs section has been modernised. The works included full track reconstruction and the deployment of trackside ERTMS (European Rail Traffic Management System). 

As part of the wider Budapest–Kelenföld–Croatian border corridor upgrade, this project removed a major bottleneck along the Mediterranean Core Network Corridor – an EU priority route linking Spain to Hungary and a vital east-west route for freight and passenger traffic. 

This has resulted in increased capacity and supported a shift from road to rail, while contributing to regional and national economic development. The modernised line improves safety, efficiency, reliability and quality of rail services.  

UPPER: strengthening cooperation to modernise public transport 

Public transport is essential for sustainable urban mobility. Backed by €20 million from the Horizon Europe research programme, the UPPER project helps cities and regions make public transport more attractive and user-friendly. Budapest’s public transport authority (BKK) is one of the partners.

Within UPPER, Budapest is enhancing its BudapestGO journey planner with predictive travel planning in direct response to customer requests. This will also generate data to inform the future design of integrated multimodal mobility services. To improve reliability, the city is rethinking public transport prioritisation, including enhanced bus and tram priority lanes and updated traffic-light programmes.

“UPPER is helping cities and regions learn from one another and adopt solutions that can be scaled across Europe. Measures now being tested by BKK can make public transport an even more competitive and attractive option, not only in Budapest but across Europe,” explains Mircea Steriu, UITP, UPPER Coordinator.

STARGATE: greening airport operations in Budapest

Aviation also plays a key role in Europe’s mobility system, and airports are under increasing pressure to reduce emissions and boost operational efficiency. Budapest International Airport participates in the EU-funded STARGATE project – led by Brussels Airport – which tests practical solutions for cleaner and smarter airport operations. The project’s results are shared widely so other airports can benefit from the same approaches.

In Budapest, one of the activities underway is the development of an airport-specific navigation app. It will provide precise route planning for service vehicles and improve situational awareness on aircraft movement areas. Covering the airport’s complex 1,500-hectare layout, the tool will enhance safety for up to 1,000 users and is set to launch in 2026.

“As a ‘fellow airport’, we are drawing inspiration from the digital tools and innovations being tested as part of the STARGATE project. The solutions will allow Budapest Airport to become more competitive and sustainable, supporting our decarbonisation goals,” said Sarolta Katona, Head of Sustainability, Budapest Airport. 

Cleaner, more resilient and better connected 

Together, these projects – from major rail upgrades and smarter public transport to greener, digitally enhanced airport operations – show how EU support is helping Hungary build a transport system that is cleaner, more resilient and better connected for everyone.

Your EU – Your projects: where EU support makes a difference

These examples show how EU programmes managed by CINEA translate European ambitions into concrete results and impact. By combining funding with expert advice and cross-border cooperation, the EU helps innovative projects scale up, deliver benefits for citizens and businesses, and support a more sustainable, resilient Europe. Discover more stories in other countries.

More information about the projects

On 16 December 2025, HaDEA organised an info session on the call AI Continent (DIGITAL-2026-EDIH-AC-09), funded under the Digital Europe Programme.

The session focused on call topics and the application process, and was followed by Q&A sessions.

All presentations and the recording from the session are now available below for your reference.

Presentations:

Digital Transformation Accelerator

Legal validation Financial capacity assessment

Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform

Recording:

Today’s cross-border public health risks call for continued strengthening of the capacities for disease detection, information exchange and joint efforts to strengthen public health preparedness and response within the EU. 

The European Commission designates and funds EU Reference Laboratories (EURLs) in public health to support national reference laboratories in improving diagnostics, testing methods and surveillance of serious cross-border health threats. The purpose is to facilitate data comparability and promote good practice and alignment on diagnostic testing methods and uniformity of disease surveillance, notification and disease reporting across EU countries.  

To strengthen EU-wide health threat preparedness and response, the European Commission has recently established three new EURLs for public health, specialising on:  

• Food- and water-borne viruses (e.g. Hepatitis A and E);
• Food- and waterborne bacteria (e.g. Salmonella spp., Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Campylobacter spp., Shigella spp);
• Food-, water- and vector-borne helminths and protozoa (e.g. Echinococcus spp., Toxoplasma gondii, Trichinella spp., and Plasmodium spp).  

EURL on food- and water-borne viruses (EURL-PH-FWDV) 

The EU population is largely susceptible to hepatitis A virus (HAV) and there is a constant risk of hepatitis A virus (HAV) being introduced in the EU from countries where this virus is much more common. HAV cases must be reported to public authorities. While diagnostics and typing of HAV are well established, there are areas for improvement, for instance, in the techniques used to identify the different HAV strands (“HAV typing methods”).  

On the other hand, hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the most common cause of acute hepatitis in the EU. However, the infection often remains undetected since testing methods are not sufficiently standardised. Another issue is under-reporting of HEV and inconsistent HEV data sharing. This prevents timely detection and effective response to HEV outbreaks across the EU. Therefore, this novel EURL-PH-FWDV tool will:  

• Improve diagnostic techniques and capabilities of EU countries’ laboratories, for example, through training, workshops, scientific advice, use of standardised protocols, quality assessment schemes for hepatitis A and E viruses and collaboration;
• Provide robust reference diagnostics including molecular typing, i.e. analyses of the genetic material of pathogens to identify differences and classify them into specific strains or types;
• Serve as a ‘central hub’ to the disease network on HAV and HEV reference diagnostics, technical support and standardised protocols and data sharing and analysis, e.g. by gathering and integrating genome sequencing data for hepatitis A and E. This boosts HAV and HEV surveillance and outbreak detection across the Union. 

EURL-PH-FWDV also provides the European Centre for Disease Control services on outbreak investigation, risk assessments and bioinformatics pipelines for genomic data analysis, all contributing to improved public health response and data management. 

EURL for food- and waterborne bacteria (EURL-PH-FWDB) 

Over 200 diseases are caused by eating food contaminated with bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances, according to the World Health Organisation. Moreover, contaminated water and poor sanitation expose individuals to preventable health risks. This growing public health challenge causes considerable strains on healthcare and contributes significantly to the global burden of disease and mortality.   

Supporting laboratories in the food- and waterborne disease network, the new EURL focused on bacteria will:  

• Enhance diagnostic accuracy and consistency;
• Strengthen collaboration between network laboratories to enhance knowledge sharing, standardise testing and improve surveillance and outbreak response;
• Align laboratories with international standards by providing training and technical support, while fostering global collaboration through a One Health approach to address zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and climate-related health risks.  

Focusing on parasitic pathogens, the EURL for food-, water- and vector-borne helminths and protozoa (EURL-PH-HP) will:  

• Develop and validate diagnostic methods;
• Establish harmonised and uniform testing for helminths (Echinococcus spp and Trichinella spp) and protozoa (Toxoplasma spp and Plasmodium spp) that cause disease in humans;
• Support existing networks on diagnostics, testing methods and use of tests, allowing for uniform disease surveillance, notification and reporting across the EU.  

Background   

EU4Health is the fourth and largest of the EU health programmes. The EU4Health programme goes beyond an ambitious response to the COVID-19 crisis to address the resilience of European healthcare systems. The programme provides funding to national authorities, health organisations and other bodies through grants and public procurement, contributing to a healthier Europe. HaDEA manages the vast majority of the total EU4Health budget and implements the programme by managing calls for proposals and calls for tenders from 2021 to 2027.