The two-track link which would cross the river Danube with two bridges would cost 360 billion forints ($1.6 billion), and Hungary aims to finance it mostly from Chinese funds.
For that it needs to persuade the China Development Bank to raise the 1 billion-euro ($1.3 billion) credit line signed last year but it may use European Union funds as well if they cost less.
Extremely long travel times impair east-west freight traffic as all trains must pass through Budapest, where passenger traffic crowds the rail network, the government said.
The government now plans to build a 113-kilometre bypass to resolve this problem, said Peter Szijjarto, Secretary of State in the Prime Minister's Office.
Szijjarto said the project could start in spring 2014 -- just when Hungary will hold elections -- if the Chinese bank is ready to provide the funding. Construction of what would be Hungary's first new railway since 1948 could help the depressed economy. (Reuters)
