RM International, a company owned by Lorinc Meszaros, is part of the consortium that won the HUF750bn (€2.3bn) tender for the upgrade of the railway line connecting Budapest and Belgrade, local media learned on April 26.

Hungarian Foreign Affairs Minister Peter Szijjarto announced on Thursday in Beijing that a Chinese-Hungarian consortium has been awarded the tender for the reconstruction of the Hungarian section of the railway line, however, he did not provide details about the companies.

The Chinese firms in the consortium include China Tiejiuju Engineering & Construction Ltd., China Railway Electrification Engineering Group.

Independent news site Index learned that their Hungarian partner is RM International, a newly founded company owned by Hungary’s most powerful oligarch. 

Meszaros has become Hungary's richest man in just a few years thanks to his friendship with Orban. The former mayor of Felcsut, Orban's home village, used to work as a gas fitter before rising to the elite of the ruling party Fidesz. Meszaros owns hundreds of companies and has stakes in strategic sectors such as the media, energy, and banking.

The stock of orders of R-Kord, the company which owns RM International, is also controlled by Meszaros. It specialises in the construction, maintenance, design and licensing of railway lines.

The company has won a streak of public procurement tenders, including one of the largest railway reconstruction projects in the south of Lake Balaton area, valued at HUF73bn.

Hungary is planning to spend HUF1.5 trillion on railway development by 2022, financed mostly from EU funds. R-Kord's declared goal is to participate in cross-border rail development projects in the Central and Eastern European region.

The reconstruction of the 152 km line of the Hungarian section of the Budapest-Belgrade line for HUF750bn will be the largest railway development programme on record in Hungary. Construction could start next year and take five years to complete, Szijjarto said. 85% of the project is financed by loans from China’s Exim Bank.

Reaching the centre of Europe is fastest via the Budapest-Belgrade railway line, Hungary's top diplomat told state media on Sunday.

The planned 350 km high-speed Chinese-funded railway connecting the Hungarian and Serbian capitals has the potential to become the main transport route for Chinese and Asian goods that arrive by sea at the Chinese-owned Greek port of Piraeus and head into Europe.

The railway is considered a flagship project of China's Belt and Road Initiative. The government says it is favourable as it will create extra customs revenue but critics say the investment will never recoup its costs.