Government s plan to reignite industry working, says Orban (adds details)

Budapest, April 18 (MTI) - Government efforts to reignite industry are working well and Hungary s goal of supporting itself from labour and production is viable, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Thursday.

Hungary must become a modern industrial state, and there is no modern industry without railways, Orban said at the opening of a new plant by railway manufacturer Stadler in Szolnok in central Hungary.

The opening of the new plant is proof that there is a future for railways in Hungary, he added.

The opening of plants and factories throughout Hungary shows that after two and a half years of tough battles against indebtedness, economic growth is starting in the country, Orban said.

Owner and chief executive Peter Spuhler Swiss of the Swiss rolling stock maker Stadler Rail Group inaugurated the 4 billion forint (EUR 13.6m) expansion at its Szolnok base. The expansion will raise headcount at the base by at least 200.

Stadler started operating at the base in Szolnok in 2009 and has expanded it on a continual basis. Aluminium car bodies for trams as well as for standard and broad-gauge, single- and bi-level trains are welded together and polished at the base.