INTRODUCTION
Positioning of Heves county – European and Hungarian summ ary
Heves county is the part of the European circulation, its eloquent testimony is that road corridor No 5 of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T) passes through the county. The total area of Heves county is 3.637 km², the total population is 297.000. According to the GDP per capita ranking Heves county is the 13th among Hungarian counties.
The site of Heves county may advance a positive image of a potential ’bridge role’ in the planning and acting of both medium and long-term regional development. The county is well provided with nature capital, and it is in possession of close linking points towards Hortobágy and Lake Tisza, which areas already hold good cooperation possibilities of complex rural development and tourism.
Transport, traffic network
Deriving from its site, Heves county does not border with neighbouring countries but its role is important in the field of linear infrastructure systems particularly the public road and railway network, and also the pipeline network of hydrocarbon transport and energy supply on national and international level. Because of the montainous geography of Heves county the main vehicular traffic routes are in the southern part of the county, on the border of the Great Plain. The national and international significance public roads and railway routes passing through the county are also situated in this area.
The length of the public road network in Heves county is 1274 km. The backbone of the public road traffic is M3 highway starting from Budapest, which road is the part of the Helsinki transport corridor. The length of the highway in Heves county is 75 km, which is 53% of the total lengt (140 km) of highways in the Northern-Hungary. The highway does not approach the county capital, Eger City with County Rights joins it by means of main road No 25 The state of pavement of M3 highway is good in the county.
The most important public road link towards Pest county and Borsod-Abaúj- Zemplén county is No 3 rate 1 main road (98 km length), which is essentially parallel with M3 highway. Among the rate 2 main roads No 21 main road, starting in Hatvan leading to Salgótarján is a line with significant traffic. The transformation of No 21 main road into four-lane had been realized on more sections. We rank No 23 main road connecting Kisternye and Tarnalesz, No 25 main road connecting Bánréve, Eger and Kerecsend, No 24 main road connecting Gyöngyös, Parád and Eger, No 31 main road leading from Dormánd to Heves And Jászberény and No 32 main road leading from Dormánd to Poroszló among rate 2 main roads. The total length of rate 1 and 2 main roads in Heves county is 289 km, which is 35% of the total length of main roads in Northern-Hungary region.
Comm unity transport (public road transport, railway)
No 80 Budapest – Hatvan – Miskolc – Sátoraljaújhely railway line is situated in the southern part of the county, it is a double track, electrified main railway line and it is also part of the Helsinki corridor. The railway carriages run at a maximum speed of 120 km/h on this section. The total length of national construction standard-gauge railway lines was 283 km in the county in 2009, from which 270 km of railway line was actuated.
The railway lines between Eger and Putnok (68 km) and between Eger and Füzesabony (17 km) are also significant besides No 80 railway line. These are single-track, partly electrified lines. The freight train traffic is significant on this line.
Besides standard-gauge railway lines there is also narrow-gauge railway line transport int he county (Gyöngyös - Szalajka-ház – ’Szalajka-house’(24 km); Gyöngyös - Mátrafüred (7 km) és Szilvásvárad – Szalajka – Fátyolvízesés – ’Veilwaterfall’ (6 km).
Regarding long distance public transport, diversification is a characteristic feature of the county. Considering public road transport Gyöngyös and Eger are dominant but the center of the railway transport is Füzesabony.
ENERGY SOURCES, MINERAL RESOURCES
The most important mineral materials are lignite, colored ores and limestone in the county. More coal strata formed in Ózd-Egercsehi basin, the thickest of them is the one that formed in Miocene. Oil exploitation was continued in Bükkszék between 1937-1947, the oil-drilling in Demjén was started in 1960.
The oil researches brought several thermal-springs to the surface (Bükkszék, Eger, Demjén), where spas were established. Natural gas field was found in Fedémes. A significant part of copper and colored ore resources is found in Recsk. The exploitation of it is disputed because of the large depth. Coloured ore mining was continued in Gyöngyösoroszi until 1985. Remarkable quantity of building limestone and chemical sand are also found in the county. Aside from the advancement of opencast mining in Visonta, the withdrawal of mining is peculiar nowadays. Mátrai Erőmű Zrt. produces electric power from home lignite. The two opencast mines of the company are found in Visonta and Bükkábrány. The Southern Mine of Visonta extends over the area bordered by Detk, Ludas, Karácsond and Halmajugra. The mine of Bükkábrány extends among Bükkábrány, Vatta and Csincse, 55 km from Visonta.
The researches performed in Károly Róbert College, based on statistical data of 2001 showed that the energy quantity producible from biomass utilizable for energetic purposes can be approximately 6.3 million GJ/year in the county. Regarding solar energy, the southern part of Heves county has the most favourable conditions where the energy value of solar radiation may reach 4400 MJ/ m2 per year. This rate slightly decreases towards north and east, the radiation is only 4300 MJ/m2 per year on the areas with the worst solar conditions.
The geothermal conditions of the county are excellent since the utilization of thermal water for balneologic purposes already takes place in several towns and villages. Its application to heating can also be a perspective since the heating of public institutions in Eger are planned to be solved by geothermal energy, already in the short run.
Considering wind-power, the southern part of the county and the higher montainous areas have good conditions – high wind-dial. The wind-power situation on other parts of the region is not specifically optimal because of the sheltering effect of Mátra and Bükk. According to calculation the total technical wind-power potential of Heves county is 3023MW.
The potential of hydropower is not significant, the largest watercourse in the county is Tisza, the two largest hydroelectric power station is on the near reach of the river. Although there are technical devices (mini hydroelectric power stations) which uses smaller watercourses too.