A new metro line to be built in Budapest – Here are the details

Vg.hu reports that the permission for the construction of a new metro line to Rákosmente is being prepared, and if everything goes well and all the documents needed for the construction permit are collected by 2019, the construction can start after 2020.

The plans for the construction of a new metro line to Rákosmente were already prepared by November 2017, reports Levente Riz, mayor of the district. In connection with the development, architects came up with 4 alternatives. In three of them, the metro line would branch at the Rákos stream and would reach the 17th district along the Rákos-Hatvan railway.

As far as the 4th version is concerned, however, the metro line would turn right at Sárga Rózsa Street in the 16th district and run all the way above the ground. In this case, it would reach the 17th district at Akadémiaújtelep and eventually reach the centre of Rákoskeresztúr. Based on the previous estimation, the cost of the construction is going to be approximately 123-127 billion forints (410 million euros).

From Rákoskeresztúr, it takes 47 minutes to reach the Déli Railway Station that can be reduced to 32 minutes with the construction of the new metro line. Furthermore, instead of taking the 22-minute journey to the Örs vezér Square, the new construction makes it also possible to reach the station within 13 minutes.

The necessary documents and permission are expected to be granted by 2019; therefore, if everything goes well, the construction could start after 2020. It is still not known who the contractor is going to be, but hopefully not the Russians, as Index.hu reports, because even metro line M1 operates better than the newly-renovated carriages on metro line M3.

/Photo: Daily News Hungary/

Index cites a survey of BKV concerning the problems of the metro lines, recorded between 20 March and 30 October in 2017. According to that, the Alstom carriages operating on metro line M2 and M4 are responsible for 23% of the problems, the wagons of metro line M1 for 21%, while the Russian carriages on metro line M3 for 55% of the breakdowns.

According to the statistics, the error rate of the Russian carriages has been far higher than that of the other wagons, no matter whether they were old or new Russian carriages.

Featured image: Daily News Hungary

Source: index.hu; vg.hu