Advent light trains, buses, and HÉV trains carry passengers from today! – PHOTOS
Although MÁV, the Hungarian State Railways, is not among the most popular companies in Hungary due to the many delays and cancellations, they still would like to smuggle some fun into the Advent period with their astonishing light trains and buses, bringing joy and laughter into the darkest days of the year. Here is what you should know about the Advent light trains, buses and HÉVs.
Advent light trains start journeys today!
According to their statement on MÁV’s website, they will dress one of their Szili (V43) locomotives in 600-metre-long fairy lights containing 3,500 LED bulbs. The locomotive will travel on almost all main railway lines. Its first route will be on 1 December at 4.50 PM from the Budapest Nyugati railway station to Szeged. It will arrive at the “City of Sunshine” at 7.16 PM. You may read about Szeged’s beautiful Christmas fair, where everything is cheaper than in Budapest except for the mulled wine in THIS article.
The train will travel back to Budapest at 8.44 PM. MÁV promised to update the schedule of the train gradually. Unfortunately, it will not commute on the Győr-Vienna railway line. If you click on “Bővebben” (Details) HERE below the “Fény Szili” subheading and continue by clicking on “A mozdony aktuális menetrendje” (The actual schedule of the locomotive), you may check out where and when the train will carry passengers until 14 December.
Ikarus bus to be dressed in lights
Volánbusz will dress one of their Ikarus 55 buses in decorative lighting. Volánbusz and MÁV were merged this year, which is why MÁV’s website reports about it. The decorated Ikarus will be displayed in Budapest’s Népliget station between 6 and 30 December. Furthermore, it will depart on a sightseeing tour – like in 2023 – multiple times. You may check out its schedule by following the same path described above.
MÁV-HÉV (the suburban railway company carrying passengers to and from Budapest to its agglomeration) will decorate an MVIII HÉV locomotive, a PVX carriage and an LVII locomotive. If you have a ticket or a pass, you may get on for “free.” BKK nostalgia tickets are not valid. All trains will commute on the H5 line to and from Szentendre, a charming Hungarian town north of Budapest near the River Danube. We wrote about it HERE.
Children’s Railway and Narrow Gauge Railway also ready
The Children’s Railway also prepares with uniquely designed decorative lighting, and the train will carry kids, their parents, and grandparents until January.
Below you may read the schedule:
Weekend (30 November, 1, 14, 15 December)
- From Hűvösvölgy: 10:10, 12:10, 14:10, 16:10
- From Széchenyihegy: 11:03, 13:03, 15:03, 17:03
Workdays (3-5, 10-13, 17-20 December)
- From Hűvösvölgy: 9:10, 11:10, 13:10, 15:10
- From Széchenyihegy: 10:03, 12:03, 14:03, 16:03
They wrote they would announce the winter break timetable in mid-December.
Finally, the Narrow Gauge Railway of Balatonfenyves will be dressed in decorative lighting until 6 January to carry passengers to the Nagy-Berek and Csisztafürdő. The route travels through a winter wonderland near Lake Balaton.
The trains are scheduled to leave Balatonfenyves train station at 11.10, 13.10, 15.10, and 17.10 to Csisztafürdő. The travel time is 35 minutes. They will carry passengers back at 11.55, 13.55, 15.55, and 17.55.
We wrote about MÁV’s festive train to Vienna and Zagreb in THIS article.
Read also:
- Budapest’s Advent Bazilika Christmas market has been named the Best Christmas Market of All Time! – PHOTOS and details HERE
- CNN: Hungarian Christmas Fairs in the World’s Top