Huge changes! Budapest public transport to be upgraded with these developments

Közvágóhíd station-budapest-railway-2020

3D rendering of the station Photo: Nemzeti Infrastruktúra Fejlesztő Zrt.

Magyar Nemzet conducted an interview with CEO of Budapest Development Centre (BKF), Dávid Vitézy about the planned developments to Budapest’s public transportation system. These are the main points.

Interconnecting tram lines in Buda

BKF has been working on interconnecting the tram lines in Buda for a while, which has made many locals’ lives easier and resulted in an unexpectedly high increase in the number of passengers, Vitézy told Magyar Nemzet.

BKF wants to continue this project by involving new routes along Kopaszi-gát, Infopark, and the campuses of BME and ELTE. The new tram lines will also align with the planned South ring railway.

Ring railway

Suburban railways going to Kelenföld get a new station at Nádorkert, which is near Inforpark and Kopaszi-gát. Railways will also stop at Közvágóhíd, where passengers will be able to transfer to the new M5. There will be a new stop at Népliget too, thus people will be able to transfer to M3 there.

Metro line 5 project

With the M5 project, BKF aims to connect suburban railways with the Metro lines of Budapest. Thus, helping people living in the agglomeration around Budapest getting into the capital faster and easier.

If the suburban railway lines were to join the metro lines of the city, travel time would be shortened immensely, and BKF hopes that more people would use the railways to get into the city from the neighbouring towns. The railway lines of Csepel and Ráckeve are currently completely cut from any metro lines, so these will be extended to Kálvin square where people could transfer to Metro lines 3 and 4. Long term goal is to connect the Gödöllő and Csömör HÉV to Metro line 2.

Currently, about 1/3 of people living in the agglomeration use the suburban railway lines. With the help of this project, BKF aims to at least double this number. The suburban railways have been underused for decades.

Vitézy said that a tender has already been launched for the design of M5. The next step is replacing the complete vehicle park of the suburban railways (HÉV) of Szentendre, Csepel, and Ráckeve.

Air-conditioned trains

Vitézy said that it will be compulsory for contractors to equip the trains of the new M5 with air-conditioners, it is specified in the tender because locals really need air-conditioned trains. Unfortunately, trains of Metro line 3 will most likely not be air-conditioned until the summer of 2021, as the tender has not been launched yet.