Budapest’s new funicular to connect Buda Castle and Citadel?
Budapest’s new funicular will be constructed between Tabán and Gellért Hill. Furthermore, Gellért Hill’s public park will also be renovated.
Based on the decision of the Hungarian government, the construction of the funicular is necessary because it provides environmentally friendly and barrier-free transport as well as replaces tourist bus traffic. Before the epidemic, traffic during the peak tourist season was so busy that almost 200 buses ‘climbed’ the Gellért Hill on a daily basis, causing constant noise and air pollution in the area.
According to the plans, the travel time will be 2-3 minutes, during which passengers can reach the Citadel, the Statue of Liberty, and the Museum of the Hungarian Freedom Fighters planned in the Citadel. In the case of successful realisation, tourist buses to Gellért Hill will be completely eliminated.
According to PestBuda, the funicular would start on the surface from Döbrentei Square (in front of the Rác Bath), and then it would continue in a tunnel in the lower part of the hill and only rise to the surface later. The tunnel section would make up about one-third of the funicular’s path. The upper terminal would be near the Citadel.
As Hungarian news portal Index reports, the construction of the funicular is being prepared by the Municipality of Budapest in cooperation with the Budapest Development Centre from EUR 4.2 million (~HUF 1.5 billion). Within the framework of the funicular’s project, Gellért Hill and the Castle Hill may be connected.
Furthermore, Gellért Hill’s public park is also planned to be renovated and developed into a leisure park.
The professional concept of the investment and operation, along with the feasibility study, must be prepared by 30 June 2021, within one year. During the elaboration of the professional concept, the transport connection of Gellért Hill and the Castle Hill must be examined, and calculations must be made in order to see whether profit from the operation of the funicular can cover the maintenance of Gellért Hill’s public park in the future.
According to Dávid Vitézy – CEO of the Budapest Development Centre -, the funicular to Gellért Hill has been on the urban development plans for more than a century, but so far, all attempts have failed. As he said: “Now both the Capital and the Government agree that the time has come to build the funicular and reconstruct the public park of Gellért Hill”.
Read alsoNew Gellért Hill funicular to be built in Budapest
Source: pestbuda.hu; index.hu
and the metro to the airport?
and the metro to Budaörs?
and the metro to Zugló?
Anonymous: After the Government reneged upon its promise to the EU regrading the construction of Metro line 4, I don’t think the EU will be willing to co-finance any more Metro developments here for a while. The deal was that in exchange for EU co-funding, Budapest would introduce a congestion charge to encourage people to use public transport rather than cars when possible. All these years later, that part of the contract has not been met. Meanwhile the EU reviewed the construction costs of the M4 and found found that the books were cooked and the whole process was riddled with fraud. Once bitten twice shy for the EU?