Major chaos ahead: Budapest’s busy railway station shuts down for weeks!

Hegyi Zsolt, CEO of the MÁV Group, described the upcoming four-week renovation of Budapest’s Keleti Railway Station, starting on Monday, as the largest maintenance investment of the year, in a Facebook post. The project will bring several changes to transport.

A backlog of maintenance work has piled up at the railway station

“In recent decades, most of the backlog has accumulated in maintenance work, even though railway tracks constantly require upkeep and repairs. Without these interventions, they inevitably deteriorate, leading to speed restrictions, longer travel times, more breakdowns, and increased unpredictability,” the CEO wrote in his Saturday post.

He added: “From this year onwards, we are paying much more attention to improving the worst junctions of the railway network. We are not just patching things up but carrying out modern renovations. Just as we did at Rákosrendező at the beginning of summer, from Monday at Keleti railway station we will replace and repair critical infrastructure elements that have so far slowed down traffic.”

Renovation expected to bring more reliable and safer rail transport

According to him, this work is an investment in the future, aiming to ensure faster, more reliable, and safer railway transport. In his post, he asked passengers not to rely on their usual travel routines from Monday but to check for updates before setting off. During the four-week renovation, passenger traffic will be managed through transfer points in Budapest. Information about the changes and alternative travel options can be found on the official website of the MÁV Group.

According to Mávinform, long-distance trains will terminate at other Budapest stations instead of Keleti, namely Nyugati Railway Station, Budapest-Kelenföld, and Kőbánya-Kispest. At these stations, transfers to the metro network will be available. The changes will affect trains running to and from Győr, Pécs, Hatvan–Miskolc, and Újszász–Békéscsaba.

New transfer point at Kőbánya felső

Suburban trains on the Hatvan and Újszász lines will generally run on shorter routes, terminating at Kőbánya felső, where a new transfer point will be established. From Kőbánya felső, the metro network can be reached either via MÁV shuttle buses running every minute during peak hours to Puskás Ferenc Stadium, or by tram line 37, running every 4 minutes via II. János Pál Pápa Square to Blaha Lujza Square.

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