Budapest to have a Metro line 5 in 10 years?
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Over the past few weeks, there has been more and more talk about a fifth metro line. This high-speed rail line would differ from the former Budapest underground lines in that it would connect the commuter railway lines in the north and south of the city in an under-city tunnel, Pestbuda reports.
In recent days, Dávid Vitézy, the CEO of the Budapest Development Centre, talked about building the first southern section of the fifth metro line to Kálvin Square in 7 to 10 years. It would be a major subway investment for the next EU budget cycle, after the construction of metro line 4 and the renovation of line 3.
As early as in the 1970s, the metro network plans included a fifth metro line, but at that time, the concept of it was different than it is today. Originally, the route of today’s metro line 4 would have been the route of metro line 5, while line 4 would have started from Albertfalva. But in the 1980s, they switched the two plans’ numbers and their date of completion, so in the 1980s, the idea was that line 5 would connect Alberfalva with Pomázi Road, crossing the Danube twice: once at Csepel and once more at Margaret Island. In Pest, they have planned to connect it with Keleti Railway Station.
This line was referred to as the “transverse line” in the plans of the capital city, and its construction was planned after the beginning of the millennium.
Photo: Fortepan; UVATERV
Budapest’s 1988 layout plan reads:
“The so-called transverse line has been included in earlier plans, but it had no real detailed plans yet. The new idea included in the traffic development plan was the line crossing the Danube in Southern Buda and the new southern terminus being Varga Jenő Square (today’s Budafok, Városház Square). […]”
We have some other articles about Budapest’s metro lines. The revamped section of metro line 3 started operating last year, and one of the stations might be named after Hungary’s first president.
However, this would have been a classic subway with features similar to lines 2 and 3, not the underground connection of the commuter railways.
Moreover, in the early 1970s, they thought about a similar underground extension of the Csepel and Ráckeve commuter railways into the city centre, just like the Szentendre commuter railway’s Batthyány Square extension. During the construction of the Kálvin Square metro station, the underpass to Lónyay Street was already designed to connect to the commuter railway terminus over time.
The idea that the fifth metro line should not be a stand-alone underground high-speed railway but a link between the two southern and the Szentendre commuter railway lines was born in the late 1990s and has been included in the Budapest Transport Development Plans since 2009. In November 2018, the government took a decision to prepare the investment and earmarked $13.7 billion for the full planning.
Metro Line 5 will be a “forward thinking” designed addition to the absolute need and necessity of a Major City in the movement of people by Metro/Rail usage. The designs “on the table” will bring together the availability for ALL a quicker and modern up to date need means of Metro/Rail transport illuminating avoiding the changes of transport mode that currently exists when using the H5 – Szentendrei or the H7 – Csepel, that currently exist travelling these lines when wanting to arrive into the central City areas of Budapest. There “marrying up” of existing Metro lines to the Metro 5 is a further absolute need which will add to the transport choice and availability of people movement within Budapest and for those that travel regularly/daily from outer districts that are currently serviced by the H5 or H7 lines.