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Going to Budapest Airport by train – will it ever happen?
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We have been waiting for a long time to finally be able to get to Budapest Airport by train. Unfortunately, it seems like we still have some waiting ahead of us. As it turns out, the question is no longer whether it can be done at all; the delay is more due to the fact that the airport has been privatised and the concession contract is causing problems.
Róbert Homolya, the head of the national railway lines, talked about the project involving the construction of a high-speed railway going to Budapest Airport – reports Airportal. He said that the EU funded the planning and preparation of the project, and that phase has been completed. Although there are no funds as of now to realise the railway and the connecting infrastructure, Homolya is fairly certain the EU would support this second phase of the project as well.
However, it turns out that the biggest concern is no longer whether the construction of a railway line is possible in that area.
Since the airport has been privatised, the concession contract limits the type and amount of work that can be done in and around the airport.
The company operating the airport is going to oversee the area for the next 75 years. Apparently, the company has the right to simply say no to the construction of the railway line and thus prevent it from happening. There is also no concrete date as to when the railway line could be taken into use, although there is about a 4 or 5-year-long lead time that we can expect.
Additional hindering factor
On December 10th, 2018, the Government Administration Office of Budapest withdrew the construction permit of the multi-storey car park planned to be built in front of Terminal 2 of Budapest Airport.
What I don’t understand is to extend the metroline M3 from Köki to Liszt Ferenc. It can be constructed easily and can run along Üllöi út, mainly under tramway 50. It also creates possibilities for the trafic on Üllöi út and Budapest can select where the new metrostions can be build. Ath the shoppingcentre at the end of Üllöi út (where a station must be build) the tube makes a turn towards Liszt Ferenc where passengers can leave or enter the metro and from there it runs along Üllö út and Köki to the center of Budapest. This seems a perfect solution to me or am I wrong?