The first tram in Budapest ran 135 years ago!
Trams are an essential part of Budapest’s landscape and it all started 135 years ago. The first tram was introduced to Budapest in 1887 on the Great Boulevard (Nagykörút). It was a fairly new invention and quite unusual at the time. People were used to horse carriages in the city and rails were only used by giant steam engines. This little electrical machine changed the way we live forever.
Ányos Jedlik created the first electric vehicle 32 years prior, but it was just a small project. The technology still needed decades to be able to carry passengers and also the work of Siemens von Werner. The new machine was first showcased in Berlin where it was first used, but only in the suburbs as leaders at the time were still sceptical about the invention. The first downtown tram line was created a few years later in Budapest.
Budapest’s first tram
As this was a new technology, it did not have the infrastructure anywhere in the city. So, the first test route was made between Nyugati railway station and Király Street. The authorities limited the speed of the vehicle, so the tram sped through the city at the speed of a whopping 10 kilometres per hour. Where the line crossed Andrássy Street, the tram had to be escorted by a mounted policeman. The city’s leadership did not allow the construction of overhead lines, thus, the tram got its power from below.
The green cart, with a built-in fireplace, started its journey on 28 November 1887.
Electricity was generated by two steam-powered locomotives hidden in a barn at Nyugati railway station. The test run was quite successful without major accidents. There was only one time when the tram collided with a milk truck, but at such low speeds, it did not cause much damage. According to Pestbuda.hu, the problems mostly stemmed from the two steam engines generating the electricity.
Finally, the tram was a great success which convinced everyone that it was a viable transportation method. Mór Balázs, the main engineer behind the whole idea founded a new company called Budapest Városi Vasút (Budapest City Railway). As it is visible today, Hungary remained quite fond of these electrical machines, especially Budapest. There are trams operating in Budapest, Debrecen, Miskolc, Szeged and Hódmezővásárhely. Some smaller cities also had tram lines, but they were phased out in the past. Everybody who visits Budapest can see what that one little test route brought to the city.
