A wild boar caused an extraordinary disruption to Budapest’s M2 metro line on Saturday after somehow making its way into the Kossuth Lajos Square station and running down an escalator towards the platforms.
The incident brought metro services to a temporary halt between Deák Ferenc Square and Déli railway station, with the BKK deploying 30 replacement buses while the animal was being dealt with.
The unusual visitor was first spotted shortly after 11 AM, when the station’s traffic controller noticed a wild boar walking down an out-of-service escalator towards the platform level.
Wild boar briefly entered a metro train
According to Budapest public transport operator BKK, the station controller immediately alerted the driver of a metro train arriving at the station. The driver asked passengers on the platform to return to the train for their own safety.
The situation then became even more extraordinary: the wild boar briefly entered one of the metro carriages.
No passengers were injured, however. The animal soon left the train and made its way down a service staircase leading to the tracks, where it hid underneath a waiting metro train. The station was immediately evacuated and metro services were suspended in both directions while emergency crews were called to the scene.
A video of the animal inside the station was also recorded and later published online by Szeretlek Magyarország:
The animal was injured and eventually shot
Fire and rescue crews arrived to capture the animal, but officials soon discovered that the approximately 60-kilogramme wild boar was injured, according to the Budapest Transport Company (BKV). A veterinary officer was called to the scene to assess its condition. After considering the available options, authorities decided that the animal had to be shot.
It remains unclear where the wild boar sustained its injuries or how it managed to reach the Kossuth Lajos Square metro station in the first place. Earlier reports claimed that the animal had been hit by a metro train and subsequently shot by police. BKK later clarified that these reports were inaccurate.
According to the transport operator, the animal survived the encounter with the train and was later removed from the tunnel after the train had been moved and the station’s power supply had been switched off.
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Replacement buses deployed across Budapest
The incident temporarily brought traffic on the M2 line to a standstill between Deák Ferenc Square and Déli railway station. The Batthyány Square station was also excluded from the replacement service. BKK deployed 30 buses to provide replacement services while emergency crews dealt with the situation. Services resumed shortly after midday once the operation had been completed.
Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony also reacted to the extraordinary incident on social media.
“Replacement buses had to be deployed on the M2 metro line because of a wild boar. I never thought I would have to write something like this…”
Karácsony added that nobody yet knew how the animal had ended up at the Kossuth Square metro station.
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