At the end of December 2021, the Hungarian government approved the Budapest Railway Hub Strategy, which determines the development of the railway network of the capital and its agglomeration until 2040.

Budapest Railway Hub Development Strategy Approved

It is reported by the railway magazine Railway Supply with reference to Railway Pro.

10 billion euros is the total cost of the investment, a third of which is already available until 2029. The strategy contains an indicative list of investments that cover the development of freight rail infrastructure, as well as the currently closed HÉV commuter network, the further replacement and expansion of rolling stock and rail services, with a focus on the digitalization of operations.

The strategy covers four main areas that will significantly modernize the railway transport system of the capital and its environs:

  • at least four trains per hour departing from each station in the metropolitan area towards Budapest;
  • the city must be connected to at least three metro lines directly from all railway lines in the agglomeration;
  • projects to double MÁV ridership in the suburbs;
  • all passenger transportation will be carried out on a single travel/ticket within the entire region.

The Budapest railway junction includes the railway network in and around the Hungarian capital, which is the bottleneck of the national railway network.

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The network of urban agglomerations should be expanded mainly within Budapest and in the inner circle around the Hungarian capital in order to increase the capacity and service level for suburban rail traffic, as well as provide sufficient capacity for long-distance trains, as well as for freight trains.

In the short term, the Southern Ring project, which expands the capacity of the only major railway crossing across the Danube, now in Budapest, will increase the capacity of three lines of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) and provide additional capacity for suburban trains.

The €950 million construction contract came into effect in December 2021, and once certain design tasks have been completed, construction will start in 2023 and run until 2027.

The strategy was commissioned by the BFK, the Budapest Development Agency, in close cooperation with the Ministry of Innovation and Technology (ITM), the Hungarian Railways MÁV, the National Infrastructure Company (NIF) with the support of the Municipality of Budapest.

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