A glimpse of the lost rails in Budapest
Once upon a time we moved to where the 14th District ends and the 16th District starts. Upon exploring the area I came across some railway lines that obviously have not been used for many years. This intrigued me, as UK is pretty good in making sure that there are no remnants left of what was before. But here there were not only rails, but also a building that looked very much like a train station pavilion. So with my limited Hungarian I began looking for anything that may tell me what was in this area previously.
Budapest has a quite extensive rail transport network which consists of trams, the metro and to some extent the BHÉV (Budapest Helyiérdekű Vasút, “Budapest Railway of Local Interest”). The metro is a relative newcomer to the city apart from Line 1 that was completed in 1896 and is the oldest underground on the European continent and second oldest in the world after the City & South London Railway.
Nowadays the tram network is no longer what it used to be. Unlike some countries where there are consistent and determined efforts to remove whatever is left of tram networks in order to give more space to cars, to cut funds; the Budapest tram network is being renewed and even extended. So who knows perhaps with the pressure to use clean energy maybe some of the lost rails will be recovered, especially those that have not been removed in their entirety. Some are irretrievably lost and all that remains are maps, postcards and memories.
Rákosszentmihály, a town established in 1902 and officially incorporated into Budapest in 1950, used to have horse-drawn trams that connected Pálffy Square and Nagyicce between 1883 and 1911. The line started at Pálffy Square, and ran along Rakosi road then along József főherceg road (now Pirosrózsa street) and finally terminating at Nagyicce, where one could catch the BHÉV east to Budapest’s Eastern Railway station or west towards Gödöllő.
The first postcard is a view of József főherceg road in 1911. Now the same street is called Pirosrózsa. Looking at the street now, its very hard to imagine that in 1911 it was a main transportation route.
The BHÉV originally ran from Eastern Railway Station (Budapest Keleti pályaudvar) to Gödöllő stopping at Nagyicce, with branches towards the towns of Cinkotá, Kistarcsá, Csömör. However in 1911 BHÉV was extended and a loop was built from Nagyicce to Rákosszentmihály with several stops. Only the Sashalom Square station pavilion has survived to this day.
Unfortunately the horse-drawn tram line was no longer profitable and couldn’t compete with the BHÉV which allowed passengers to travel from Rákosszentmihály to Budapest or Gödöllő without changes. The horse-drawn tram route was modified and it survived until 1913. (See map below for detailed routes of different railways).
In 1913 the expansion of the network didn’t stop and eventually it connected the towns of Rákospalota and Rákosszentmihály to the two main railway stations in Budapest. You were able to travel from Eastern Railway Station via Rákosszentmihály up to Rákospalota on the BHÉV and from Rákospalotá to the Western Railway Station (Budapest-Nyugati pályaudvar) using BURV (Budapest-Újpest-Rákospalotai Villamos Közúti Vasút, “Budapest-Újpest-Rákospalota Electric Railway”). This created the “H” network. This set up survived until 1953.
In 1953 FVV (Fővárosi Villamosvasút, “The Metropolitan Electric Railway”) took over the operations of the Rákospalota and parts of Rákosszentmihály sections of the railways. These were joined up and number 69 tram began operations. The Rákosszentmihály BHÉV loop remained operational until 1970, when the services on this line were suspended. The 69 tram also ceased operations in 1970.
Not much is left where first the BHÉV and then tram 69 ran. The BHÉV rails towards Sashalom remain which have been used to turn trains around. In some places where the trains and later trams ran, you can still see basalt blocks where the rails used to be.
In 1970, Line 2 of the Budapest Metro was completed which ran from South Railway Station (Budapest-Déli pályaudvar) under the Eastern Railway Station and terminating at Örs vezér Square. The new Metro line duplicated the BHÉV route from the Eastern Railway Station so the BHÉV terminus was closed and moved to Örs vezér Square where it is now. The rails leading to the Eastern Railway Station though have partially survived to this day.
There are further changes that can happen and are under possible discussions. The VEKE (Városi és Elővárosi Közlekedési Egyesület, “Urban and Suburban Transit Association” ) presented a plan to unite line 2 with the HÉV from Gödöllő. The plan is outlined here: M2H8.
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