Enthusiast's Guide to Travelling the Railways of Europe

HUNGARY (Magyarország)

General Information

Last update for this page: 29 December 2006.

National Railway System:

	Magyar Államvasutak Részvénytársaság (Hungarian State Railways) (MÁV)
	Györ-Sopron-Ebenfurti Vasút (GySEV)/Raab-Oedenburg-Ebenfurter Eisenbahn (ROeEE) - owned jointly by the Austrian and Hungarian governments with a small minority of other shareholders.

Language: Hungarian.

Currency: Forint.

UIC code: 55 (MÁV), 43 (GySEV/ROeEE), 44 (Helyi Érdekú Vasút, HÉV)

Timetable: The MÁV official timetable Hivatalos Menetrend or simply Menetrend includes all MÁV, GySEV/ROeEE, HÉV and Állami Erdei Vasutak (ÁEV) services, plus shipping services on Lake Balaton and some bus and tram information for Budapest. It is in Hungarian, but with introductory material (including explanation of abbreviations) also in English, French, German and Russian. The timetable is available at ticket offices.

Gauge: Standard. There are three MÁV narrow gauge (760mm) systems: at Balatonfenyves,  Nyíregyháza - Balsai Tisza-part/Dombrád, and Kecskémet - Kiskőrös/Kiskunmajsa. ÁEV lines are narrow gauge. There are two 1520mm (Russian) gauge lines linking Hungary with Ukraine: Záhony - Eperjeske-Rendező - Batyevo (freight only) and Záhony - Chop (out of use, although the interlaced standard gauge tracks remain in use by both passenger and freight).

Electrification: The main line system is 25kV 50Hz. See below for Budapest local lines.

Rule of the road: Right, although there is much reversible working.

Other Railways: (numbers preceding entries refer to timetable numbers)

	250 [Budapest] Batthyány tér - Szentendre
	251 [Budapest] Boráros tér - Csepel
	252 [Budapest] Vágóhid - Ráckeve
	253 [Budapest] Örs vezér tér - Csömör/Gödöllő végállomás

BKV also operate a rack railway and a funicular.

	305 Lenti - Csömödér - Kistolmács (also has extensive branches which only carry forestry traffic)
	307 Szenta - Kaszó
	308 Almamellék - Sasrét §
	310 Pörböly - Gemenc - Bárányfok (also carries forestry traffic)
	311 Mesztegnyő - Felsőkak
	321 Felsőtárkány-Fütőház - Stimeczház
	323 Szilvásvárad: Szalajkavölgy-Lovaspálya - Szalajka-Fátyolvizesés
	324/5 Gyöngyös - Mátrafüred/Lajosháza (weekends only until 28 February/from 31 October 2007, then daily on the Mátrafüred line, but no service in 2007 to Lajosháza due to ongoing track works)
	330 Miskolc-Dorottya Utca - Papírgyár - Lillafüred - Garadna
	331 Miskolc - Papírgyár - Mahóca
	332 Pálháza - Rostalló
	333 Debrecen-Fatelep - Hármashegyalja

Tourist lines: (numbers preceding entries refer to timetable numbers)

	4 Gyermekvasút (Budapest Children's Railway, formerly a pioneer railway): Széchenyi-hegy - Hüvösvölgy (760mm gauge)
	7 Nagycenk Steam Centre (GySEV): Fertöboz - Barátság - Kastély (760mm gauge)
	317 Kismaros - Királyrét (760mm gauge, formerly an ÁEV line)
	318 Szob - Nagybörzsöny (760mm gauge, formerly an ÁEV line), being re-opened in stages
	319 Kemence Muzeum - Feketevölgy
	Debrecen Vidam Park (760mm gauge)
	Pécs Kulturpark (Children's Railway): Állatkert (Zoo) - Dömörkapu (760mm gauge)
	Tiszakecse Gyermekvasút: Sportliget - Tiszapark (760mm gauge)
	Zsuzsi Erdei Vasút: Debrecen-Fatalep - Hámashegyalja (760mm gauge)

Also see ÁEV lines listed in previous section.

Metro: Budapest

Trams: Budapest, Debrecen, Miskolc, Szeged.

Trolleybuses: Budapest, Debrecen, Szeged.

Recent and Future Changes:

At its session on 5 July 2006, the Hungarian parliament committed to a thorough reform of national passenger transport, affecting both MÁV and the bus operator Volán (to the extent that competition between the two will be replaced by an integrated policy). A budget of HUF 50-80 Bn will be available each year for modernisation of the rail network, including network upgrading, development of suburban rail, station reconstruction, passenger coach refurbishment etc and MÁV Cargo will be sold off. As part of this package it was announced that passenger traffic would be withdrawn on 28 lines, totalling 942 km or 12.2% of the network as they apparently account for just 1% of passenger revenues. Officially the traffic will be suspended, but the lines will in practice be put up for closure. The reforms are expected to return savings of HUF 40-50 Bn a year against the Hungarian Railways costs now of HUF 160 Bn per year.

The original intention was for the closures to occur by the December 2006 timetable change, but the well publicised Political disputes contributed towards delays. An official list was then announced on 8 December 2006 of 14 lines where passenger services will be suspended by the end of February 2007 by MÁV. Private operators may still run trains but this is doubtful. They are :-

The 8 December 2006 announcement originally included one extra line, but one day later it was announced this was subject to further review.

The other lines in the list of 28 lines in summer 2006 are still being evaluated and an additional 50 are also being looked at, thus more closures might happen in the next couple of years. The remaining 13 from the 28 are :-

It should be noted that the non-forestry MÁV Narrow gauge systems are not included on either list, but their future must equally be seriously threatened. They are tables 118/119 from Nyiregyháza & 148/149 from Kecskemét KK.

In previous years, although the future of branch and rural lines had been increasingly uncertain over the decade since the Communist political and economic era of central control was replaced by democratic governments, there had been few passenger service closures. Mátramindszent to Mátranovák Homoktereneye (table 83) closed about 1993, the remaining section of table 49, from Lepsény to Mezőhídvég, lost its passenger service officially from 28 May 2000, the section of table 12 from Tatabánya to Felsögalla closed in June 2001 and the limited cross border service from Komárom to Komarno in Slovakia in December 2004.

New scheduled passenger use of freight curves in Budapest is shown in the current timetable, between Budapest-Zugló and Rákosrendezõ [see HU07/2] and Kőbánya felső and Rákos [HU07/9 and HU07/10].

Bus substitution due to a combination of neglected track maintenance, circuitous routes and poorly located stations closed Keszőhidegkút-Gyönk - Tamási (48) and Tamási - Dombóvár (southern part of 49) by 1991; extended to the remainder of 49 (Mezőhídvég – Tamási) by 1995, then Lepsény - Mezőhídvég following storm damage on 22 July 1999, between Pécsvárad - Palotabozsok (central section of 64) from 1 June 1997, followed by the northern section onwards to Bátaszék where trains did not resume after bus substitution in Spring/Summer 2003 due to axle problems on BzMot railbuses. In 2006, there have been two condition of track closures, Nógrádszakál to Ipolytamóc (Part 78) for a few months from 1 July 2006 following flood damage (now resumed but one of the threatened 28 lines) and Sellye and Középrigóc (part 62) which was bus substituted from 8 May 2006.

An unexpected closure at the 2005 December timetable change was the terminal station Budapest Józsefváros, with local services diverted to Keleti and the few long distance services from Kelebia re-routed via curve HU07/2 to Köbánya-Kispest.

Several short curves have also ceased to see passenger use: the Bánréve avoiding curve [now lifted], the Hatvan avoiding curve (Tura - Jászfényszaru, was used only for one year), the Szolnok avoiding curve to the Hatvan line and the Dorog - Tokod link avoiding Esztergom-Kertváros which was used for two years until 1 June 1997 by certain Budapest - Bratislava services to reduce pressure on main lines being upgraded.

After a slow-down, work resumed on several electrification projects with completed routes Felsözsolca - Hidasnémeti - Čaňa (Slovakia) [25 February 1998], Balatonszentgyörgy - Nagykanizsa - Murakeresztúr [27 September 1998], Rákospalota - Vácrátót [January 1999], Gyékényes - Koprivnica (Croatia), Székesfehérvár - Várpalota [26 September 1999 and onwards to Szombathely by the end of September 2000] and Sopron to Szombathely by GySEV after they took over operations in 2002.

Longer term electrification plans have been identified by MÁV as follows: Szerencs – Sátoraljaújhely (80); Püspükladány - Biharkereszles - (Romania) (101); Kőbánya-Kispest - Lajosmizse (142).

The project to electrify at 25kV 50Hz to Deutschkreutz ÖBB, whilst mainly to benefit ÖBB and GySEV, involves MÁV-owned track between Sopron and the Austrian border via Harka, and was completed in the summer of 2000.

The Magyarbóly - Beli Manastir (Croatia) - Osijek cross-border line reopened 3 September 1997. The cross-border link to Slovenia, avoiding transit through Croatia, (Zalalövö - Murska Sobota) was reported to have been completed in December 2000, and was opened officially on 2 March 2001. This route now carries through international services and is being upgraded on the Hungarian side including a new alignment east of Zalalövő opened some time in 2005/06 with further significant cut-offs nearer Zalaegerzeg under construction.

There have been a number of improvements to cross border services with Austria after joining the European Union, for example Wien to Pécs via Sopron, Gyékényes and Dombóvár Alsó and through trains from Szombathely to Graz.

Special notes:

The Hungarian language is not related to any Western European language (it is a distant relative of Finnish and Estonian, however) and many words will be unfamiliar to visitors even those with some knowledge of other languages. Many Hungarians speak German and some speak English.

Railway tickets are issued for specified distances, rather than to particular destinations, which gives a certain flexibility.

Maps: The "Magyarország Vasúti Árufuvarozási Térképe" is a sheet map of the Hungarian railway system at approx 1:465,000, with enlargements of congested areas. It may be obtained more easily through specialist book or map shops, or railway societies, in western Europe than in Hungary. It has been seen on display at the MÁV city centre travel bureau in Budapest. A schematic map including a number of curves without passenger services is folded within the timetable, updated since previous editions to show bus substitutions as dashed lines.

Additional Notes on reading the Timetable

Some translations of timetable notes which may not be obvious from comparison of the foreword explanations:

	-ig - until or to
	-től - from
	kűlőn rendeletre - when advertised
	kőzlekedik - runs
	naponta - daily
	nem kőzlekedik - does not run

Last complete update 29 December 2006.

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