Budapest to have a Metro line 5 in 10 years?

Over the past few weeks, there has been more and more talk about a fifth metro line. This high-speed rail line would differ from the former Budapest underground lines in that it would connect the commuter railway lines in the north and south of the city in an under-city tunnel, Pestbuda reports.

In recent days, Dávid Vitézy, the CEO of the Budapest Development Centre, talked about building the first southern section of the fifth metro line to Kálvin Square in 7 to 10 years. It would be a major subway investment for the next EU budget cycle, after the construction of metro line 4 and the renovation of line 3.

As early as in the 1970s, the metro network plans included a fifth metro line, but at that time, the concept of it was different than it is today. Originally, the route of today’s metro line 4 would have been the route of metro line 5, while line 4 would have started from Albertfalva. But in the 1980s, they switched the two plans’ numbers and their date of completion, so in the 1980s, the idea was that line 5 would connect Alberfalva with Pomázi Road, crossing the Danube twice: once at Csepel and once more at Margaret Island. In Pest, they have planned to connect it with Keleti Railway Station.

This line was referred to as the “transverse line” in the plans of the capital city, and its construction was planned after the beginning of the millennium.

Budapest’s 1988 layout plan reads:

“The so-called transverse line has been included in earlier plans, but it had no real detailed plans yet. The new idea included in the traffic development plan was the line crossing the Danube in Southern Buda and the new southern terminus being Varga Jenő Square (today’s Budafok, Városház Square). […]”

We have some other articles about Budapest’s metro lines. The revamped section of metro line 3 started operating last year, and one of the stations might be named after Hungary’s first president.

However, this would have been a classic subway with features similar to lines 2 and 3, not the underground connection of the commuter railways.

Moreover, in the early 1970s, they thought about a similar underground extension of the Csepel and Ráckeve commuter railways into the city centre, just like the Szentendre commuter railway’s Batthyány Square extension. During the construction of the Kálvin Square metro station, the underpass to Lónyay Street was already designed to connect to the commuter railway terminus over time.

The idea that the fifth metro line should not be a stand-alone underground high-speed railway but a link between the two southern and the Szentendre commuter railway lines was born in the late 1990s and has been included in the Budapest Transport Development Plans since 2009. In November 2018, the government took a decision to prepare the investment and earmarked $13.7 billion for the full planning.

But what would this subway look like? By connecting the commuter railway lines, a single and coherent high-speed railway would be created from Ráckeve to Szentendre, which would allow people to travel through the whole line without the need to dismount and find a connecting line. In addition, some suburban rail services will also be able to pass through the tunnel from the Hungarian State Railway lines so that in the south, there will be a direct connection of the Kunszentmiklós-Tass line, and in the north, a direct connection of the Esztergom railway line to the capital’s centre.

This solution, tried and tested in many large cities, is a crossover between a high-speed railway and high-speed tram line. Metro line 5 will use today’s commuter railway lanes on surface sections but will run in an underground tunnel below the city centre, just like other subways.

In the first phase, the existing sections of the Ráckeve (H6) and Csepel (H7) lines will be completely renovated and extended northwards. The two lines will descend below the surface at Közvágóhíd, then continue along Boráros Square to Kálvin Square. This temporary terminus would already give people living in the southern districts of Pest access to metro line 3 and 4. Along with this, the Szentendre (H5) commuter railway is being upgraded to the same technical standards.

With the second phase, metro line 5 would be completed, tunnelling underneath downtown Pest. This will connect Kálvin Square with Óbuda, touching Astoria, Oktogon, and Nyugati Railway Station and Kolosy Square as well.

It is evident how many of the current transport problems would be solved by the ambitious plan, as it would connect Szentendre, Csepel, as well as the southern districts of Pest and Csepel Island to the Budapest public transport backbone network with just a single line needing to be built. The planned line crosses all older metro lines and major tram lines, not to mention the possibility of railway links.

Of course, this requires replacing obsolete vehicles with ones that can be used both on today’s commuter railway lines, underground, and even on railway lines.

In any case, the government and the Budapest Development Centre would like to utilise EU funds for the implementation. The realisation of the project could start around 2023.