The Budapest Castle Hill Funicular or Budavári Sikló is a

funicular railway A funicular ( ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite ends ...

in the city of

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. It links the Adam Clark Square and the Széchenyi Chain Bridge at river level to

Buda Castle Buda Castle (, ), formerly also called the Royal Palace () and the Royal Castle (, ), is the historical castle and palace complex of the King of Hungary, Hungarian kings in Budapest. First completed in 1265, the Baroque architecture, Baroque pa ...

above. The line was opened on March 2, 1870, and has been in municipal ownership since 1920. It was destroyed in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and reopened on June 4, 1986. A feature of the line are the two pedestrian foot bridges which cross above it. These were present when the line opened, were removed in 1900 when the castle's garden was extended, and rebuilt to the original design in 1983.

History

The building of the line started in July 1868, the first test run was on 23 October 1869. The Sikló has operated for the public since 2 March 1870. This funicular rail was the second in Europe, only

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

had a similar transportation system at that time. During the

the cars and the terminals were destroyed by bombs. The remnants of the funicular were then dismantled. Replacement with escalators was considered later. Reconstruction of the funicular was decided in 1965, and several plans were made, but the construction works were delayed. Several museums have moved to the Castle in 1975 and because of this, a midibus service between the two termini (line "V") was launched in 1975. This was in operation until the line was finally reopened in 1986.

Technical parameters

The line has the following technical parameters: *Length: *Height: *

gradient In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar-valued differentiable function f of several variables is the vector field (or vector-valued function) \nabla f whose value at a point p gives the direction and the rate of fastest increase. The g ...

: 31.75° (62%) *Cars: 2 *Capacity: 24 passengers per car *Configuration:

Double track A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most li ...

*Maximum speed: *

Track gauge In rail transport, track gauge is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have Wheelset (rail transport), wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many different track gauges ...

: *Traction: Electricity *Trip time: 1 minute 30 seconds

Operation

The line is operated by the BKV (Mass Transport Company of Budapest), and operates from 07.30 to 22.00 each day. It is subject to special fare.

Gallery

File:Siklo2.jpg , Looking up the line, showing the distinctive foot bridges in June 2005 File:Castle Hill Fun1.jpg , View from the front of the funicular in January 2008 File:Budavári Sikló (Budapest Castle Hill Funicular).jpg, Budavári Sikló is a funicular railway station, at river level, that connects to Buda castle. July 2023

History

Technical parameters

Operation

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading