The North-south regional rapid railway is a railway construction plan in

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 ...

, modelled on the Paris RER or German

S-Bahn The S-Bahn ( , ), , is a hybrid urban rail, urban–suburban rail system serving a metropolitan region predominantly in German language, German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit syst ...

systems. Its aim is to connect three of the Budapest Helyiérdekű Vasút (BHÉV) suburban train lines, from

Szentendre Szentendre, also known as Saint Andrew is a riverside town in Pest County, Hungary, between the capital city Budapest and Pilis Mountains, Pilis-Visegrád Mountains. The town is known for its museums (most notably the :hu: Szentendrei Szabadtéri ...

Ráckeve Ráckeve ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српски Ковин, Srpski Kovin) is a town on Csepel Island in the county of , Hungary. Its residents are mainly Hungarians, Magyars, with a minority of Serbs. The Serbian Kovin Monastery, the oldest in Hungary and ...

and

Csepel Csepel (), officially known as the 21st District of Budapest ( Hungarian: ''Budapest XXI. kerülete'') is a district and a neighbourhood in Budapest, Hungary. Csepel officially became part of Budapest on 1 January 1950. Name The village and ...

. The plan is also called Metro 5.

History

In the '90s, the growth of the suburbs was not accompanied by public transportation. Population growth was especially strong in Buda and in Csepel island region, but the HÉV lines end at the boundaries of the downtown area, where passengers have to change to go into the city. Hence the idea was born to connect the HÉV lines underground.

Lord Mayor Lord mayor is a title of a mayor of what is usually a major city in a Commonwealth realm, with special recognition bestowed by the sovereign. However, the title or an equivalent is present in other countries, including forms such as "high mayor". A ...

Gábor Demszky Gábor Demszky (, born 4 August 1952) is a Hungarian politician, lawyer and sociologist by qualification. Demszky was the Mayor of Budapest from 1990 to 2010. He was a founding member of the Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ) between 1988 and ...

first spoke of plans in 2002. In 2005 the city council set aside a first 100 million

forint The forint (, sign Ft; code HUF) is the currency of Hungary. It was formerly divided into 100 fillér, but fillér coins are no longer in circulation. The introduction of the forint on 1 August 1946 was a crucial step in the post-World War II sta ...

for the project. The council proposed to implement the investment between 2007 and 2010 with

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

funding, but this was rejected. In 2007 deputy mayor

Miklós Hagyó Miklós Hagyó ( Hungarian pronunciation: hɒɟoː mikloːʃ; born July 20, 1967) is a Hungarian entrepreneur and politician, a former deputy mayor of Budapest and a former member of the Hungarian parliament. From 1998 until 2010, Hagyó was ac ...

stated the council wanted to begin construction of the railway, and in February 2008, the Urban and Suburban Transport Association (VEKE) designed a four-track version of the metro line, now proposing to build the railway line from European Union sources between 2014 and 2020. From 1 September 2019 the H5 suburban railway line was renamed line M5. On 14 April 2021 test excavations began as part of preparations for the first section between Közvágóhíd and Kálvin tér.

Planning

The proposal is for a rapid rail system which will include the

Esztergom Esztergom (; ; or ; , known by Names of European cities in different languages: E–H#E, alternative names) is a city with county rights in northern Hungary, northwest of the capital Budapest. It lies in Komárom-Esztergom County, on the righ ...

heavy railway line northward, and the Budapest-

Kunszentmiklós Kunszentmiklós () is a town in Bács-Kiskun county, Hungary. The name is derived from the Cumans (Kun in Hungarian). Twin cities * Cristuru Secuiesc * Blumberg Blumberg () is a municipality situated in the Schwarzwald-Baar region of Ba ...

line southward. The Csepel and Ráckeve HÉV lines will be connected on the surface, near the National Theatre. In Boráros Square, the metro goes underground, and at Kálvin Square it crosses Metro line 3 and line 4. At Astoria the line crosses line 2. The rail heads to Oktogon, and crosses line 1. Finally, at Lehel tér, the line again crosses Metro line 3 before heading to

Margaret Island Margaret Island ( ; ) is a long island, wide, ( in area) in the middle of the Danube in central Budapest, Hungary. The island is mostly covered by landscape parks, and is a popular recreational area. Its medieval ruins are reminders of its impo ...

and Buda side.

Proposed stations

Metro line 5, ''Észak-déli Regionális Gyorsvasút'' (North-South Regional Rapid Railway; provisional name), is planned to be a

suburban railway Commuter rail or suburban rail is a passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Commuter rail systems can use locomotive-hauled tr ...

s' connector line, meant to replace and connect the lines of the existing suburban railways between

(currently served by HÉV Line 5),

(currently served by HÉV Line 6) and

(currently served by HÉV Line 7). It will cross Budapest downtown, and provide connection for the railway stations in the city. It will probably have the following stations (except for the termini, only those within Budapest are included): * Szentendre * ... * Békásmegyer * Petőfi tér * Csillaghegy * Rómaifürdő * Aquincum * Záhony u. * Kaszásdűlő * Bogdáni út * Flórián tér * Amfiteátrum * Szépvölgyi út * Margitsziget * Szent István park * Lehel tér * Oktogon * Klauzál tér * Astoria * Kálvin tér * Boráros tér * Könyves Kálmán körút * Beöthy u. * Kén u. * Timót u. * Határ út * Pesterzsébet – városközpont * Nagysándor József u. * Klapka Gy. u. * Wesselényi u. (''or'' Akácfa u. ''instead of the latter two'') * Vörösmarty tér * Könyves u. * Tárcsás u. * Soroksári vasútállomás * BILK (logisztikai központ) * ... * Csepel, Ráckeve Branching at Könyves u.: * Soroksár felső * Soroksár – Hősök tere * Szent István u. * Millennium-telep * ... See the map.

References

{{Budapest Metro Budapest Metro Proposed rail infrastructure in Hungary Underground commuter rail