The former

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

empire had a narrow-gauge rail network thousands of kilometres in length, most of it using Bosnian gauge or gauge, constructed between 1870 and 1920. Landlords, mines, agricultural and forest estates established their own branch lines which, as they united into regional networks, increasingly played a role in regional passenger traffic. Following the

Treaty of Trianon The Treaty of Trianon (; ; ; ), often referred to in Hungary as the Peace Dictate of Trianon or Dictate of Trianon, was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace Conference. It was signed on the one side by Hungary ...

some railways were cut by the new border, many remained on the territory of

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

and

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. Due to a lack of intact roads, following

World War II 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 ...

in many places narrow-gauge railway was the only reasonable way to get around. In 1968 the Communist government started to implement a policy to dismantle the narrow-gauge network in favour of road traffic. Freight haulage on the few remaining lines continued to decline until 1990 from when a patchwork of railways was gradually taken over by associations and forest managements for

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity on ...

purposes. State Railways operated narrow-gauge railways at

Nyíregyháza Nyíregyháza (, ) is a city with county rights in northeastern Hungary and the county capital of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg. With a population of 118,001, it is the seventh-largest city in Hungary and the second largest in the Northern Great ...

and

Kecskemét Kecskemét ( ) is a city with county rights in central Hungary. It is the List of cities and towns of Hungary, eighth-largest city in the country, and the county seat of Bács-Kiskun County, Bács-Kiskun. Kecskemét lies halfway between the ca ...

that played a role in regional transport until December 2009. Most railways have a

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 ...

of , unless otherwise specified.

Field railways

Balatonfenyves narrow-gauge railway The Balatonfenyves narrow-gauge railway runs from Balatonfenyves on the South shore of Lake Balaton to Somogyszentpál over a distance of 13 km. It is the last remaining MÁV-operated narrow-gauge railroad of Hungary as of 2017. History The ...

, active in 2 lines * Fishery Railway Hortobágy, closed since 2021 * , only with

draisine A draisine () is a light auxiliary rail vehicle, driven by service personnel, equipped to transport crew and material necessary for the maintenance of railway infrastructure. The eponymous term is derived from the German inventor Baron Karl D ...

* , closed in 2009 * Fishery Railway

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...

, active fishery railway * Hemp Factory Railway Szegvár, closed in 2012 * Fishery Railway Tömörkény, closed in 2021

Forest railways A forest railway, forest tram, timber line, logging railway or logging railroad is a mode of railway transport which is used for forestry tasks, primarily the transportation of felled logs to sawmills or railway stations. In most cases this f ...

* Almamellék State Forest Railway,

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

* Csömödér State Forest Railway, active forest railway *

Debrecen Debrecen ( ; ; ; ) is Hungary's cities of Hungary, second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain Regions of Hungary, region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the large ...

Forest Railway * Felsőtárkány National Forest Railway * Gemenc State Forest Railway, active forest railway * , closed in 2023 *

Gyöngyös Gyöngyös is a town in Heves County, Hungary, beside of the Gyöngyös creek, under the Mátra mountain ranges. As of 2022 census, it has a population of 27,957 (see Demographics). The town is located 8.4 km from the M3 motorway and 80.8 km ...

State Forest Railway, active in 2 lines * Kaszó Forest Railway * Kemence Forest Museum Railway, narrow gauge * Királyrét State Forest Railway * Lillafüred Forest Train * Mesztegnyő Forest Railway, closed since 2023 * Pálháza State Forest Railway * * Szob-Nagybörzsöny forest railway

Children's railways A children's railway or pioneer railway is an extracurricular educational institution, where children interested in rail transport can learn railway professions. This phenomenon originated in the USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republi ...

Budapest Children's Railway The Gyermekvasút () or Line 7 is a narrow gauge railway line in Budapest, which connects, via six stations, and Hűvösvölgy and is long. It is one of Budapest's transport attractions located between the 2nd and 12th districts, most notable ...

* Mecseki narrow gauge railway * Széchenyi Railway Museum *

Heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (U.S. usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) ...

* Vál Valley Light Railway

References

{{Europe in topic, Narrow-gauge railways in