Railway Strategic Tasks

Currently, there are three railway bridges over the Danube in Hungary, two of which are located in Budapest. The Southern Railway Connecting Bridge in the capital represents a critical bottleneck for both domestic and international rail traffic, including passenger and freight transport. The study examined underutilized suburban railway branch lines around Budapest that could serve as new alternative corridors (primarily for freight transport), connected via a newly constructed Danube bridge near Rácalmás. With the model it was also analyzed how regional passenger trains running across the region could operate along this new corridor.

Approved by the Hungarian government on December 28, 2021, the Budapest Agglomeration Railway Strategy outlines comprehensive development directions for the capital and its surrounding region’s rail network covering the period to  2040. The goal of the strategy is to improve suburban railway services. As part of this, at least four trains per hour would run from each suburban station to Budapest. The new railway network would offer direct transfer connections to at least three Budapest metro lines; and a unified fare system would be introduced, potentially doubling suburban ridership on the MÁV (Hungarian State Railways) network. To model the effects of the strategy, the existing Budapest Unified Traffic Model was further developed and extended to cover the suburban region. Several potential network development options were analyzed, including the construction of a new tunnel between the two busiest terminal stations (Déli and Nyugati), enabling their transformation into through stations.