With completion due in 2023, a huge overhaul of the stops along main suburban lines from Budapest has just been announced. Under the heading ’50 Renovated Stations’, the project will mainly involve the busy routes from Budapest to Szolnok and Szob, via Cegléd and Vác respectively. A budget of some four to five billion forints has been allocated by State railway company, MÁV.

These next five years will see the gradual renovation of train stations lining main routes south-east from Budapest towards Szolnok, and north in the direction of Vác and Szob by the border with Slovakia. An analysis of daily traffic revealed that these two lines carried the most significant passenger numbers – between 15 and 19 million a year in the case of Budapest-Cegléd-Szolnok, via Kőbánya-Kispest and Vecsés, in the vicinity of Budapest Airport. These routes are also served by double-decker trains.

The cost of renovating each station is said to be around 300 to 400 million forints. The work will be carried out by MÁV’s own maintenance and repair team, which has already begun the renovation of Zugló station and Kőbánya-alsó in Budapest, as well as the city’s main Keleti station.