Hungarian state rail MÁV has announced plans to revamp the lower-floor passenger area of Keleti station by 2021. Budapest’s main rail terminus enjoyed a small facelift in 2019 but the side areas still need renovating. Now furnished with the necessary investment, MÁV is awaiting suitable offers and is aiming for the new wheelchair-friendly passenger area to be ready for summer 2021.
At the level of the entrances to metro lines 2 and 4, where ticket offices are still in operation, a new passenger area is being set up at Keleti station. This would put domestic and international ticket offices in one place: a total of nine new windows and two for customer services, one designed to meet the needs of disabled customers. Information and customer service offices will also be opened.
As part of the renovation, the waiting areas and toilets will also be refurbished, and there will be a children’s corner and luggage storage on site. Within the framework of accessibility, plans call for an escalator and an elevator to be installed between the underpass and platform levels, currently linked by a wide staircase.
Reducing waiting times is one of MÁV’s main priorities, therefore a queue manager will direct customers to the appropriate window to serve passengers faster. There will be 18 ticket machines for swift purchases, most located in and around the passenger centre, with some on platform level.
