Two suburban railway lines to be renewed around Budapest

Budapest and its catchment area now contain four million residents, many of whom commute by car given the infrequent rail services. The Budapest Development Centre has therefore begun to renovate two train lines serving the capital, from Lajosmizse and Vác.

Despite the increase of cyclists in Budapest, car traffic hasn’t decreased. Many of these drivers are commuters, who choose the car over suburban public transport, partly due to the poor infrastructure and infrequent schedule.


The Budapest Agglomeration Strategy has been created to improve this situation, aiming to renovated and develop the suburban railway network and HÉV lines.

Among the lines leading to the capital, the ones from Lajosmizse and Vác are still single-track and under-used. Trains only leave every hour. In addition, the line from Lajosmizse has not yet been electrified, with diesel trains in operation. These two routes have been identified as having the greatest potential for increasing passenger numbers.

By the end of the development, it is envisaged that the electrified lines will have services running every ten to 15 minutes on the inner sections and every 30 minutes on the outer ones, with trains travelling at 80-120km/hr on two tracks. Step-free stations, P+R car parks and bicycle storage will also feature.