The North-south regional rapid railway is a railway construction plan in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, modelled on the

Paris RER Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Sin ...

or German

S-Bahn The S-Bahn is the name of hybrid urban- suburban rail systems serving a metropolitan region in German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit systems, while smaller ones often resemble co ...

systems. Its aim is to connect three of the Budapest Helyiérdekű Vasút (BHÉV) suburban train lines, from

Szentendre Szentendre () is a riverside town in Pest County, Hungary, between the capital city Budapest and Pilis Mountains, Pilis-Visegrád Mountains. The town is known for its museums (most notably the :hu: Szentendrei Szabadtéri Néprajzi Múzeum, Open- ...

Ráckeve Ráckeve (Serbian language, Serbian: Српски Ковин / Srpski Kovin) is a town on Csepel Island in the county of , Hungary. Its residents are Magyars, with minority of Serbs. The Serbian Kovin Monastery, the oldest in Hungary and one of t ...

and

Csepel Csepel (german: Tschepele) is the 21st district and a neighbourhood in Budapest, Hungary. Csepel officially became part of Budapest on 1 January 1950. Location Csepel is located at the northern end of Csepel Island in the Danube, and covers ...

. The plan is also called Metro 5.

History

In the '90s, the growth of the suburbs was not accompanied by public transportation. Population growth was especially strong in Buda and in Csepel island region, but the HÉV lines end at the boundaries of the downtown area, where passengers have to change to go into the city. Hence the idea was born to connect the HÉV lines underground. Lord Mayor

Gábor Demszky Gábor Demszky (born 4 August 1952) is a Hungarian politician, lawyer and sociologist by qualification. Demszky was the Mayor of Budapest from 1990 to 2010. He was a founding member of the Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ) between 1988 and 201 ...

first spoke of plans in 2002. In 2005 the city council set aside a first 100 million

forint The forint (sign Ft; code HUF) is the currency of Hungary. It was formerly divided into 100 fillér, but fillér coins are no longer in circulation. The introduction of the forint on 1 August 1946 was a crucial step in the post-World War II stabi ...

for the project. The council proposed to implement the investment between 2007 and 2010 with

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

funding, but this was rejected. In 2007 deputy mayor Miklós Hagyó stated the council wanted to begin construction of the railway, and in February 2008, the Urban and Suburban Transport Association (VEKE) designed a four-track version of the metro line, now proposing to build the railway line from European Union sources between 2014 and 2020. From 1 September 2019 the H5 suburban railway line was renamed line M5. On 14 April 2021 test excavations began as part of preparations for the first section between Közvágóhíd and Kálvin tér.

Planning

The proposal is for a rapid rail system which will include the

Esztergom Esztergom ( ; german: Gran; la, Solva or ; sk, Ostrihom, known by alternative names) is a city with county rights in northern Hungary, northwest of the capital Budapest. It lies in Komárom-Esztergom County, on the right bank of the river Danu ...

heavy railway line northward, and the Budapest-

Kunszentmiklós Kunszentmiklós (german: Sankt Niklas) is a town in Bács-Kiskun county, Hungary. The name is derived from the Cumans (Kun in Hungarian). Twin cities * Cristuru Secuiesc * Blumberg * Skorenovac * Karcag * St. Julian's * Chepa See a ...

line southward. The Csepel and Ráckeve HÉV lines will be connected on the surface, near the National Theatre. In Boráros Square, the metro goes underground, and at Kálvin Square it crosses Metro line 3 and line 4. At Astoria the line crosses

line 2 Line 2 or 2 Line may refer to: Public transport Americas *2 (New York City Subway service), a rapid transit service in the A Division of the New York City Subway *2 Line (Sound Transit), a light rail line in Seattle, Washington *Line 2 Bloor–Dan ...

. The rail heads to Oktogon, and crosses

line 1 Line 1 or 1 line may refer to: Public transport Africa * Line 1 (Algiers Metro), Algeria * Cairo Metro Line 1, Egypt Asia China * Line 1 (Beijing Subway) * Line 1 (Changchun Rail Transit) * Line 1 (Changsha Metro) * Line 1 (Changzhou Metro) * L ...

. Finally, at Lehel tér, the line again crosses Metro line 3 before heading to

Margaret Island Margaret Island ( hu, Margitsziget ; german: Margareteninsel; tr, Kızadası) is a long island, wide, ( in area) in the middle of the Danube in central Budapest, Hungary. The island is mostly covered by landscape parks, and is a popular recrea ...

and Buda side.

Proposed stations

Metro line 5, ''Észak-déli Regionális Gyorsvasút'' (North-South Regional Rapid Railway; provisional name), is planned to be a

suburban railway Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are cons ...

s' connector line, meant to replace and connect the lines of the existing suburban railways between

(currently served by HÉV Line 5),

(currently served by HÉV Line 6) and

(currently served by HÉV Line 7). It will cross Budapest downtown, and provide connection for the railway stations in the city. It will probably have the following stations (except for the termini, only those within Budapest are included): * Szentendre * ... * Békásmegyer * Petőfi tér * Csillaghegy * Rómaifürdő * Aquincum * Záhony u. * Kaszásdűlő * Bogdáni út * Flórián tér * Amfiteátrum * Szépvölgyi út * Margitsziget * Szent István park * Lehel tér * Oktogon * Klauzál tér * Astoria * Kálvin tér * Boráros tér * Könyves Kálmán körút * Beöthy u. * Kén u. * Timót u. * Határ út * Pesterzsébet – városközpont * Nagysándor József u. * Klapka Gy. u. * Wesselényi u. (''or'' Akácfa u. ''instead of the latter two'') * Vörösmarty tér * Könyves u. * Tárcsás u. * Soroksári vasútállomás * BILK (logisztikai központ) * ... * Csepel, Ráckeve Branching at Könyves u.: * Soroksár felső * Soroksár – Hősök tere * Szent István u. * Millennium-telep * ... See the map.http://index.hu/cikkepek/0503/belfold/metr5/metro5-bp.gif

References

{{Budapest Metro Budapest Metro Proposed rail infrastructure in Hungary Underground commuter rail