BHÉV (''Budapesti Helyiérdekű Vasút'', "Budapest Railway of Local Interest") is a system of four commuter rail lines ( Szentendre HÉV, Gödöllő HÉV, Csömör HÉV and

Ráckeve Ráckeve ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српски Ковин, Srpski Kovin) is a town on Csepel Island in the county of , Hungary. Its residents are mainly Hungarians, Magyars, with a minority of Serbs. The Serbian Kovin Monastery, the oldest in Hungary and ...

HÉV) and

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT) or heavy rail, commonly referred to as metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport that is generally built in urban areas. A grade separation, grade separated rapid transit line below ground su ...

( Csepel HÉV and Békásmegyer HÉV (part of the Szentendre HÉV)) lines in and around

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. The BHÉV operates on

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

( ), and is electrified at 1100 V DC. The BHÉV lines were constructed as branch lines of the Hungarian State Railways. ''Helyiérdekű vasút (HÉV)'', literally "railway of local interest", is a general term in Hungarian traffic. Therefore, like internationally with the term ''metro'', the stations are marked only with ''H'' or ''HÉV'', though this is not the full name of the system. The five BHÉV lines are operated by the public transport company MÁV-HÉV Zrt., a subsidiary of Hungarian State Railways. Inside Budapest, standard BKK tickets and passes are valid on the BHÉV. Outside Budapest, a separate ticket must be purchased.

Lines and developments

Network

The BHÉV lines connect Csepel (south),

(far south), Gödöllő (northeast), and Szentendre (north) with various points of central Budapest. The four BHÉV lines are not connected directly, each originating from a different terminus, but all of them are connected to the national network enabling transfers of rolling stock. The BHÉV is a hybrid between a commuter rail and a rapid transit. Although most of its stations are above ground and outdoor, two are located underground ( Batthyány tér and Margit híd, budai hídfő).

Future

The BHÉV lines are planned to become integrated into the metro network. The Szentendre, Ráckeve and Csepel lines are slated to be merged into what is called the metro line 5 (North-South Regional rapid railway). The connection will be made by an underground line between the Kaszásdűlő and Lágymányosi bridge stations, and extended in order to reach the center of Pesterzsébet. The Urban and Suburban Transit Association (''Városi és Elővárosi Közlekedési Egyesület'') has presented a plan to merge line 2 with the HÉV from Gödöllő. The city government did not totally accept the plan, but it still may be built after 2021."https://bkk.hu/fejleszteseink/m2h8/" Centre for Budapest Transport. Plans for this project."

Former lines

Today there are four (plus one branch line to Csömör) BHÉV lines in and around Budapest, although other HÉV lines around Budapest have existed in the past. Now integrated to MÁV's (Hungarian State Railways) network: * Esztergom HÉV (today suburban railway, since 1931 owned by Hungarian State Railways) * Lajosmizse HÉV ( suburban railway, a.k.a. Budapest-Tiszai HÉV, 1909) * Vác–Budapest–Veresegyház–Gödöllő HÉV (partially abandoned, but the Vác–Veresegyház–Budapest line is still in operation) Owned by the local tramway operators and abandoned or integrated to the actual tramway network: * Budafok HÉV (today tram route 47; branch of Budapest-Budafok HÉV, owned by BKVT) * Törökbálint HÉV (mostly demolished), the remaining line is tram no. 41 * Nagytétény HÉV line (from Budafok to Budatétény and Nagytétény; converted to tram line 43 in 1963, later withdrawn) Withdrawn BHÉV lines: * Pesterzsébet (converted to tramway and radically reduced) * Rákosszentmihály (a line connected to Budapest-Gödöllő branch, replaced by bus) * The BVKV (Budapestvidéki Közúti vasút – Budapest Suburban Tramway, owned by BKVT) is almost totally withdrawn and has been replaced by bus service, although the first stop has been converted to a tram stop. Branch of Budapest-Szentlőrinci HÉV (owned by BLVV): * Pestszentlőrinc line (now tram line 50) * Kispest line (now tram line 42)

References

External links