HUNGARY: A 27 km long, 160 km/h speed greenfield railway is to be built to serve Budapest’s Liszt Ferenc International Airport, Minister of Construction & Transport János Lázár announced at a press conference on October 27.
The new line is to branch off the existing Budapest – Cegléd main line southeast of Pestszentlőrinc, from where it will run to Budapest airport before continuing southeast to rejoin the main line at Monor. The project would include a tunnel between 2 km and 3 km in length running under the airport, including an underground station.
Build and operate concession
The railway is to be built by a concessionaire, which would be expected to finance, build and operate the link for 30 to 35 years. Train services would be provided using rolling stock belonging to state-owned passenger operators MÁV Személyszállítási Zrt or GySEV.
The concessionaire is expected to cover the estimated €1bn project cost primarily from ticket revenues, Máté Lóga, State Secretary of the Ministry of Economy, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Budapest Airport told local media. He expects the concessionaire to be able to offer a single fare competitive with current alternative transport options; this owuld be around HF3 000 to HF4 000.
A concessionaire is to be selected via an international bidding process for which tenders are to be called next month.
The railway would be completed in two phases, with services starting from central Budapest to the airport by the end of the decade. This would align with the completion of Terminal 3, which is expected by 2032. The second section from the airport to Monor is due to be commisisoned by 2035.
Service pattern
The airport link would be served by both suburban and long-distance services. Trains from the south and east of the country would join the airport link at Monor. The Southern Circle railway ring, which is currently being rebuilt to offer more capacity, would allow direct services between the airport and western Hungary.
Trains are expected to run at up to every 5 to 10 min between the airport and Nyugati or Kelenföld in central Budapest, with journey times of between 15 and 20 min.
Chinese plan ‘not taken forward for now’
The through railway plan presented on October 27 is different to a proposal announced in May 2024 in the wake of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. That plan envisaged a rail link between Budapest airport and the city centre only, and would have been taken forward as part of China’s Belt & Road Initiative.
Lázár also told the press conference that ‘due to the enormous costs […] we have stopped taking the investment [of a rail freight bypass around Budapest] forward for now’.
Branded as ‘V0’, this greenfield freight bypass south of the capital was also announced in May 2024 as a ‘common Hungarian-Chinese development’.
