Metro Line M1 (Budapest Metro)

Line 1 (Officially: Millennium Underground Railway, Metro 1 or M1) is the oldest line of the Budapest Metro, it was built from 1894 to 1896. It is known locally as "the small underground" ("a kisföldalatti"), while the M2, M3 and M4 are called "metró". It is the first underground on the European mainland, and the world's second oldest underground after the London Underground.

Metro Line M1
Overview
StatusOperational
Line numberLine 1 ("Yellow metro")
TerminiVörösmarty tér
Mexikói út
Stations11
Service
TypeRapid transit
SystemBudapest Metro
Operator(s)BKV
Rolling stockGanz MFAV
History
OpenedMay 2, 1896 (1896-05-02)
Technical
Line length4.4 km
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Electrification550 V DC
Operating speed60 km/h
Route map
Metro 1
 Mexikói út
 Széchenyi fürdő
 Hősök tere
 Bajza utca
 Kodály körönd
 Vörösmarty utca
 Oktogon
 Opera
 Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út
 Deák Ferenc tér
Vörösmarty tér
Detailed track map
Mexikói út
Széchenyi fürdő
Hősök tere
Bajza utca
Kodály körönd
Vörösmarty utca
Oktogon
Opera
Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út
Deák Ferenc tér
Vörösmarty tér

Line 1 runs northeast from the city center on the Pest side under Andrássy út to the Városliget, or City Park. Like Line 3, it does not serve Buda.

History

Line 1 is the oldest of the metro lines in Budapest, having been in constant operation since 1896. The line was inaugurated on May 2, 1896, the year of the millennium (the thousandth anniversary of the arrival of the Magyars), by emperor Franz Joseph. The original name of the operator company was "Franz Joseph Underground Electric Railway Company"

The original purpose of the first metro line was to facilitate transport to the Budapest City Park along the elegant Andrássy Avenue without building surface transport affecting the streetscape. The National Assembly accepted the metro plan in 1870, and the local Hungarian subsidiary company of the Siemens & Halske AG was commissioned for the construction, starting in 1894. It took 2,000 workers using up-to-date machinery less than two years to complete. This section was built entirely from the surface (with the cut-and-cover method). One original car is preserved at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine, United States.

The line ran underneath Andrássy Avenue, from Vörösmarty Square (the centre) to City Park, in a northeast-southwest direction. The original terminus was the Zoo (with extension to Mexikói út in 1973). It had eleven stations, nine underground and two (Állatkert and Artézi fürdő) overground. The length of the line was 3.7 kilometres (2.3 mi) at that time; trains ran every two minutes. It was able to carry as many as 35,000 people a day (today 103,000 people travel on it on a workday).

Reconstruction in the 1970s

Between 1970 and 1973 the line underwent an extension and reconstruction of some sections. Deák tér station was relocated to connect with the M2 line with the old station becoming the Underground Museum. The rolling stock was changed to Ganz MFAV multiple units which still operate on the line. Finally the line’s left-hand traffic was changed into right-hand traffic.

The major change to the line was the extension to Mexikói út, the closure of Állatkert and the conversion of Széchenyi fürdő to an underground station.[1][2]


Rolling stock

Stations and connections
(Vörösmarty tér – Mexikói út)
Travel Time
minutes		 Station Travel Time
minutes		 Connection Buildings / Monuments
0Vörösmarty tér11 2
15, 115
City		Vigadó, Café Gerbeaud, Ministry of Finance
1Deák Ferenc tér10
47, 48, 49
9, 16, 100E, 105		Town Hall, Metro Museum (Földalatti Vasúti Múzeum)
2Bajcsy–Zsilinszky út9 9, 105St. Stephen's Basilica
3Opera8 70, 78
105		Hungarian State Opera House
4Oktogon7 4, 6
105		Theaters (Operette, Mikroszkóp, Miklós Radnóti,...)
5Vörösmarty utca6 73, 76
105		House of Terror
6Kodály körönd5 105
7Bajza utca4 105
8Hősök tere3 72, 75, 79
20E, 30, 30A, 105, 230		Museum of Fine Arts, Műcsarnok (Hall of Exhibitions), Városliget (City Park), Hősök tere (Heroes square)
9Széchenyi fürdő2 72Széchenyi thermal bath, Zoo and Botanical Garden
11Mexikói út0 1, 3, 69
74, 74A
25, 32, 225
  • Andrássy Avenue with the Millennium Underground (1896)
  • Completing the cut-and-cover construction
  • A train near the Hősök tere (before 1973)
  • Original rolling stock
  • Opera
  • Train at Vörösmarty square
  • Station entry at Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út
  • Preserved historic rolling stock in museum
  • Line under construction at Oktogon
  • Old and new route map of M1 in City Park

See also
  • Tremont Street subway, Boston's first underground railway tunnel and the first one built worldwide, after Budapest's Line 1.

References
  1. "A világ második földalatti vasútja". Cultura (in Hungarian). 2016-05-02.
  2. "Elfeledett, évszázados hidak bújnak meg a Városliget szélén". 24.hu (in Hungarian). 2018-02-11.
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