Metro Line M1 (Budapest Metro)

Line 1 (Officially: Millennium Underground Railway, Metro 1 or M1) is the oldest line of the Budapest Metro. It is known locally as "the small underground" ("a kisföldalatti"), while the M2, M3 and M4 are called "metró". It is the third oldest underground after the London Underground and the Mersey Railway (specifically, its Wirral Line), the third rapid transit rail line worldwide of any type to exclusively use electric traction (after the London Underground, specifically the City and South London Railway and the Liverpool Overhead Railway, before its closure in 1956), and the first on the European mainland. It was built from 1894 to 1896.

Metro Line M1
Overview
Type	Rapid transit
System	Budapest Metro
Status	Operational
Termini	Vörösmarty tér Mexikói út
Stations	11
Line number	Line 1 ("Yellow metro")
Operation
Opened	May 2, 1896 (1896-05-02)
Operator(s)	BKV
Technical
Line length	4.4 km
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in)
Electrification	550 V DC
Operating speed	60 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 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 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). Completed by the deadline, it was inaugurated on May 2, 1896, the year of the millennium (the thousandth anniversary of the arrival of the Magyars), by emperor Franz Joseph. 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 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]

• 1896: Gizella tér (today Vörösmarty tér) - Artézi fürdő (today Széchenyi fürdő)
• 1973: Széchenyi fürdő - Mexikói út

Stations and connections

(Vörösmarty tér – Mexikói út)
Travel Time minutes	Station	Travel Time minutes	Connection	Buildings / Monuments
0	Vörösmarty tér	11	2 15, 115 City	Vigadó, Café Gerbeaud, Ministry of Finance
1	Deák Ferenc tér	10	47, 48, 49 9, 16, 100E, 105	Town Hall, Metro Museum (Földalatti Vasúti Múzeum)
2	Bajcsy–Zsilinszky út	9	9, 105	St. Stephen's Basilica
3	Opera	8	70, 78 105	Hungarian State Opera House
4	Oktogon	7	4, 6 105	Theaters (Operette, Mikroszkóp, Miklós Radnóti,...)
5	Vörösmarty utca	6	73, 76 105	House of Terror
6	Kodály körönd	5	105
7	Bajza utca	4	105
8	Hősök tere	3	72, 75, 79 20E, 30, 30A, 105, 230	Museum of Fine Arts, Műcsarnok (Hall of Exhibitions), Városliget (City Park), Hősök tere (Heroes square)
9	Széchenyi fürdő	2	72	Széchenyi thermal bath, Zoo and Botanical Garden
11	Mexikói út	0	1, 3, 69 74, 74A 25, 32, 225

Gallery

• 
  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 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.