Hungary to start sub-Danube tunnel feasibility study
27 August 2020Hungary is to undertake a feasibility study for a new railway tunnel under the River Danube in Budapest. An announcement made recently on the Facebook page of Dávid Vitézy, CEO of Budapest Development Centre (BDC) comes in the wake of a grant agreement signed by the country’s government with the EU.
Following the signing, Vitézy said: “This is a significant milestone, even if we know well [that there are] many years of work ahead of us before this can happen.” He compared the proposed project with a similar one in Vienna which had taken 25 years to come to fruition.
The proposed tunnel will connect Kelenföld and Nyugati and will relieve Budapest’s acute car traffic problem. According to Vitézy, cars are responsible for two-thirds of the CO2 emissions coming from transport in Budapest and the surrounding area.
The feasibility study forms part of a wider, detailed study by BDC on the improvements needed to the entire rail network of Budapest and the surrounding areas. The tunnel will form part of an overall plan that will facilitate journeys from the suburbs and hinterland to the city centre.
