Metro 4 – Budapest’s first fully automatic Metro

Budapest, the capital of Hungary, is a city of two million people situated on the banks of the River Danube. As well as being an important historical and cultural centre, Budapest was the location of the third metro system to be constructed in the world and the first one in continental Europe.

Existing metro lines

Metro 1 was opened by Emperor Franz Joseph in 1896 having been constructed using the cut and cover method by Siemens and Halske AG between 1894 and 1896. With its ornate, late 19th century style stations, the 3.7km line runs from north-east to south-west on the Pest side of the Danube under Andrássy Avenue, which was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002. Originally designed to carry 35,000 passengers a day, it now carries in excess of 100,000.

The 10.3km-long Metro 2 was constructed during the Socialist era and opened in 1970 and the only one of the existing operational lines to cross under the Danube to Buda. It connects the eastern and southern main line stations. The line was extensively refurbished between 2004 and 2008.

The first section of the six station section of the north-east to south-west 17km-long Metro 3 was opened in 1976. Five more stations in the southerly direction were opened in 1980 and a further five stations in the northerly direction were opened in the 1980s.

On both Metro 2 and Metro 3, two man Soviet built rolling stock (similar to Moscow, Prague Sofia, Bucharest and Warsaw) are still in use.

All lines are colour coded: Metro 1 (yellow), Metro 2 (red), Metro 3 (blue) and Metro 4 (green).

Transport strategy

The construction of new metro lines is central to the transport strategy of Budapest for creating new inter modal junctions (train, tram, trolley bus and metro with park and ride facilities). As well as being an environmentally friendly mode of transport, the construction of new metro lines is expected to bring significant economic development along the lines’ corridor.

Metro 4

Metro 4 (M4) is also referred to as the South Buda to Rákospalota Line, abbreviated to DBR in Hungarian. Metro 4 involves the largest capital investment seen in Budapest in decades. When completed, Phase 1 will link the developing south of Buda with the city centre and provide interchanges to the main line eastern station and links to Metro 2 and Metro 3.

History

Construction was originally planned to start in 1978. After a number of false starts, construction of Phase I of Metro 4, a 7.8km-long section with 10 underground stations, actually started in 2006 and was programmed to be opened to the public at the end of 2010.

Route

The depot is situated at Etele tér (Etele Square) in south-east Buda. The line then proceeds in a north-east direction via stations at Kelenföldi pályaudvar (Kelenföldi rail terminus; rail, bus and train interchange), Tétényi út (Tétényi Road), Bocskai út (Bocskai Road), Móricz Zsigmond körtér (Móricz Zsigmond Circus) Szent Gellért ter (Saint Gellért Square – the Technical University) where it crosses under the Danube to Fővám tér (Fővám Square – Corvinus University and Central Market Hall), Kálvin tér (connection to Metro 3 and National Museum), Rákóczi ter (Rákóczi Square), Népszínhaz ucta (Népszínhaz Street) to the terminal station at Keleti pályaudvar (Keleti Terminus Station – connection to eastern main line station and Metro 2).

BKV/DBR

Budapest’s metro, bus, tram, trolley bus and suburban rail lines are run by the Budapest Transport Company (Budapesti Közlekedési Vállalat) or abbreviated to BKV. BKV have set up the DBR Project Directorate to manage the implementation of the Metro 4.

Funding

The estimated project cost of 366 billion Hungarian Forint is co-funded by the European Union (at 76.6%), the Hungarian state (at 12.66%) and the Budapest Municipality (at 10.67%).

Contractors

The project has been divided into 15 discrete packages and let to a combination of Hungarian and international contractors:

• Tunnels and one station
• 10 station contracts
• Station Fit Out
• Trackwork
• Depot
• Rolling Stock
• Systems

Contracts

All contracts (other than rolling stock) are based on a modified version of the FIDIC (Fédération International des Ingénieurs-Conseils – International Federation of Consulting Engineers) Conditions of Contract for Plant and Design Build (the ‘Yellow Book’).

The role of the Engineer in these contracts is performed by Eurometro a joint venture of Eurout of Hungary and the Louis Berger Group of America.

Construction – tunnels and stations

The running tunnels are being constructed in pre-cast concrete segments (manufactured in Slovakia) using two Herrenknecht 6.1m diameter EPB (Earth Pressure Balance) Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) manufactured in Schwanau in Germany. The internal dimension of the tunnels is 5.2m diameter. The crossover and cross passages are constructed using the SCL (Sprayed Concrete Lining also known as the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM)). The ground conditions on either side of the Danube, whilst different, are conducive to tunnelling and no major problems have been encountered to date.

Stations are located at busy road junctions and close to densely populated areas and are constructed top down using the cut and cover method.

Rolling Stock

Fifteen trainsets of four air conditioned cars are being supplied by the Budapest Metropolis Consortium – a joint venture of Alstom Transport SA of France and Ganz Transelektro Közlekedési Zrt (GTK) of Hungary. The cars are being manufactured in Katowice in Poland. Power is supplied via a third rail system.

In addition to the trains being supplied for Metro 4, a further 22 trainsets of five cars are being supplied as part of the upgrading of Metro 2. Since October 2009, the first five cars have been undergoing tests in Budapest.

Systems

The control and safety equipment, telecommunications, power trackside and onboard components for the operations control centre are being supplied by Siemens. The system is designed to be fully automatic and Siemens will supply both the trackside and onboard components for the automatic train control system. However, during the start up phase, train attendants will travel on trains.

Siemens were also responsible for the upgrading of the control and safety equipment as part of the Metro 2 upgrading.

Progress

Tunnelling on the Buda side is complete and the TBMs have passed under the Danube without incident and (October 2009) are being prepared to exit Kálvin tér Station. Station construction is well advanced and the Fit Out and Depot Contractors have commenced work.

Opening

The original date for beginning passenger service was 2010 but the latest estimate is that Metro 4 will not come into operation before 2012.

As is not unusual in a project of this size, the delays have been caused by late land available, construction delays and subsequent contractual problems1.

Extensions and new lines

Phase 2 of Metro 4, a 3.2km extension from Keleti pályaudvar, has received Parliamentary approval and is in the planning phase. A further extension to Metro 4 south-west from Kelenföldi pályaudvar and a new line (Metro 5) are under consideration.

Reference

1. Delays and cost overruns on major metro project will be part of a presentation to be made by the authors at the International Conference on Underground Construction in Prague in June 2010.