Hungary railway info
The Hungarian railroad company is called IMagyar Allamvasutak or MAV. Budapest is the centre of the railway network, with three large stations. From Budapest a 7,607 km network, one-third of which is electrified, radiates through the country with some interconnections with centers of the larger towns.
Hungarian Rail Network
There are direct connections to Hungary from and to all immediate neighbors: Austria, Croatia, Romania, Slovakia. Also to further countries like: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Switzerland and even Turkey.
In all Hungarian train stations a yellow board indicates departures (indul) and a white board arrivals (érkezik). Express trains are indicated in red, local trains in black.
Train types
Local trains are called személyvonat, they are relatively slow. Often they only have a second class (másod osztály) compartment. Faster trains are the Intercity (IC) trains or the express trains (gyorsvonat). They also have comfoirtable first class (elso osztály) sections.In almost all cases the IC trains have a restaurant car. In all the other train lines there are smoking and non-smoking cars.
Taking an IC train is the fastest way to travel from Budapest to the following cities: Bekescsaba, Debrecen, Dombovar, Gyor, Gula, Hajduszoboszlo, Kaposvar, Kecskemet, Miskolc, Nyiregyhaza, Pecs, Sopron, Szeged, Szolnok, Szombathely.
Budapest has three main train stations:
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Keleti (Eastern) on Baross ter (red metro line): most international express trains, domestic trains to and from the north and north-east
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Nyugati (Western) on Nyugati ter (blue metro line): trains for the Great Plain and the Danube Bend
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Deli (Southern) at Krisztina korut: trains bound for Transdanubia and Lake Balaton
Reservation fees
There are some trains within Hungary that require an additional reservation fee. You can make reservations during your trip at most international train stations. For details see the pages:
- reservation fees for domestic trains (IC, IP, EC)
- making reservations
Railway company
Visit the website of the Hungarian railway company MÁV:
English version / www.mav-start.hu (Hungarian).