Budapest Nyugati station (Hungarian: Nyugati pályaudvar; lit.'western railway station'), generally referred to simply as Nyugati, is one of the three main railway terminals in Budapest, Hungary. The station is on the Pest side of Budapest, accessible by the 4 and 6 tramline and the M3 metro line.

Budapest Nyugati
Budapest Western railway station
General information
LocationTeréz krt. 55
Budapest
Hungary
Coordinates47°30′39″N 19°3′27″E / 47.51083°N 19.05750°E / 47.51083; 19.05750
Platforms9
Tracks17
Connections
Services
Preceding station MÁV START Following station
Terminus InterCity
Zugló
towards Budapest Keleti via Tokaj
InterCity Zugló
towards Mukachevo
Zugló
towards Szeged
Zugló
towards Záhony
Vác
towards Brno main
EuroCity Terminus
Terminus Vác
towards Terespol
Vác Terminus
Terminus EuroNight
Metropol
Vác
towards Breclav
InterRegio Zugló
towards Debrecen
S20 Zugló
towards Szeged
S21 Zugló
towards Kecskemét
S50 Zugló
towards Szolnok
G50
Z50
Rákosrendező
towards Szob
S70 Terminus
G70
Vác
towards Szob
Z70
Rákosrendező
towards Vác
S71
Rákospalota-Újpest
towards Vác
G71
Rákosrendező
towards Esztergom
S72
Újpest
towards Esztergom
Z72
Location
Map

Layout edit

The station is a stub-end terminal, with the tracks exiting to the northeast. There are nine platforms serving seventeen tracks. There is a metro station beneath the railway station; buses and trams are accessed at street level.[1]

History edit

 
Budapest Nyugati station in the 19th century
 
Interior of the McDonald's in the Budapest-Nyugati station

The station was planned by August de Serres and was built by the Eiffel Company. It was opened on 28 October 1877. It replaced a previous station, which was the terminus of Hungary's first railway line, the PestVác line (constructed in 1846). This building was pulled down in order to construct the Grand Boulevard.

The station gave its name to the adjacent Western Square ('Nyugati tér'), a major intersection where Teréz körút (Theresia Boulevard), Szent István körút (Saint Stephen Boulevard), Váci út (Váci Avenue), and Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út (Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Avenue) converge. The square also serves as a transport hub with several bus routes, tram routes 4 and 6, and a station on M3 of the Budapest Metro.

Since 2007 Hungarian State Railways (MÁV) has operated regular services between the terminal and Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport Terminal 1,[2] although Terminal 1 has been closed since 2012 and all departures and arrivals have been consolidated in Terminal 2A and 2B, which is 4 kilometers away.[3]

Beside the terminal and partially above its open area there is the WestEnd City Center shopping mall. Inside the station is a McDonald's restaurant which has been described as the "most elegant" McDonald's in the world.[4][5]

The music video for Gwen Stefani's 2008 single Early Winter was partly shot at Nyugati.[6] Starting in May 2016 the key scenes of the movie Terminal were shot over 27 nights.[7]

Certain parts of the historic terminal building have recently been renovated.[8] More renovations and changes to the immediate surroundings of the building are planned based on plans by London-based architectural firm Grimshaw.[9]

Services edit

 
Budapest-Nyugati station

As of the July 2023 timetable change, the following services stop at Budapest Nyugati:[10][11][12]

References edit

  1. ^ "Budapest-Nyugati" (in Hungarian). MÁV Group. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
  2. ^ "Intelligence August 2007". Railway Gazette International. 1 August 2007.
  3. ^ Airport, Budapest. "Budapest Airport Closes Terminal 1". Archived from the original on 5 October 2017. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  4. ^ "Nyugati Train Station | Budapest, Hungary Attractions". www.lonelyplanet.com. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  5. ^ "This Is the World's Fanciest McDonald's". mic.com. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  6. ^ "10+1 famous music videos shot in Hungary". Daily News Hungary. 3 January 2017. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  7. ^ "Terminal (2018) - IMDb". IMDb.
  8. ^ "Main Entrance of Budapest Nyugati Station Back to Its Former Glory". Hungary Today. 22 December 2023. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  9. ^ "Grimshaw Selected to Design Budapest's New Nyugati Railway Station". ArchDaily. 30 March 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  10. ^ "142 Budapest — Lajosmizse — Kecskemé" (PDF) (in Hungarian). MÁV Group. 17 March 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  11. ^ "71 Budapest — Vácrátót — Vác" (PDF) (in Hungarian). MÁV Group. 17 June 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  12. ^ "2 Budapest — Esztergom" (PDF) (in Hungarian). MÁV Group. 17 June 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2023.

External links edit