Metro Line M1 (Budapest Metro)


Line 1 is the oldest line of the Budapest Metro. It is known locally as "the small underground", while the M2, M3 and M4 are called "metró". It is the third oldest underground after the London Underground and the Mersey Railway, the third rapid transit rail line worldwide of any type to exclusively use electric traction, and the first on the European mainland. It was built from 1894 to 1896.
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. Completed by the deadline, it was inaugurated on May 2, 1896, the year of the millennium, 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 to City Park, in a northeast-southwest direction. The original terminus was the Zoo. It had eleven stations, nine underground and two overground. The length of the line was 1 E3 m| at that time; trains ran every two minutes. It was able to carry as many as 35,000 people a day.

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.

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