Hungary: Hungary Transportation Profile

Transport in Hungary relies on several main modes, including transport by road, rail, air and water.

Roads

Hungary has a total of 159,568 km (99,150 mi) of public roads, of which 70,050 km (43,530 mi) are paved (including 1481 km of motorways, as of 2016); and 89,518 km (55,620 mi) are unpaved (2005 etc.):

Hungarian road categories are as follows:

Gyorsforgalmi út (controlled-access highway):
Autópálya (motorway): 2+2 travel lanes and 1+1 emergency lane, central reservation, no at-grade intersections, speed limit 130 kilometres per hour (81 mph)
Gyorsút (high-speed highway): 2+2 travel lanes, central reservation, few at-grade intersections, speed limit 110 kilometres per hour (68 mph)
Autóút (expressway): 2+2, 2+1 or 1+1 travel lanes, central reservation, some at-grade intersections, speed limit 110 kilometres per hour (68 mph)
Elsődrendő főút (primary arterial road or primary main road) (with one-digit number, e.g. 6-os főút)
Másodrendű főút (secondary main road) (with two or three digits, e.g. 57-es főút)
Helyi út (local road) (with three or more digits, e.g. 4519-es közút

According to the Állami Autópályakezelő Zrt. ("State Motorway Management Plc."), the total length of the Hungarian motorway system was 1,400.6 kilometers in 2013.[1] The construction of the Hungarian motorway system started in 1964 with M7, which finished in 1975 between Budapest and the Lake Balaton. The total length of the system reached 200 km in 1980, 500 km in 1998 and 1000 km in 2007.

Motorways and expressways

Hungarian motorways and expressways are part of the national road network. As of October 2016, there are 1,481 kilometres (920 mi) of controlled-access highways.
Hungary road sign E-016.svg

Motorways (autópályák, singular - autópálya) in Hungary:

M1 | M3 | M4 | M5 | M6 | M7 | M8 | M15 | M19 | M30 | M31 | M35 | M43 | M60
Hungary road sign E-018.svg

Expressways (autóutak, singular - autóút) in Hungary:

M0 | M2 | M9 | M51 | M70 | M85 | M86

New motorway sections are being added to the existing network, which already connects many major economically important cities to the capital.

Bus transport

Bus transport between municipalities was provided by Volán Companies, twenty-four bus companies founded in 1970 and named after the regions they served. They also provided local transport in cities and towns that did not have their own public transport company (all cities except for Budapest, Miskolc, Pécs, Kaposvár and also Debrecen after 2009), and operated bus lines in cities where the local company operated only tram and trolley bus lines (Szeged and Debrecen, the latter until 2009, when DKV took over the bus lines). In early 2015 the 24 companies were organized into seven regional companies.
 

Railways

Note: Hungary and Austria jointly manage the cross-border standard-gauge railway between Győr–Sopron–Ebenfurt (GySEV/ROeEE), a distance of about 101 km in Hungary and 65 km in Austria.

In Budapest, the three main railway stations are the Eastern (Keleti), Western (Nyugati) and Southern (Déli), with other outlying stations like Kelenföld. Of the three, the Southern is the most modern but the Eastern and the Western are more decorative and architecturally interesting.

Other important railway stations countrywide include Szolnok (the most important railway intersection outside Budapest), Tiszai Railway Station in Miskolc and the stations of Pécs, Győr, Debrecen, Szeged and Székesfehérvár.

The only city with an underground railway system is Budapest with its Metro.

In Budapest there is also a suburban rail service in and around the city, operated under the name HÉV.

Rail system

Total: 7,606 km
Standard gauge: 7,394 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) gauge (2,911 km electrified; 1,236 km double track)
Broad gauge: 36 km 1,520 mm (4 ft 11 27⁄32 in) gauge
Narrow gauge: 176 km 760 mm (2 ft 5 15⁄16 in) gauge (1998)

Rail links with adjacent countries

Same gauge:
Austria (6 line)
Croatia (3 line)
Romania (5 line)
Serbia (2 line)
Slovakia (10 line)
Slovenia (1 line)
Break-of-gauge – 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) / 1,520 mm (4 ft 11 27⁄32 in)
Ukraine (2 line)