Metro Line M4 (Budapest Metro)

{{Short description|Rapid transit line in Budapest, Hungary}} {{Infobox rail line | logo = Budapest M4 Metro.svg | logo_width = 200px | linenumber = Line 4 ("Green metro") | stock = [[AM4-M4]] | linelength = {{cvt|7.4|km}}<ref name="Line 4b">[http://www.metro4.hu/m4_fobb_adatok.php Budapest Metro Line 4, main data]</ref> Phase II (planned): {{cvt|3.2|km}} Phase III (planned):{{cvt|2.1|km}} | type = [[Rapid transit]] | system = [[Budapest Metro]] | status = Operational | stations = 10 | start = [[Kelenföld vasútállomás (Budapest Metro)|Kelenföld vasútállomás]] | end = [[Keleti pályaudvar (Budapest Metro)|Keleti pályaudvar]] | open = {{start date and age|2014|03|28|df=y}} | operator = [[Budapesti Közlekedési Központ|BKK]] | gauge = {{RailGauge|sg}} | electrification = 750 V [[Direct Current|DC]] | map = [[File:Budapest M4 Metro map.png|250px]] | website = [http://www.metro4.hu www.metro4.hu] | speed = {{cvt|80|km/h}}<ref>[https://www.swe.siemens.com/france/web/en/sts/projects/europe/hungary/Budapest%20line%204/Pages/budapest_line2.aspx Siemens.com Budapest Line 4] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20121218001556/https://www.swe.siemens.com/france/web/en/sts/projects/europe/hungary/Budapest%20line%204/Pages/budapest_line2.aspx |date=2012-12-18 }}</ref> | image = Alstom Metropolis - Budapest Szent Gellért tér M4.jpg | caption = A train arrives at [[Szent Gellért tér – Műegyetem (Budapest Metro)|Szent Gellért tér]]. }} {{Line 4 (Budapest Metro)}} '''Line 4''' (officially: '''South Buda–Rákospalota (DBR) Line''', '''Metro 4''' or '''M4''', and unofficially: '''Green Line''') is the fourth line of the [[Budapest Metro]]. It opened on 28 March 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.origo.hu/itthon/percrolpercre/20140328-4-es-metro-elso-napja.html |title=Orbán: Hihetetlen, de elkészült|publisher=origo.hu |date=28 March 2014 |access-date=2014-03-28}}</ref>

The first section, {{Convert|7.4|km|abbr=on}} in length and consisting of ten stations, connects the southwestern [[Budapest Kelenföld railway station|Kelenföld vasútállomás]] located in [[Buda]], and the eastern [[Budapest Keleti pályaudvar|Keleti pályaudvar]] in [[Pest, Hungary|Pest]], under the [[River Danube]]. While three additional sections — the first, an eastern extension to Bosnyák tér, the second west to Virágpiac, and a third further east to [[Újpalota]] — have been planned, these remain unfunded by the Budapest city government and the European Union.<ref name="BKV Figyelő">{{cite web |last1=Király |first1=Dávid |title=4-es metró: örülünk, de ez még nincs kész |url=http://bkvfigyelo.blog.hu/2014/03/28/4-es_metro_orulunk_de_ez_meg_nincs_kesz |website=bkvfigyelo.blog.hu |publisher=BKV Figyelő |access-date=8 July 2014}}</ref>

Before Line 4 was built, only [[Line 2 (Budapest Metro)|Line 2]] served the Buda side of the river. Daily ridership has been estimated at 185,000-195,000<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bkk.hu/en/about-bkk/about-us/bkk-in-numbers/|title=BKK In Numbers|website=bkk.hu|access-date=2021-02-10}}</ref> The line operates using fully automated [[Alstom Metropolis]] train sets, which are also used on Line 2, although on line 2 the trains are 5 cars in length and have a cab, while on line 4 the trains are 4 cars in length and do not have a cab.<ref>[http://www.alstom.com/transport/news-and-events/press-releases/Alstom-delivers-the-first-Metropolis-for-the-Budapest-Metro-in-Hungary-20090211/ ALSTOM Alstom delivers the first Metropolis for the Budapest Metro in Hungary] 11 February 2009</ref>

In Hungary, the construction of the line has been widely criticised because its route was perceived as outdated, although the general city-structure and population density remained unchanged. The line has been noted for its high costs and inordinate delays — 17 in total — during construction.<ref name="Meghúzzák és eltolják a 4-es metrót">[http://nol.hu/budapest/cikk/469174/ Meghúzzák és eltolják a 4-es metrót] – [[Népszabadság]], 2007. október 26.</ref><ref name="mandiner.hu">[http://mandiner.hu/cikk/20140117_balogh_akos_gergely_budapest_legnagyobb_keresztje_a_4_es_metro] (Mandiner, 17 January 2014)</ref>

==History==

The first plans for a fourth metro line were developed in 1972; the line was planned to run between South [[Buda]] and [[Rákospalota]]/[[Újpalota]], later to [[Zugló]].<ref name="Line 4">László Pintér - Tamás Várady: A 4-es (DB-Belváros-Zugló) metróvonal megépítésének indoklása, műszaki kialakításának lehetőségei, Városi Közlekedés, Year XXXI, Vol. 2, pp. 69-70, Budapest, 1991</ref> The first decree was made in 1976 and the government intended to start construction in 1978, however the project was suspended in 1978, in favour of extending [[Line 3 (Budapest Metro)|Line 3]].<ref name="Line 4"/>

Construction eventually started in 2004,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/budapest-m1-europe-oldest-metro-network/index.html | title=Budapest M1: Inside continental Europe's oldest metro network | date=19 December 2018 }}</ref> and the first section with 10 stations opened in 2014.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.e-architect.com/budapest/budapest-m4-stations-building | title=Budapest M4 Metro Stations | date=10 May 2018 }}</ref>

M4 has a transfer station for [[Line 2 (Budapest Metro)|Line 2]] at [[Keleti pályaudvar (Budapest Metro)|''Keleti pályaudvar'']] and for [[Line 3 (Budapest Metro)|Line 3]] at [[Kálvin tér (Budapest Metro)|''Kálvin tér'']] station.

{| class="wikitable" !Sections<ref name="Line 4b"/><ref>[http://www.metro4.hu/nyomvonal_allomasok.php Budapest Metro Line 4, stations]</ref> !Opened !Length !Stations |- |[[Kelenföld vasútállomás (Budapest Metro)|Kelenföld vasútállomás]] - [[Keleti pályaudvar (Budapest Metro)|Keleti pályaudvar]] |28 March 2014 |{{convert|7.4|km||abbr=on}} |10 |- |Keleti pályaudvar - Bosnyák tér |''planned'' |{{convert|3.2|km||abbr=on}} |4 |- |Kelenföld vasútállomás - Madárhegy |''planned'' |{{convert|2.1|km||abbr=on}} |2 |- |'''Total''' |''planned'' |{{convert|12.7|km||abbr=on}} |16 |- |}

==Controversies== [[Image:M4 Gellért téri állomás építés légi fotó.jpg|thumb|left|Construction works taking place at Szent Gellért Tér close to the Danube River, 2009]] The construction of the line has been widely criticized as slow and incompetent. Critics have panned the constant delays as evidence of widespread government corruption.<ref>[http://www.budapesttimes.hu/2012/04/25/light-at-end-of-m4-tunnel-mayor/ ''budapesttimes.hu'' Light at end of M4 tunnel: Mayor] 25 April 2012</ref>

===Delays=== The Budapest city government delayed the opening of the line 17 times. [[Gábor Demszky]], the [[Alliance of Free Democrats|liberal]] [[mayor of Budapest]] from 1990 to 2010, originally promised in 1998 that the first section of the line would be open by 2003. However, [[Viktor Orbán]]'s first government (1998-2002) withheld funds necessary for starting the construction. The project restarted in 2003 under the socialist-liberal national government. In 2004, as construction still hadn't begun, Demszky amended the opening date to 2008. The construction works finally started in 2006; in that year the scheduled opening was changed to 2009. It was again changed - in April 2007 - to 2010; and in October 2007 to 2011.<ref name="Meghúzzák és eltolják a 4-es metrót"/>

In 2008, Gusztáv Klados, the line's project manager, announced that the opening would be further delayed until the end of 2011.<ref>[http://index.hu/politika/belfold/budapest/metro9323/ Két hét múlva újra fúrhatják a metrót] – Index, 2008. november 5.</ref> In 2009, he stated the opening would be delayed until 2012.<ref>[http://index.hu/belfold/budapest/2009/04/09/csak_2012-ben_indulhat_a_4-es_metro_probauzeme/ Csak 2012-ben indulhat a 4-es metró próbaüzeme] – Index, 2009. április 9.</ref> Later that year, Klados further delayed the opening until 2012,<ref>[http://index.hu/belfold/budapest/2009/10/15/tovabb_kesik_a_4-es_metro_atadasa/ Tovább késik a 4-es metró átadása] – Index, 2009. október 15.</ref> and one year later, in 2010, [[István Tarlós]], Demszky's Fidesz successor as mayor, pushed the likely opening back to as late as 2015.<ref>[http://index.hu/belfold/budapest/2010/10/13/tarlos_2015-re_keszulhet_el_a_metro/ Tarlós: 2015-re készülhet el a metró] – 2010. október 13.</ref>

In 2011, deputy mayor Gyula Hutiray reaffirmed the 2015 completion date.<ref>[http://index.hu/belfold/budapest/2011/05/25/2015-tol_visz_utasokat_a_4-es_metro/ 2015-től vihet utasokat a 4-es metró] (Index, 2011. május 25.)</ref> Tarlós later clarified that a 2013 or 2014 opening were not outside the realm of possibility.<ref>[http://inforadio.hu/hir/belfold/hir-453070 2014 elejéig átadják a 4-es metró első szakaszát - lapszemle] (Inforádió, 2011. augusztus 26.)</ref><ref>[http://index.hu/belfold/budapest/2011/10/21/kihaltak_a_4-es_metro_fenti_munkateruletei/ Kihaltak a 4-es metró fenti munkaterületei] (Index, 2011. október 21.)</ref>

The line was opened by [[Prime Minister of Hungary|Prime Minister]] [[Viktor Orbán]] on 28 March 2014, one week before the [[Hungarian parliamentary election, 2014|parliamentary elections]] that saw his party, [[Fidesz]], reelected to a second supermajority. Orbán made several references to his government's extensive infrastructure projects during the ceremony. Unlike the transport facilities that were the infrastructure projects of the socialists, the projects started by Orbán's government were mainly cultural facilities.<ref name="Budapest Opens 4th Subway Line">{{cite web|last1=Feher|first1=Margit|title=Budapest Opens 4th Subway Line|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/emergingeurope/2014/03/28/budapest-opens-4th-subway-line/|publisher=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=8 July 2014}}</ref>

===Costs=== Construction of the line cost 1.5 billion [[Euro]]s, or 1.5% of Hungary's annual GDP, of which 600 million came from [[European Union]] funds.<ref name="Budapest Opens 4th Subway Line"/> According to estimates the first section of the M4 will have cost approximately 452 billion [[Hungarian forint|HUF]] to build alongside an annual operating cost of 6 billion HUF, which is fourfold the operating costs of the [[Line 2 (Budapest Metro)|M2]] and [[Line 3 (Budapest Metro)|M3]] combined. These funds, critics claim, would have been better invested in other large-scale transportation projects such as the [[Budapest Metro#Line 2 reconstruction|connection of M2 to the Gödöllő HÉV]] or the construction of new tram lines.<ref name="mandiner.hu"/> Rumors that the M4 would be the most expensive metro line ever built, however, have been rebuffed by contractors.<ref>[http://hvg.hu/itthon/20091203_dbr_negyes_metro] (HVG, 3 December 2009)</ref>

=== Route === Critics have noted that the route served by Line 4 was already extensively served by a variety of tram (19, 47, 49) and bus (7, 7A, 7E, 173E) lines. The line has also been criticized for densely placed stations, some, such as [[Móricz Zsigmond körtér (Budapest Metro)|Móricz Zsigmond körtér]] and [[Újbuda–központ (Budapest Metro)|Újbuda-központ]], within a few hundred meters of one another.<ref name="mandiner.hu"/> On the other hand, the city government has conducted research showing that the new line will reduce travel times on a heavily used transit corridor, because travel in the subway is not slowed by the traffic jams on the surface.<ref>[http://www.metro4.hu/miert_kell_a_4es_metro.php] (BKK, June 2010)</ref>

===Unfunded extensions=== Despite long-term plans, which included the eventual extension to [[Rákospalota]], future extensions to the M4 are uncertain. Tarlós's [[Fidesz]] city government eliminated funding for the second phase of the line after taking over from Demszky's government, and the European Union has refused to provide additional funds.<ref name="BKV Figyelő"/> Some critics claim that without the extensions the current state of the line amounts to "several hundred-million forints thrown out the window."<ref name="BKV Figyelő"/>

=== Operation ===

[[List of driverless trains|Driverless]] trains have been in operation since the opening,<ref>[[Railway Gazette International]] May 2014, pg 15.</ref> but until January 2016 all trains ran with on-board driver supervision. Since January 2016 the driver cabs have been removed and there is no on-board supervision.

==Stations and connections== {| class=wikitable style="font-size: 90%; text-align:center" | colspan="5" style="background-color:green;text-align:center;font-weight:bold" | [[File:Budapest M4 Metro.svg|40px]] Kelenföld vasútállomás – Keleti pályaudvar |- !width="5%"|Travel Time min:sec !width="17%"|Station !width="5%"|Travel Time min:sec !width="27%"|Connection ! Buildings / Monuments |- | 0:00 || '''[[Kelenföld vasútállomás (Budapest Metro)|Kelenföld vasútállomás]]''' ♿ || 13:45 || align=left|[[File:Logo tramway-budapest.svg|20px]] 1, 19, 49 [[File:BKV busz symbol.svg|20px]] 8E, 40, 40B, 40E, 53, 58, 87, 87A, 88, 88A, 101B, 101E, 108E, 141, 150, 150B, 153, 154, 172, 173, 187, 188, 188E, 250, 250B, 251, 251A, 251E, 272 [[File:Volán regional bus logo.svg|20px]] Regional buses [[File:Bkkvonat.svg|20px]] [[Hungarian State Railways|Hungarian State Railways (MÁV)]] || [[Budapest-Kelenföld railway station]], Intermodal junction |- | 1:42 || [[Bikás park (Budapest Metro)|Bikás park]] ♿ || 12:15 || align=left|[[File:Logo tramway-budapest.svg|20px]] 1 [[File:BKV busz symbol.svg|20px]] 7, 58, 114, 153, 213, 214 [[File:Volán regional bus logo.svg|20px]] Regional buses | Market |- | 3:52 || [[Újbuda–központ (Budapest Metro)|Újbuda-központ]] ♿ || 10:07 || align=left|[[File:Logo tramway-budapest.svg|20px]] 4, 17, 41, 47, 48, 56 [[File:BKV busz symbol.svg|20px]] 33, 53, 58, 150, 150B, 153, 154, 212, 212A, 212B [[File:BKV-Volánbusz-bus-symbol.svg|20px]] Long-distance buses || Allee, Market Hall |- | 5:10 || [[Móricz Zsigmond körtér (Budapest Metro)|Móricz Zsigmond körtér]] ♿ || 8:45 || align=left|[[File:Logo tramway-budapest.svg|20px]] 6, 17, 19, 41, 47, 48, 49, 56, 56A, 61 [[File:BKV busz symbol.svg|20px]] 7, 27, 33, 33A, 58, 114, 213, 214, 240 || Major public transport hub, [[Lake Feneketlen]] |- | 6:52 || [[Szent Gellért tér – Műegyetem (Budapest Metro)|Szent Gellért tér – Műegyetem]] ♿ || 7:05 || align=left|[[File:Logo tramway-budapest.svg|20px]] 19, 41, 47, 48, 49, 56, 56A [[File:BKV busz symbol.svg|20px]] 7, 107, 133E || [[Budapest University of Technology and Economics]], [[Gellért Baths|Gellért Thermal Baths and Swimming Pool]] |- | 8:07 || [[Fővám tér (Budapest Metro)|Fővám tér]] ♿ || 5:55 || align=left|[[File:Logo tramway-budapest.svg|20px]] 2, 2B, 23, 47, 48, 49 [[File:Logo trolleybus-budapest.svg|20px]] 83 [[File:BKV busz symbol.svg|20px]] 15, 223E || [[Corvinus University of Budapest]], [[Great Market Hall (Budapest)|Great Market Hall]] |- | 9:30 || [[Kálvin tér (Budapest Metro)|Kálvin tér]] ♿ || 4:35 || align=left| [[File:Budapest M3 Metro.svg|40px|link=Line 3 (Budapest Metro)]] [[File:Logo tramway-budapest.svg|20px]] 47, 48, 49 [[File:Logo trolleybus-budapest.svg|20px]] 72, 83 [[File:BKV busz symbol.svg|20px]] 9, 15, [[Budapest bus route 100E|100E]], 223E || [[Hungarian National Museum]], [[Fővárosi Szabó Ervin Könyvtár]] |- | 11:12 || [[Rákóczi tér (Budapest Metro)|Rákóczi tér]] ♿ || 2:47 || align=left|[[File:Logo tramway-budapest.svg|20px]] 4, 6 || Market Hall |- | 12:35 || [[II. János Pál pápa tér (Budapest Metro)|II. János Pál pápa tér]] ♿ || 1:22 || align=left|[[File:Logo tramway-budapest.svg|20px]] 28, 28A, 37, 37A, 62 [[File:BKV busz symbol.svg|20px]] 99, 217E || [[Erkel Theatre]] |- | 13:45 || '''[[Keleti pályaudvar (Budapest Metro)|Keleti pályaudvar]]''' ♿ || 0:00 || align=left| [[File:Budapest M2 Metro.svg|40px|link=Line 2 (Budapest Metro)]] [[File:Logo tramway-budapest.svg|20px]] 23, 24 [[File:Logo trolleybus-budapest.svg|20px]] 73, 76, 78, 79, 80 [[File:BKV busz symbol.svg|20px]] 5, 7, 7E, 8E, 20E, 30, 30A, 107, 108E, 110, 112, 133E, 230 [[File:Bkkvonat.svg|20px]] [[Hungarian State Railways|Hungarian State Railways (MÁV)]] || [[Budapest Keleti railway station]], Aréna Mall |}

==External links== *[http://www.metro4.hu Official site of Metro4]

== References == {{reflist}}

[[Category:Budapest Metro lines]] [[Category:Railway lines opened in 2014]] [[Category:2014 establishments in Hungary]]