Southern Circular Railway: spectacular progress over the past year on one of the country's biggest transport projects

The Southern Circular Railway project is a major construction project for both the capital and the country as a whole, involving the renovation and expansion of the railway connection between the Ferencváros and Kelenföld railway stations in Budapest, one of the busiest and most capacity-constrained sections of the Hungarian railway network. As part of the investment, the noise pollution caused by the increased traffic will also be addressed and the surrounding green areas will be significantly improved.

The enormous development project implemented as part of the Építési és Közlekedési Minisztérium investment has been divided into several phases. The first of these has already been completed: the renovation of the Déli connecting railway bridge running parallel to the Rákóczi Bridge, in which two dilapidated superstructures were demolished and three new ones were built, thus ensuring that the Déli connecting railway bridge over the Danube provides a three-track crossing.  The second phase of the Southern Circular Railway, the „Ferencváros – Kelenföld railway line capacity expansion construction works” project, currently under construction, is linked to this first phase and the new third bridge structure and track.

Budapest, agglomeration, international transport

The Southern Circular Railway project will overcome the capacity bottleneck, expand the agglomeration passenger rail network, which is in constant growth, and allow for the unimpeded flow of freight traffic, which is also growing dynamically. The fact that three EU rail corridors (part of the Budapest-Hegyeshalom-Rajka main line MÁV Zrt.) crossing Hungary also pass through the route concerned.

Increase the number of tracks

The contractor for the second phase, which is currently underway, is V-Híd Zrt., while the plans required for construction are being prepared by Kontúr Csoport Kft. – the design and construction are taking place in parallel. The financing is provided by IKOP_PLUSZ-2.1.0-23-2023-00002 and IKOP-2.1.0-15-2021-00063 Support Agreements (the abbreviation stands for Integrated Transport Development Operational Programme). Furthermore, negotiations are underway on a grant agreement in connection with the EU's CEF2 (Connecting Europe Facility) funding.

Experts from the Ministry informed us about the project and the work carried out over the past year. In the next part of this article, we will use this information to show what is being built or will be built in the second phase, and then focus on the work carried out over the past year.

As a central part of this huge project, the tracks will be upgraded and the line will be extended from two to three, and sometimes four, tracks.

On the entire Ferencváros-Kelenföld section, about 4 kilometres of track is being worked on, with 7.7 kilometres of track pairs running side by side and 6 kilometres of new track being built. In order to avoid the need to take significantly more land from parks and public areas adjacent to the railway, a reinforced concrete retaining wall will be built over a length of 5.1 km to accommodate the increase in the number of tracks.

Pedestrian and cycle underpasses, noise barriers, stops

In order to improve access to neighbouring areas and ensure safe crossing, five new pedestrian and cycle underpasses will be built, the final function of which will be decided at a later date. In addition, approximately 35,000 m² of noise barriers will be constructed. The noise protection measures are considered to be particularly significant, with a highly effective structure being built, and the contractors are also paying attention to passive noise protection.

Last but not least, two new stops will be built on the line (Közvágóhíd in Pest and Nádorkert in Buda).

One year of work

Over the past year, a number of spectacular phases of work have been completed. The ministry's experts started with the retaining wall construction works: we learned that both on the Pest and Buda sides, the tasks that are fundamental to the railway track development are well underway. They stressed that 100% of the foundations for the retaining walls to be built on the section between Szerémi út and Bartók Béla út have been completed, as well as more than 50% of the retaining wall structures.

It was also mentioned that by November 2024, the contractor will have completed the construction of the new northern bridge on Bartók Béla Road.

Here, the almost 5 metre high embankment is 98 metres long and 22 metres wide, allowing the assembly of the 1,000 tonne structure, so that work can continue without closing the approach junction.

The temporary traffic status of the junction is expected to remain in place until the end of 2027 to allow the bridge construction to proceed smoothly.

The first bridge over Budafoki út opened

In November 2024, the first new steel bridge was put in place on Budafok Road, a particularly spectacular and challenging task.

The steel structure is assembled ready for use by specialists, using special heavy-duty steel rollers and hydraulic presses to bring it into its final position.

In parallel with the progress of construction, utility cable exploration and replacement works are taking place - often requiring considerable resources in Budapest, which has gone through several periods in the last century where no accurate or even good quality plans have survived. And as the railway construction works progress, the necessary temporary traffic engineering will be put in place.

Development of the Dombóvári road underway

The foundations of the retaining wall for the new railway bridge over the Nádorkerti driveway in the Dombóvár road area have been completed, allowing construction of the bridge to start.

Avoiding noise pollution is important for the investor

We also pointed out that the Ministry decided in May 2024 that no work would be carried out on the Buda side, either on weekday nights or weekends, in order to protect the residential environment. Accordingly, during these periods, contractors will only be allowed to work on the site in exceptional circumstances, subject to an individual permit. A repeat environmental permit procedure is also under way.

Finally, the ministry's staff also spoke to us about its plans for the future. They said that, according to the V-Híd schedule, all the new north-side bridges (the bridge structures are being built) and a complete new track are scheduled to be completed by May 2026.