Route 17

Introduction

This route is one of the more old-fashioned ones in Budapest. It features sections running in old streets paved with cobblestone, and stops without platform isles. Characteristically it's a strange line: it starts in a metropolitan area with mansions underneath the noble hillside of Rózsadomb ("Rose Hill"), then it passes the gloomy remains of the one-storied small-village area of Óbuda ("Ancient Buda"). It gets a bit more urbanised after that, until it reaches the concrete block highrise apartment housing areas built in the communist days. As you might figured, this line has many faces ,despite it's one of the most neglected ones.

History

The horse tram to Óbuda was one of the earliest public transportation means on the Buda side in the late 1860's, and it was the basis of this line between Margit körút and Zsigmond tér. The section between Zsigmond tér and Vörösvári út (the northern terminus) was built much later - in 1913 - being of course electrified from the start. It was meant as a bypass for the busy "main" route in Lajos utca, which was used since the horse tram days. Interestingly the main section was reshaped and closed in several steps between the WW2 and 1981, while route 17 survived. And there's also another confusing bit: today's route 17 was abandoned between Margit körút and Vörösvári út in 1958, and was extended again there in 1981 - the same time when many other tram lines of Budapest were getting closed! This line is a real survivor: from time to time it's threatened by closure due to low utilisation due to the long journey time due to the bad state of the tracks (note the "Domino effect") - but on the other hand it also should be the basis of a new north-south LRT service after being connected to route 19/41 on the Danube embankment - sometime in the future.

Facts

Route  17: Margit híd budai hídfő - Vidra utca - Frankel Leó út - Bécsi út - Vörösvári út (3.9 km)

Here's a Google Maps overview of the route, zoom in for details:

View Larger Map

Vehicles: 4 x Ganz CSMG2/KCSV7 (from remise Ferencváros)

Special remark: Running in some narrow streets along old houses. Some stops without platforms. The depot runs to and from remise Ferencváros carry passengers between Népliget and Vörösvári út as route 1A.

Stops and other information at the villamosok.hu website
Stops and time-table at the BKV website

Margit híd budai hídfő (The Buda bridgehead of the Margarite Bridge)

The line starts from a reversing loop right next to Margarite Bridge. You can reach it within a minute from the stop of the Grand Boulevard routes. The loop is not used anymore as a loop: trams enter it from one end and they leave it via the same one. This is a silly thing, but the BKV has something against reversing loops. There's also a rumour that the loop was rebuilt earlier in a way that the Ganz articulated trams cannot pass through safely, but I'm not sure if this is true (the loop was already used by the same articulated cars in the late seventies).

I think the terminus is quite photogenic in good sunlight, but it's hard to take nice photos in the next section in Vidra utca, because the neighbouring houses cast shadows over the trams. It's an interesting place despite as the tram makes a 90-degree turn in the middle of vehicular traffic.

Frankel Leó út
 

Lost rails: the reversing loop via Frankel Leó út Directly where the tram turns from Vidra utca onto Frankel Leó út, you can spot some "lost rails" in the pavement. This used to be part of a reversing loop for the heavy-duty Grand Boulevard insection routes around the block (see map above), which was closed in the early seventies.

The oncoming section is dominated by hospitals and spas - and arrogantly parked cars.

-> Continue to Török utca (connection to Margit körút)

This is probably the narrowest existing two-track section of the Budapest tram network with some quite old buildings around. There's also a small lake next to the street, behind glass fences: it's part of a thermal cave, which is said to be one of the biggest of its kind in the world. It's real size was discovered only a few years ago, and unfortunately it's not accessible for "mortal people".

We ride along another public bath, and some mansions built for the winners of the state lottery ("lottó házak").
 

Lost rails: Császárfürdő The flaring street acted as the temporary terminus of routes 4, 11, 17, 18 and 57 in 1971-72, when the underground section of the Szentendre HÉV service was built, turning the whole district into one big construction site.

Bécsi út

After Zsigmond tér, where we get quite close to the Danube, we enter the slums of Óbuda-Újlak, dominated by worn (if not ruinous) one- and two-storied houses.

Once most of Óbuda consisted of such houses. Not very nice, but picturesque. The tracks here are in a very bad shape because the car traffic uses them.

Kolosy tér is where cars most obstruct trams. During rush hour traffic jams you can see them queing up into the distance.
 

Lost rails: the Bokor utca reversing loop The next section runs through an area that started to re-shape ten years ago, but then the renovation process got stuck, and it remained in a semi-complete state. This is one of the reasons due to which you can still see signs of the old reversing loop at Bokor utca, used until the sixties.

If you want to photograph the last ruins of the old slums, you'll have a chance to do it here.
 

Lost rails: Nagyszombat utca We arrive to another "lost rail" location a few hundred meters afterwards: this is where the Lajos utca, and later the Pacsirtamező utca tram line branched off, and also where the Bokor utca loop returned to Bécsi út. Too bad that they abandoned this line in 1981: the trams used to circle around the ruins of a roman coliseum ("amfiteátrum") here. This is one of the two remaining coliseums of Aquincum, the roman settlement that became Óbuda. By the way, you can find roman relics and museums everywhere around Óbuda...

It gets more urbanised for a while. Some universities and colleges are located here.

Soon we reach the communist-type hosing areas, where the tram gets its own private right-of-way. Strangely only one side of the road is dominated by these ten-story buildings: the other is the hillside of Hármashatárhegy, which is just getting built in with cottages, more modern (and moderate) estates and malls. If you take a look to south-southwest, you can also spot the baroque Kiscelli Castle on top of a hill. This old palace houses the Budapest Picture-Gallery.

Vörösvári út

After another few hundred meters we reach the terminus at the junction of Bécsi út and Vörösvári út. This is where Budapest's first (and now long abandoned) trolley bus service started from in 1933, and where you can change to tram route 1 and 1A. During shift changes you can also take photos of trams leaving or entering the line via the connecting tracks, and you can also spot the sad remnants of remise Óbuda, which was closed in 1996.

-> Continue to route 1/1A

Back to the top
Back to the opening page
Back to the clickable map

Disclaimer: The author cannot be held responsible for mistakes, misinterpretations, inaccuracies, inactualities, etc. on/of these pages, nor for the content of other pages linked in.

Send a mail to the author
The author's homepage