About this journey

Celldömölk station sits at the heart of a historic junction in Vas County, western Hungary, where the Győr–Celldömölk line, the Székesfehérvár–Szombathely line, and the Bajánsenye–Zalaegerszeg–Ukk–Boba line all converge. The station building itself was designed by Ferenc Pfaff, the architect responsible for many of Hungary's 19th-century railway stations, and the junction opened on 1 October 1871. A MÁV Class 426 Desiro departs from here heading south-east through the Transdanubian landscape toward Lake Balaton.

The route follows MÁV line 25 — the Bajánsenye–Zalaegerszeg–Ukk–Boba railway, which runs for 101 kilometres in total — as far as Ukk, the quiet but pivotal junction where the Keszthely branch diverges from services toward Veszprém and Zalaegerszeg. From Ukk the line continues through the gently rolling terrain of western Hungary toward Tapolca, passing through agricultural land and small settlements typical of this corner of Transdanubia. The rhythm of the journey is unhurried, with regional services on this corridor operating approximately every two hours.

Beyond Tapolca the line curves toward its terminus at Keszthely station, whose current alignment dates from 1903. When the Keszthely–Tapolca connecting line opened on 17 July 1903, the original 1888 station building was abandoned and a new station was erected on a new alignment to accommodate it. The journey thus moves between two stations whose histories span the same formative decades of the Hungarian regional railway network — one a multi-line interchange at the edge of Vas County, the other a rebuilt terminus opened to meet a branch that arrived from the direction of the Balaton shore.