About this journey

Városmajor station sits at the foot of the Buda Hills, where tram line 60 — Budapest's cog-wheel railway — begins its climb through the city's western residential slopes. The line was designed by Nikolaus Riggenbach, who also designed the Vitznau-Rigi railway, Europe's first rack railway, which opened in 1871. The building permit for the Budapest line was issued on 3 July 1873, and regular service began on 25 June 1874, with the original single-track route measuring 2.883 km and spanning an elevation difference of 264 metres. In 1890 the line was extended to Széchenyihegy, bringing its total length to 3.7 kilometres. A full reconstruction followed in 1973, when the track was renewed using the Strub cog-wheel system and the line voltage was raised to 1,500V. Operated by BKV and integrated into Budapest's public transport network as tram line 60, it remains one of the city's most distinctive routes.

At Széchenyi hegy Gyermekvasút, the upper terminus, passengers arrive within a 250-metre walk of the Budapest Children's Railway — a narrow-gauge line running 11.7 km through the Buda Hills at a maximum permitted speed of 20 km/h, and recognised in 2015 by the Guinness World Records as the longest railway in the world where traffic and commercial service are operated by children. The cog railway's short but steep ascent connects urban Budapest to the quieter, forested hills above.