As I have temporarily relocated to Budapest for the month of September (as you do), I thought it would be nice to look a little further than the famous city centre tourist traps, enticing though they are. I’m lucky enough to have a few weeks to discover the delights of this wonderful city at a more relaxed pace. So no whistle stop tours required…or that’s what I thought.
Up there, just outside the city centre in the cool and opulent uplands, there’s a railway with a rather unusual recruitment policy called Gyermekvasút. It employs children in virtually every job. That’s kids selling tickets, operating signals and checking for fare dodgers on board and yes, blowing the whistles to get the trains moving.
No mean feat when you find out that this railway isn’t a novelty line taking families round the local park or a steam line restored by enthusiasts on wet Bank Holiday weekends. It’s a fully functional 11.2km route, with daily services carrying thousands of passengers to the eight stations on a line connecting Széchényi-hegy and Hűvösvölgy up in the lovely Buda hills.
With a lot of help from Wikipedia, I have deduced that the former name of the line was Úttörővasút(Pioneer Railway, in reference to the communist scouts), and now the official designation is MÁV Zrt. Széchenyi-hegyi Gyermekvasút.
Except the train driver, all of the posts are operated by children aged 10–14 under adult supervision.
The first section, from Széchenyi-hegy to Előre station (now Virágvölgy) was inaugurated on July 31, 1948. The second section, to Ságváriliget (now Szépjuhászné), was completed one year later, and the last section, to Hűvösvölgy, was opened on 20 August 1950.
The children take their jobs very seriously – it’s a railway, after all – and are efficient, helpful and diligent. The young lad who helped us with some directions could also speak perfect English. The trains run bang on time, too. Maybe if we put the control of some the UK’s struggling services in the hands of 14-year olds things would improve. On second thoughts, maybe not. Gyermekvasút, we salute you!
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