Line 1 (Budapest Metro)
| Line 1 | |||
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| Overview | |||
| Stations | 11 | ||
| Line number | Line 1 ("Yellow metro") | ||
| Technical | |||
| Line length | 4.4 km | ||
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) | ||
| Electrification | 550 V DC | ||
| Operating speed | 60 km/h | ||
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The Metro 1 (Officially: Millennium Underground Railway or M1) is the oldest line of the Budapest Metro system. Known in Budapest simply as "the underground" ("a földalatti"), while the M2, M3 and M4 are called "metró". It is the third oldest underground railway in the world after "Tünel" in İstanbul, Turkey, the second underground rail line worldwide to exclusively use electric traction (the first being the London Underground, specifically the City and South London Railway), and the first on the European mainland. It was built from 1894 to 1896. In 2002, it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Metro 1 runs northeast from the city center on the Pest side under Andrássy út to the Városliget, or City Park. Like Metro 3, it does not serve Buda.
M1, the oldest of the metro lines operating in Budapest, has been in constant operation since 1896.
The original purpose of the first metro line was to facilitate transport to the Budapest City Park along the elegant Andrássy Avenue without building surface transport affecting the streetscape. The National Assembly accepted the metro plan in 1870 and German firm Siemens & Halske AG was commissioned for the construction, starting in 1894. It took 2,000 workers using up-to-date machinery less than two years to complete. This section was built entirely from the surface (with the cut-and-cover method). Completed by the deadline, it was inaugurated on May 2, 1896, the year of the millennium (the thousandth anniversary of the arrival of the Magyars), by emperor Franz Joseph. One original car is preserved at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine, United States.
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