Milestone-Proposal:Budapest Metroline No.1.

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Docket #:2017-08

This Proposal has been approved, and is now a Milestone


To the proposer’s knowledge, is this achievement subject to litigation? No

Is the achievement you are proposing more than 25 years old? Yes

Is the achievement you are proposing within IEEE’s designated fields as defined by IEEE Bylaw I-104.11, namely: Engineering, Computer Sciences and Information Technology, Physical Sciences, Biological and Medical Sciences, Mathematics, Technical Communications, Education, Management, and Law and Policy. Yes

Did the achievement provide a meaningful benefit for humanity? Yes

Was it of at least regional importance? Yes

Has an IEEE Organizational Unit agreed to pay for the milestone plaque(s)? Yes

Has an IEEE Organizational Unit agreed to arrange the dedication ceremony? Yes

Has the IEEE Section in which the milestone is located agreed to take responsibility for the plaque after it is dedicated? Yes

Has the owner of the site agreed to have it designated as an IEEE Milestone? Yes


Year or range of years in which the achievement occurred:

1896

Title of the proposed milestone:

Budapest Metroline No.1., 1896

Plaque citation summarizing the achievement and its significance:


200-250 word abstract describing the significance of the technical achievement being proposed, the person(s) involved, historical context, humanitarian and social impact, as well as any possible controversies the advocate might need to review.


IEEE technical societies and technical councils within whose fields of interest the Milestone proposal resides.


In what IEEE section(s) does it reside?

IEEE Hungary Section

IEEE Organizational Unit(s) which have agreed to sponsor the Milestone:

IEEE Organizational Unit(s) paying for milestone plaque(s):

Unit: IEEE Hungary Section
Senior Officer Name: Levente Kovács

Unit: IEEE Hungary Section
Senior Officer Name: Peter Kadar

IEEE Organizational Unit(s) arranging the dedication ceremony:

Unit: IEEE Hungary Section
Senior Officer Name: Levente Kovács

Unit: IEEE Hungary Section
Senior Officer Name: Peter Kadar

IEEE section(s) monitoring the plaque(s):

IEEE Section: IEEE Hungary Section
IEEE Section Chair name: Levente Kovács

Milestone proposer(s):

Proposer name: Peter Kadar
Proposer email: Proposer's email masked to public

Please note: your email address and contact information will be masked on the website for privacy reasons. Only IEEE History Center Staff will be able to view the email address.

Street address(es) and GPS coordinates in decimal form of the intended milestone plaque site(s):

47 29'52.52" N 19 03'17.70" E

Budapest, Deák Ferenc tér, Metróállomás Deák Ferenc tér, 1052 HUNGARY

Describe briefly the intended site(s) of the milestone plaque(s). The intended site(s) must have a direct connection with the achievement (e.g. where developed, invented, tested, demonstrated, installed, or operated, etc.). A museum where a device or example of the technology is displayed, or the university where the inventor studied, are not, in themselves, sufficient connection for a milestone plaque.

Please give the address(es) of the plaque site(s) (GPS coordinates if you have them). Also please give the details of the mounting, i.e. on the outside of the building, in the ground floor entrance hall, on a plinth on the grounds, etc. If visitors to the plaque site will need to go through security, or make an appointment, please give the contact information visitors will need. In the center of Budapest in a part of the original tunnel/station the Budapest Underground Museum is shaped 40 years ago. Here are exhibited two original carriages (120 years old) and other relicts about the Budapest Metro No.1.

Are the original buildings extant?

Yes, this is the original tunnel/station.

Details of the plaque mounting:

In the center of Budapest a busy underpass makes possible to (1) cross the street (2) to reach stations of metro No.1. and No.2. and (3) to enter to the Budapest Underground Museum.Thera are many stairsways from different directions to reach this level. The Museum has an entrance Hall (cca. 100 sqm) with guard and continuous surveillance. The Museum space is a 60 m long and 6 m wide underground station with illumination, with carriages, with relicts.

How is the site protected/secured, and in what ways is it accessible to the public?

The plaque will be mounted close to the oringinal plaque about the inauguration of the Metro in 1896. This site is double guarded, at the entrance of the museum. The museum visitors can see it.

Who is the present owner of the site(s)?

The Hungarian Museum of Science, Technology and Transport

What is the historical significance of the work (its technological, scientific, or social importance)? If personal names are included in citation, include justification here. (see section 6 of Milestone Guidelines)

Budapest Metro line No.1

Abstract — In the second half of the 19th century Budapest (Hungary) became a metropolis. In 1896 the country celebrated the thousand year anniversary of the statehood and the mayor’s office wanted to raise the glare of the feast with an up-to-date technical solution. Up to that time horse carts, horse tramways electric tramways, etc. were used for transportation. A new elegant avenue rimmed with palaces connected the center and the city park where a millennia world fair was organized. For the establishment of the fast and posh connection an idea was formed to push the tram line underground. In 1894 a tender was created for the realization of the first continental underground electric tramline. The construction was realized in 21 months by the local entrepreneur Robert Wünsch, the bogie carriages were produced by Schlick Forgery and Machine Factory, and the electric devices were made by Siemens und Halske Co. The steel and concrete structure stations were tiled by artistic tiles of the Zsolnay factory. The Budapest metro line No. 1 has been in operation since its inauguration, over 120 years. The Underground Railway Museum (URM) with tree original wagons has been open to the public in a non-used tunnel part since 1975. The Budapest metro line No.1.became part of the World heritage in 2002, together with the avenue above it called “Andrássy street”.

I. Introduction The first underground line in the world is the London metro that was powered by steam engine since 1863. It was changed to electric traction only half century later, in 1907. The really first electrical underground metro in the world is the London Underground that began electric services operation using a fourth rail system in 1890 on the City and South London Railway (C&SLR), now part of the Northern line, between Stockwell and King William Street station. The Glasgow metro (UK) was inaugurated on December 14th, 1896, it was powered by a clutch-and-cable system, with one cable for each direction. The cable was driven from a steam-powered plant. The prime-metro of Chicago began revenue service on June 6th of 1892 by a small steam locomotive pulling four wooden coaches. In 1893, trains began running on the Lake Street Elevated Railroad and in 1895 on the Metropolitan West Side Elevated. The Metropolitan was the United States' first non-exhibition rapid transit system powered by electric traction motors. But it wasn’t underground… In the second half of the XIXth century Budapest became a metropolis. Huge infrastructural investments formed the city into the present tourist-luring townscape. In 1896 the country celebrated the thousand year anniversary of the statehood and the mayor’s office wanted to raise the glare of the feast with an up-to-date technical solution. Up to that time horse carts, horse tramways and electric tramways were used for city mass transportation. In 1873 more than 300.000 inhabitants lived in Budapest. This number was doubled in the next two decades. The monopolistic horse pulled tramway service company Budapesti Közúti Vaspálya Társaság (BKVT) had operated with 700 horses since 1860 but was not open for any innovations. In 1887 a 1000 m track was been built by Siemens & Halske for electric tram with lower current collector (sunken below the surface). It was named “Budapest system” but its reliability was not too high because dirt could fall into the small ditch. Later this system was applied in Vienna and in Berlin, too. For electricity supply a power plant was set up in “Akácfa street” by 3 pieces 100 HP steam turbine driven generators with 300 V DC. In 1875 a new representative avenue was built between the center and the city park. For esthetic reasons no horse-pulled or electric tram line construction was allowed in this street. Closing the date of the celebration of 1000 years old Hungarian Kingdom (Millenia in 1896) the decision makers were pressed to seek for appropriate mass transport solutions to the celebrations’ site in the city park. The idea of the underground came from Mór Balázs who did an excellent job in the management of the project. He received nobleness for his activity and his coats of arms contained the motives of the underground train, too. In January of 1894 a tender was issued to solve the problem by an electric underground tram (see Fig.1.). This was a joint action by the two competitors: Budapesti Villamos Városi Vasút (BVVV – Budapest City Electric Train Company) and Budapesti Közúti Vaspálya Társasággal (BKVT – Budapest Municipal Train Company). The decision was made on 9th of August, 1894. The tunnel and stations were built by entrepreneur Robert Wünsch, the bogie carriages were produced by Schlick Vasöntöde és Gépgyár (Schlick Forgery and Machine Factory), and the electric devices were made by Siemens und Halske Co.


Fig.1.: Plan of the cross section (History of Budapest, Academy publ. 1978) The first electricity driven metro line in the continent (2nd in the world) was inaugurated on 2nd of May 1896 in the presence of Franz Joseph – Kaiser of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. On 8th of May Franz Joseph travelled on the whole line. This royal course was driven by the great-great grandfather of the author. The operating company was also renamed from Budapest Underground Electric Railway Company to Franz Josef Underground Electric Railway Company. During the remaining 8 months of 1896 the metro carried 3 million passengers. This number rose to 11 million by 1917. The operating hours were between 6 AM and 11 PM with 4 min succession slots. After World War II in 1949 the Fővárosi Villamos Közlekedési Vállalat (FVKV – Municipial Electric Tramway Company) took over the operation of ‘underground railway’ (in this time the name wasn’t ‘metro’ but ‘underground’ or ‘Milleneum underground’). In 1959 additional 16 pieces of second-cars were constructed with driver seat. In these years 1% of the mass transportation of the capital was handled by this line. Budapest has nowadays 4 metro lines, the last one was opened in 2014. The historic metro line No.1. (called ‘yellow line’ after the color of the carriages) is in good shape, plays an important role in urban traffic. More than 300 trips transport the 10 to 35 thousands passengers daily between the 11 stations. The Budapest metro line No.1.has been part of the World heritage since 2002 together with the avenue above it called “Andrássy Street”.

II. The tunnel The tunnel was made by “dig and cover” technique and the work was performed in two shifts with man and horse power. At the night shift electrical arc lightings were used. A total of 138,000 cubic meters of soil were excavated by hand, and 47,000 cubic meters of cement and 3,000 tons of iron were required for the support structure. The leaking water was trapped into collecting wells and was pumped up by electric suction pumps. The construction works (3.22km tunnels with 9 stops and 0.46 km line on the surface with 2 stops) were finished on time in the frame of the previously determined budget. The inner height of the tunnel is 2,65 m (3,5 m till the surface), it is limited by the crossing of the main sewage canal. The average width is 6 m (see Fig.1.). During the construction new materials were used. The concrete strengthened by iron was the invention of Robert Wünsch. The tunnel walls, the slab and a small bridge are built of ferroconcrete. The concrete was mixed by electrical mixers.

III. Carriages The initial common fleet of the two operators consisted of 10 yellow metal covered carriages of Budapesti Villamos Városi Vasút (BVVV) see Fig.2. and 10 brown wood covered railway carriages of Budapesti Közúti Vaspálya Társaság (BKVT) – see Fig.4-5. The royal carriage No. 20. had extra solutions with a saloon. It was used by Kaiser Franz Joseph, King Carl IV., Kaiser Wilhelm, etc. Each railcar could accommodate 28 seated and 14 standing passengers. The original metal coated railcars had 11,77 kW LDo motors with Gall-chain for driving 650 mm diameter wheels. The old wood covering rail cars had 14,71 kW B 22/30 motors mounted on wheel-set axles with 800 mm diameter wheels). Nowadays 5 examples exist from the original fleet (see Table I.) Table I.: List of existing old carriages No. description location 1 the only remaining metal covered carriage (see Fig.2.) Underground Museum Budapest 11 wood covered Nostalgia carriage (see Fig.4.) in operation in Budapest 12 wood covered Hannover tram museum, Wehmingen, Germany 18 wood covered Seashore Trolley Museum, Kennebunkport, ME USA 19 wood covered (see Fig.5.) Underground Museum Budapest


Fig.2.: Historic metal covered carriage No.1. in the Underground Railway Museum (Photo: Peter Kadar)

Between 1924 and 1930 the motorcars were overhauled. The simple sliding doors were doubled and got pneumatic drives, the bogies were enlarged, instead of 16-20 HP motors larger 60 HP power motors were built in (TR 4,5). From 1960 trailer carriages were added, too. After 75 years of operation from 1971-73 and 1987 the railcars were changed. The new 23 tripartite railcars were designed and build by the Hungarian Ganz Villamossági Művek (Ganz Electrical Works) and Ganz-MÁVAG (Ganz Hungarian General Wagon and Machinery Factory) in Budapest, Hungary. The Ganz articulated railcar available for 190 passengers is tracked by four 66 kW TK44 A type hauling motors. Nominal speed is 60 km/h. Total length is 30.37 m , weight is 37 tons, the wheels’ diameter is 670 mm.

IV. Stations The line has 8 original and 3 newly made underground stations. Above the underground station attractive entrance halls designed by György Brüggeman and “Schickendanz et Herczog” were erected. Unfortunately these halls can’t be seen anymore. The walls of the 8 old stations are covered by porcelain ceramics produced by the Zsolnay Factory in Pécs, Hungary. The ferroconcrete ceiling is supported by riveted iron pillars. In 1995 the stations were renovated, fixed, insulated and dyed by anticorrosive painting (see Fig.3.).

Fig.3.: The Opera station (Photo: Peter Kadar)

V. Track The 1435 mm gauge track was built from iron cross-ties ‘Banovits system’ containing asymmetric Vignoles rails (24,2 kg/m) that were connected with lap-seams (patent of Hartman). This solution provided noiseless traffic not to disturb the promenade on the surface, the inhabitants and it saved the motors. The Siemens-Halske signalization system showed red light if a train was in the next tunnel section. Free way was signalized by white light. In 1995 the rails were changed to 48 kg/m Vignoles rails, the old wooden sleeps were re-sleepered by concrete holders (makes more noise).

VI. Power Supply In an early plan three rails were designed for lower current collector, but this idea was later abandoned. The 350 V DC hauling current was generated in the ‘Kertész utca – Gartner strasse’ (Akácfa utca) power station. The overhead supply was solved by 50 mm height two-pole double rails (used in mines). In the twenties the supply voltage was raised to 550 V DC (nom. 600 V) and the double upper feeder rails was changed to a similar, single feeder rail with single pole feeding and lower rail feed-back.

VII. Renewals In the 20’s important reconstruction works were made. In the frame of this up-dating the chassis and the safety devices were changed. Also the bogies and the motors were enlarged. The boarding doors were widened and the voltage level of the power supply was raised to 550 V DC, like at all the other ‘surface’ trams. At the beginning of the seventies the emerging traffic of Budapest, the connection to the new metro line No.2. and the aged old line required further renovation. For the 100th anniversary of the unification of Buda, Pest and Óbuda (birthday of Budapest) the metro line No.1. was rejuvenated. In the reconstruction process the tracks, electricity system, carriages were changed. Also the tunnel, the stations were renewed in its original artistic design. The traffic changed from the original ‘keep to left’ to the ‘keep to right’. For housing a new, larger shed was built on a new site. Two new stations were erected and the former non underground section was pushed down to new tunnel. From the fifties a 40 m long part of the old tunnel was separated and closed. In 1973 it was converted into the museum of the first Budapest underground metro.

Fig.4.: Wood covered carriage No.11. in nostalgia operation on 2nd of May 2016 (Photo: Gabor Lovas)

Fig.5.: Historic wood covered carriage No.19. in the Underground Railway Museum (Photo: Peter Kadar)

In 1996 the line celebrated its centenary. In a reconstruction program initiated by the Municipality of Budapest starting in 1993 the following areas were tackled:  Reconstruction of the permanent way using a reinforced concrete bedding with flexible fastening and welded rails  Reinforcing the roof of the tunnel and stations  Overhauling the architectural, interior decoration and mechanical systems of stations  Modernizing the electrical systems, the passenger safety and railway signaling systems, installing new safety features

What obstacles (technical, political, geographic) needed to be overcome?

The technical novelties and difficulties of the Budapest Metro line No.1. - the horse-cart monopoly didn't support the development - there was only 21 months for the realization - the large avenue was turned off from the traffic infrastructure for 21 months - two compertitors agreed to realize the project commonly - electric lightning was applied in the carriages and stations too


- small space between the surface and the canalisation system (the available height is only 2.6 m)

What features set this work apart from similar achievements?

The Budapest metro is the first commercial electrified underground train in the European continent. It is in continuous operation since 1896. The successful realization took only 21 months. It included several technological innovations from the turn of the 20th century. The memories of early underground transportation have been carefully preserved for the future. The Underground has a well shaped museum - close to the operating system. The project was performed by international cooperation.

Supporting texts and citations to establish the dates, location, and importance of the achievement: Minimum of five (5), but as many as needed to support the milestone, such as patents, contemporary newspaper articles, journal articles, or chapters in scholarly books. 'Scholarly' is defined as peer-reviewed, with references, and published. You must supply the texts or excerpts themselves, not just the references. At least one of the references must be from a scholarly book or journal article. All supporting materials must be in English, or accompanied by an English translation.

__________________________________________________________________________ Siemens History Archive Sabine Dittler: The first electrically powered underground on the European continent goes into operation in Budapest https://www.siemens.com/history/en/news/1193_underground_budapest.htm __________________________________________________________________________ Conference paper Peter Kadar: Metro line No.1. in Budapest IEEE HISTELCON 2015, 18-19 August, 2015 Tel Aviv, Israel pp. 1-6. __________________________________________________________________________ Conference paper Peter Kadar: The Drive and the Electrical Appliances in the Budapest Metro 120 Years ago IEEE HISTELCON 2017, 7-8 August, 2017 Kobe, Japan pp. 1-6. __________________________________________________________________________ An article Short history of Millenium metro http://www.metro4.hu/en/metros-in-budapest/millenium-underground __________________________________________________________________________ An architectural viewpoint Budapest Metro – Millennium Underground https://en.wikiarquitectura.com/building/budapest-metro-millennium-underground/ __________________________________________________________________________ City Guide – 5 minute article PETRA BERENDE: RETRO RAILWAYS: RIDE THE CONTINENT’S OLDEST METRO IN BUDAPEST https://welovebudapest.com/en/2015/08/17/retro-railways-ride-the-continents-oldest-metro-in-budapest/ __________________________________________________________________________ 1 minute travel guide chapter Millennium Underground http://visitbudapest.travel/guide/budapest-attractions/millennium-underground/ __________________________________________________________________________ Photo series Brian Cohen: The Historic Line 1 Subway in Budapest: A Photographic Chronology http://thegate.boardingarea.com/the-historic-line-1-subway-in-budapest-a-photographic-chronology/ __________________________________________________________________________ Line description with station photos Line M1 http://www.urbanrail.net/eu/hu/budapest/budapest-line1.htm __________________________________________________________________________ YouTube video Millenium Subway Budapest 4 min 56 sec https://youtu.be/ARk7WGV2U-I __________________________________________________________________________ YouTube video The story of the Millenium Subway Budapest 19 min 36 sec https://youtu.be/E8speaKIMN4 __________________________________________________________________________ YouTube video The Millenium Underground is 100 years old 15 min 14 sec https://youtu.be/tiz_b5jabW0 __________________________________________________________________________ YouTube video The Budapest Millenium Subway (1974) 14 min 38 sec https://youtu.be/odg5LCbEF1E __________________________________________________________________________ YouTube video Budapest Millenium Subway Carriage No. 11 in operation, 2011.05.08. 4 min 53 sec https://youtu.be/HyJ-jM6IAso __________________________________________________________________________ Books [1] Dr. Kubinszky Mihály - Lovász István - Villányi György: Old Hungarian trams; Budapesti Városvédő Egylet, Bp., 1978, ISBN: 9789637537112 [2] Legát Tibor - Dr. Zsigmond Gábor: A villamos aranykora 1887 – 1923 (The golden age of the tram 1887-1923); Jószöveg Műhely; Budapest, 2012 [3] Medveczky Ágnes: A milleneumi Földalatti Vasút (The Budapst Underground Train) ; Közlekedési Dokumentációs Vállalat, Budapest, 1975 [4] A Millenniumi Földalatti vasút rövid története (Short history of the Budapest Underground) Villanyszerelők lapja, 2009 október [5] Németh János: History of Royal carriage No. 20. Budapest in 1965, manuscript __________________________________________________________________________ Web sources [1] Szeberényi Márton: A Millenniumi Földalatti Vasút vonala és annak története (The story of the first Budapest metro); http://digitus.itk.ppke.hu/~szema/FJFVV_von.html as it on 30/06/2015 [2] The Milleneum Subway Line of Budapest by Varga Ákos Endre; http://hampage.hu/kozlekedes/fav4/e_index.html as it on 30/06/2015 [3] P. Istvánfi: A FAV régi kocsijai (The old carriages of the Budapest Undergrounnd; www.villamosok.hu/metro/jarmu/favold/favold.html __________________________________________________________________________

Supporting materials (supported formats: GIF, JPEG, PNG, PDF, DOC): All supporting materials must be in English, or if not in English, accompanied by an English translation. You must supply the texts or excerpts themselves, not just the references. For documents that are copyright-encumbered, or which you do not have rights to post, email the documents themselves to ieee-history@ieee.org. Please see the Milestone Program Guidelines for more information.


Please email a jpeg or PDF a letter in English, or with English translation, from the site owner(s) giving permission to place IEEE milestone plaque on the property, and a letter (or forwarded email) from the appropriate Section Chair supporting the Milestone application to ieee-history@ieee.org with the subject line "Attention: Milestone Administrator." Note that there are multiple texts of the letter depending on whether an IEEE organizational unit other than the section will be paying for the plaque(s).

Please recommend reviewers by emailing their names and email addresses to ieee-history@ieee.org. Please include the docket number and brief title of your proposal in the subject line of all emails.