Progress on Budapest's metro 4 slow but steady

The massive construction works being undertaken for Budapest's fourth metro line are proceeding apace, with only the building of the Fővám tér station in Pest continuing to suffer from major delays, reports hirszerzo.hu.

metro4.hu

A total of 14 stations are planned for the Metro 4 line, of which ten are currently being built, between Kelenföldi pályaudvar, the southern terminus in Buda, and Keleti pályaudvar in Pest. Two drills are working simultaneously, one in Buda and one in Pest, and are making their way towards each other.

At the southern section of the line, which is in Buda, a 1.9 kilometer tunnel has already been drilled, while in the northern section in Pest, the tunneling has reached 1.4 kilometers, with work being done on a 24-hour basis. Including the "launch" tunnel, a total of four kilometers of tunnel have been finished, as well as the slurry walls at several stations.

Meanwhile, work on all the ten of the new metro stations which are being built in the first phase of the works (between Kelenföldi pályaudvar and Keleti pályaudvar) is proceeding simultaneously.

The southern drill reached the Bocskai út station on Friday, from where it is expected to reach Móricz Zsigmond körtér in three weeks. The 1.4 kilometer tunnel connecting Tétényi út and Bocskai út is the longest span between stations on the new metro line. The drilling of this section began in October, with 15-20 meters completed on most days.

The only significant problems with the project continue to surround the Fővám tér station in Pest. Contractor Hídépítő, which was to build the station, announced in December that it could only complete its contract with a delay of one year. As both public transport company BKV and the city council say such a delay is unacceptable, a search is underway for a new contractor, with alternate plans being developed for the station to be built using an artificial island in the Danube, which would add only three months to the earlier schedule.

As for the section of the metro line to be built in the second phase, between Keleti pályaudvar and Bosnyák tér, permission relating to environmental issues has been obtained, but the contractors still have to wait for permission from other various authorities.

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